Re: ORMs du jour?
On 2013-10-21 14:37, Dirk Koopman wrote: Any recommendations for an ORM? I am looking for something simple rather than lots of bells and whistles. What is your requirement - ie the use case?
Re: Perl publishing and attracting new developers
On 2013-09-18 15:22, gvim wrote: My question was about what others perceive to be the reasons for the dearth of Perl books and the lack of range in subject matter compared with the proliferation of new titles in the Ruby and Python communities. I wonder whether part of the answer to this question lies in the fact that the things that could be covered in Perl books about frameworks, Moose, etc are fairly well documented and that the documentation is easily available. Why should I spend money on books which wont necessarily contain anything that I cannot already get more conveniently and at less expense by reading the POD? This is not to say that the above means there is no possible demand for such new books but it *may* mean that a large part of the potential market (ie those already using Perl) wont be interested. These considerations also apply to Ruby and Python authors but it hasn't stopped them pumping them out by the barrel-load. Is the easily available and free documentation for those languages as good as that available for Perl? Of course there is also the possibility that publishers are generally reacting to perceived market demand and they simply perceive more demand for python/ruby/... All of this is not to say there are no new books. There is a new edition of Mastering Perl on the way.
Re: Bug in documentation for Encode::decode_utf8 ?
On 2013-09-05 09:31, William Blunn wrote:
It seems that decode_utf8(...) is a no-op if the input string has the
UTF8 flag on, but decode(utf8, ...) will always try to decode
regardless of the state of the UTF8 flag.
But the documentation says that they are equivalent.
So the documentation would appear to be at odds with the behaviour.
Yes. Looking at the code decode_utf8 has return $_ if is_utf8($_) as
it's first line which decode does not.
decode_utf8 also lacks the a check that find_encoding('utf8') succeeded
before using it however if that causes a problem it's because there are
far bigger problems. Another difference is that decode_utf8 appends ''
if $_ is a reference while decode() appends '' without any condition.
Re: Which modules do you allow yourself to use for production?
On Mon, 2013-07-22 at 19:45 +0100, Pierre M wrote: As i was asking for advice in a previous email, Dirk Koopman wrote: Use the lowest impact perl from the beginning (that probably means avoiding Moose, Catapole et al). Surely you need to have an idea of the scale of the project before making anything like a decision as to the best approach to take. If you are building a fairly large project and you exclude things like Moose on some principle that has nothing to do with the project and it's requirements you may well find you have bitten off your nose to spite your face.
Re: WANTED: Speakers for technical talk 2013-07-25
On Mon, 2013-07-08 at 19:35 +0100, Leon Brocard wrote: I'm looking for speakers for a technical talk on 2013-07-25 around Liverpool Street. If you're interested in speaking on something vaguely Perl-related for around 20 minutes, for example to practice a YAPC::Europe talk, please email me offlist. What is the event? I may be free and I'd be willing to talk.
Re: [TESTING] Please ignore
On 2013-07-02 15:57, Simon Wistow wrote: I'm trying to diagnose a potential issue in my mail set up which seems to mostly manifest itself by silencing you rowdy group of degenerates, miscreants and ne'r-do-wells. Is the bug that every email from you has the subject line set to [TESTING] Please ignore?
Re: Living with smart match breakage
On Fri, 2013-06-14 at 19:26 +1000, Kieren Diment wrote: Presumably CPAN testing of a blead perl with smartmatch removed/deprecated could pick that up pretty quickly. Automated CPAN testing occurs on new releases of modules only doesn't it or is there comprehensive testing of every current release on CPAN when a new perl is being prepared for release? Even if you catch everything in CPAN that doesn't address the risk for in house libraries which is an issue for many of those using perl in production and doesn't address application code using smart match or given/when. My point was more about the difficulty this uncertainty causes in assessing the risk that it will be necessary to rewrite libraries and applications.
Re: Alternative sources of Perl programmers
We're advertising for a Perl programmer again, and once again we are struggling. It's a shame because we've got quite a lot of development work in the offing, mostly using Catalyst, DBIx::Class, Moose and the like. Are you certain that the agency or agencies you are using are actually talking to perl developers and others who could be perl developers? Has the job been posted to places like jobs.perl.org? Jason Clifford
Re: Billing a client
On Mon, 2013-02-11 at 07:56 +, Alex Brelsfoard wrote: Here's a slightly off-topic question for you all. I'm planning on doing some consulting work and was wondering what I should expect as the norm for delay between when I bill my client and when I should receive their money. Is there such a norm? Or is it entirely dependent on the client and/or our agreement? It's down to the contract and the client. Specifically the contract sets out what is expected and forms the basis on which you should expect to be paid so if the contract states payment 14 or 30 days after invoice then that is when you should be paid. Some clients will pay on time. Some will delay payment - sometimes for a long time. Those who delay payment are breaching the terms of the contract and are offering you free money (well, it's not entirely free as you have to invoice them for it and may have to use the courts to actually get it) as you are entitled to charge statutory interest on late payments.
Re: Proprietary Sybase DBI/DBD module
On Thu, 2012-11-01 at 01:10 +, Anthony Lucas wrote: But, why on earth would this go into a standard perl distribution? It doesn't sound very standard OR widely distributable. Had the request genuinely been to get their particularly DBD into the standard Perl distribution I'd agree but I think it's clear now that what was really being asked was for details on what is the standard way to distribute such a module within the Perl ecosystem. That's a very different proposition. I'm no fan of non-free software however the fact is that some people will use this product, and other similarly non-free ones, and those people will be content with the distribution requirements. So long as the companies offering it comply with the license terms of those whose software they build upon what is the problem?
Re: Proprietary Sybase DBI/DBD module
On Wed, 2012-10-31 at 17:21 +, DAVID HODGKINSON wrote: it seems pretty obvious to me. the sybase people have written a new driver which is being released in binary only form (hence proprietary) Talking with Chris last night, that may not be the case. I also spoke with him last night and today he has posted a link to some docs for it. The DBD will be normal perl however it will require a client lib which will be a binary only distribution.
Re: Proprietary Sybase DBI/DBD module
On Mon, 2012-10-29 at 14:07 +, Chris Jack wrote: I'm just back from speaking at the Las Vegas SAP/Sybase conference (on a somewhat Perl related topic too!). One of the (other) interesting talks was about a new proprietary Sybase ASE DBI/DBD module for Perl (to be called DBD::SybaseASE from memory). They were a little short on specifics, but it sounds like it will answer a number of concerns with the current non-proprietary DBD::Sybase - for instance with performance of bulk loading. I asked what was being done about getting it into standard perl distributions, and the presenter didn't know. Hence my question: can anyone send me/post information or a link about how to get a new module into standard Perl distributions (and maybe also a list of the major perl distributions). RegardsChris Do you know what the license terms for redistribution of this module are? Ideally you simply upload the module to CPAN and, optionally, advise the producers of Strawberry Perl and ActiveState that it is available so they can package it up for their users. So long as it being proprietary does not prevent this model of distribution that's all you need to do. Jason Clifford
Re: Home Network Issues
On Mon, 2012-09-10 at 08:26 +0100, Jacqui Caren wrote: IMHO the idea of your router doing WAP duty is just plain nuts. Why do you think that?
Re: Brainbench perl test?
On Wed, 2012-09-05 at 09:01 +0200, Richard Foley wrote: And besides, I don't think I'd really want to work with a programmer who didn't know what the Fibonacci sequence is :-) I'd rather work with a good programmer who can't answer your question slickly in the heat of an interview, (whatever clever question you think up during your coffee break while chatting with a group of people about how to think up the best interview question), than a bad programmer who impresses you with a predictable memory trick during an interview, (aren't we so cool because we know the same things as each other?) That's fair generally however the question isn't particularly clever and doesn't require you to know any memory trick at all. It's just a very simple test to see if you can take a simple specification and turn it into some kind of code with the added bonus of seeing whether the candidate spots potentials issues with it. As for not knowing what the Fibonacci sequence is I agree that it's not a particularly good test but if it is specified as either of the two questions that were suggested then it's irrelevant whether you recognise and name the equation so long as you can do as asked surely. Jason
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Wed, 2012-08-22 at 00:53 +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: Are they likely to even notice if I'm tethering it, sans that fiver? They *can* detect what you are doing based upon user agent detection and other traffic signatures if they want to. My experience is that they cannot be bothered and I suspect they wont be for anyone who isn't considered to be taking the piss. Now to see if I can get a 3 SIM dispatched to where I'll be staying first up in London.. :) Pop into a 3 shop and pick one up. Simples
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, 2012-08-21 at 17:15 +0100, Anthony Lucas wrote: 3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. In my experience, 5 or so hours of usage (unauthorised tethering) and they're on to you. Pop it back in your phone, reboot or lose the tower, and you're back in business as far as internet access on the phone, but you're now on some kind of watch-list and they're a lot faster to catch on the second time. There are many ways to do this. If your phone/device supports it I suspect using the device as a wifi hotspot is among the safest but it's true that they are perfectly well able to detect it.
Re: Better way to mirror CPAN locally?
On Mon, 2012-05-07 at 13:21 +0100, gvim wrote: I currently use the script listed below, provided by Randall Schwartz, to mirror CPAN locally as I spend a lot of time Perl-ing without an internet connection. With CPAN now totalling around 2GB I'm wondering if there isn't a more efficient method as this script doesn't use any kind of rsync method and I end up just downloading the whole 2GB every time. Why don't you use rsync? http://www.cpan.org/misc/how-to-mirror.html#rsync
Re: Beware: NET-A-PORTER
On Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:58:29 -, Simon Wistow si...@thegestalt.org wrote: My health insurance premiums aren't much more than what I paid in NI back in the UK - about $100 a month I think. But in the US you have no cover once you stop paying so you need to factor in additional money to cover premiums when you are between jobs and consider the cost of premiums as part of your retirement planning.
Re: Beware: NET-A-PORTER
On 09/12/2011 13:10, James Laver wrote: You've never dealt with a vulturous recruiter, have you? Is there any other kind of recruiter?
Re: Implementing a Queue in a process
On Tue, 2011-11-22 at 08:23 +0100, Abigail wrote: My first idea is named piped, but the devil is in the details. A named pipe is a good solution. I've been using one for a specific task for almost 11 years without any particular problems. There is a serious drawback to this approach however - once you take something off the pipe it is gone forever. If the process reading from it fails for whatever reason you cannot replay the entries unless you have them logged elsewhere. It's never been a problem for me as my purpose for using this isn't too critical but for something important you either need a queuing method that logs or another solution. You don't even write which best you are looking for. Presumably the universal best - one in which someone else provides the solution and it's already implemented in an easy to use manner at little or no cost.
Re: london.pm Digest, Vol 73, Issue 15
On Tue, 2011-11-22 at 21:15 +0800, Shantanu Bhadoria wrote: I am controlling a couple of devices via a process that runs continuously and wait for tasks to be performed on those devices, Is that device able to multitask? Could you run multiple processes on that device to run the jobs as and when they arrive?
Re: Perl-friendly message queue-like system
On Thu, 2011-09-22 at 09:15 +0100, Martin A. Brooks wrote: I have a bunch of servers doing mail ilftering. I would like them to send tiny messages about the results of said filtering to a central point. I would then like something at the central point to pop messages off the queue and update a database. Think of it as sort of a centralised collection point for statistical data. If the odd message gets eaten, it really doesn't matter. Would a simple syslog based solution do the job? I still have a simple system in place that uses syslog to distribute messages as necessary with the target server throwing them into a pipe and a very simple perl script taking messages from the pipe and updating an authentication database. It is very simple and works very well.
Re: Writing About Perl
On Tue, 2011-08-23 at 11:39 +0100, Dave Cross wrote: So, purely hypothetically... If a popular Linux magazine had given you the opportunity to write a 3000 word article giving a practical project-based demonstration of how Perl had moved on in the last ten years, what would you do? What would you write about? 10 years ago the popular view was the perl always ended up with an unmaintainable code base and that it was not very easy to implement. I'd suggest something to show how the use of CPAN makes it easy to produce big projects without writing lots of code and that the code produced is easy to maintain. I'd also consider doing something on top of Plack and a popular web framework.
Re: Git Config
On Sat, 2011-08-20 at 11:32 +0100, Smylers wrote: Hello. How can I make the git diff command use the -b flag (aka --ignore-space-change) by default? Have you tried: git config --global apply.whitespace nowarn
Re: [ANNOUNCE] London Perl M[ou]ngers August Social - 2011-08-05 - The Victoria, Bayswater W2 2NH
On Wed, 2011-07-27 at 18:54 +0200, Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker wrote: The London.pm August social will be on Thursday 5th August Do you mean Thursday 4th August or Friday 5th August?
Re: Cool/useful short examples of Perl?
On Tue, 2011-05-31 at 15:06 +0100, Mark Fowler wrote: Depends if you're looking semi-technical or not. How about my hostify script that puts DNS entries into /etc/hosts? http://blog.twoshortplanks.com/2011/01/30/hostify/ Am I alone in finding the code elements of that page very hard to read - the deeper the grey gets the harder it is to read against a black background.
Re: Cool/useful short examples of Perl?
On Mon, 2011-05-30 at 16:27 +0100, Denny wrote:
if (! Email::Valid-address($email_address) ) {
Something wrong with 'unless'?
No but lots of people appear to find if to be more readable
If you're not worried about readability then why bother with either the
if or unless. Just do:
use Email::Valid;
Email::Valid-address($email_address) || print Not valid;
Re: Someone needs to take jwz aside...
On Wed, 2011-04-20 at 23:06 -0400, Jesse Vincent wrote: He's embarrassed that didn't think to run apt-get install libnet-twitter-perl? That doesn't work so well on a vanilla OS X box. Whcih is what his workstation is. That's not a perl fail but rather a fail on the part of those who package (or don't package) perl modules for that platform. In fairness it's also a fail on the various Linux platforms I've encountered too as nobody has, so far, produced a comprehensive cpan to $whatever_distro repository There is a toolchain bug. Perl's toolchain can't find XCode. Is it really the responsibility of the perl toolchain to do that? Surely it's a platform responsibility to provide a reliable dependency chain whether the platform is an OS distro or something else.
Re: Someone needs to take jwz aside...
On Wed, 2011-04-20 at 11:48 +0100, Andy Armstrong wrote: Yup - completely agree. This is one of the reasons I like the ::Tiny namespace so much. And the transient dependency explosion - and subsequent burden of updating those dependencies - i.e. the TCO of a Perl app - is the main reason we're not favouring Perl for new applications at the Beeb. So how are you handling the requirement to maintain the code doing what those many modules do? If you are not using a modular approach does that have any impact upon the TCO of maintaining the systems you are deploying?
Re: Someone needs to take jwz aside...
On Wed, 2011-04-20 at 12:27 +0100, Andy Armstrong wrote: Short answer: we're writing most of our new services in Java with a toolchain that makes a lot of dependency management problems go away :) Does that mean your java team will have to re-invent lots of wheels or will they be using established (and proven) code libraries?
Re: Perl on a smartphone?
On Wed, 2011-03-23 at 00:42 +, Anatolie Mazur wrote: I have Perl on my Android and Shell too Are there any special considerations with regard to perl under Android? I'm particularly interested to know if there are any restrictions beyond simply it can only be perl for modules.
Re: Webcasting the tech meets?
On Fri, 2011-03-11 at 08:17 +, Leo Lapworth wrote: If you wish to get the presenters written permission, and check if the venu is ok for each technical meeting, then actually video the talks and upload them I'm sure http://www.presentingperl.org/ would host them. But a live webcast would be asking too much of the venues. How about a single stream webcast from the venue which is then proxied by an external host which doesn't have the same bandwidth or other resource limits? Of course this would only be possible if the venue can provide at least 500kb/s of upload bandwidth and isn't affected by bandwidth usage limits.
Re: Jobs in London
On Thu, 2011-03-03 at 20:54 +, Peter Corlett wrote: Some employers offer roles that they call contracts but are really just time-limited permanent roles that need renewing. This seems to be mainly a way to avoid the employee protection kicking in after a year. In that case they are very stupid as those protections come into force as soon as you have been with an employee for a year on whatever basis even if the contract is not specifically a permanent one. The only difference with a fixed term contract is that it can end without further notice upon expiration of the fixed term except that if it has been renewed and there would be a reasonable expectation that it will be further renewed notice would be required to end it.
Re: Bulk domain registrar recommendations
On Wed, 2011-02-09 at 17:03 +, Paul Makepeace wrote: Which registrars have a decent features/price for someone with a few dozen domains? I use Resellerclub, OpenSRS, GoDaddy (I wish I didn't!) and Enom for domain registration, etc services. Resellerclub is probably the best of them for my purposes. They don't charge a membership fee and their prices are OK. They provide a reseller front end so you can pimp the services as well as using them and they also have an API which you can use if you don't like their front end.
Re: Server side chart/graph library?
On Thu, 2011-01-06 at 13:10 +, Jérôme Etévé wrote: Yep, charting is what I need (as I don't really feel rolling my own charting lib on top of any low level one :) ). I find GD::Graph works well for me.
Re: Any Kernel wizards out there?
On Thu, 2010-12-16 at 08:17 +0100, Stefan Scheytt wrote: There are some oddball machines here running on HP server hardware with openSUSE 2.6.22 kernels that like crashing randomly. My feeble attempts to switch them over to a different, freshly built kernel with kexec/kdump slappen on it have so far been in vain.. mainly because the storage doesn't want to play ball. Have you already checked to ensure the problems are not caused by hardware issues? If the crashes really are random it usually points to hardware.
Re: Any of the sysadmins here fancy a bit of freelance work?
On Wed, 2010-12-15 at 01:27 +, David Cantrell wrote: I have a hideously out-of-date Debian 3.1 machine that needs upgrading to latest-stable. Any of you lovely people fancy doing it in exchange for copious beer tokens and my eternal love? It's probably worth giving an indication of the services running on it as that will determine how easily the upgrade can be done.
Re: Need a CRUD thing
On Sat, 2010-08-28 at 09:22 +0100, Simon Cozens wrote: If only there were a web application framework in Perl that's really simple to use and comes with a nice set of built-in CRUD templates. Nope, can't think of anything. Wow, you should write one of those. There may even be people out there who would use it to do things like tracking their drinking experiences.
Re: Nice traffic RSS feed
On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 10:15 +, Michael Lush wrote: I've been writing a little traffic warning script for my nslu2 (nothing special it plays traffic jam noises if there is a problem on the road to work:-) Anyway I started out scraping the BBC traffic page, however I had cause to look for a better source and came across this rss feed from the Highways agency on this page (http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/11253.aspx) http://www.highways.gov.uk/rssfeed/rss.xml Thought someone else may find it useful (I like it, it even has the lat/lon of the incident so I can limit the search to bits of the A14 I actually use) Thanks. That looks very useful although it's a shame it only includes unplanned events so most causes of serious traffic problems (roadworks) wont be covered by it.
Re: Fun Friday afternoon topic: domain name disputes
On Tue, 2010-02-09 at 14:46 +, Aaron Trevena wrote: If it would be a co.uk domain, she could probably go to a UK court. Since this is a .com domain, I think any UK judge will quickly dismiss on the grounds that it is an American domain, so that she should go to court in the U.S. of A. And *that* will prove to become very costly very quickly indeed. no .co.us would be an american domain, .com is a global TLD, so it's anybodies. That's true but only to a limited extent as .COM domains are registered subject to the terms and conditions of the ICANN approved registries which pretty much all state that legal disputes regarding the domain registration must be settled in the courts of that registries home country or, more commonly, in the USA. Certainly a judge in an English (and Welsh) or Scots court would not refuse to hear a case arising from a dispute but if the other party responds to the case pointing out that the domain is registered subject to the laws of some other jurisdiction the judge may decide that it's appropriate to direct the plaintiff to bring the case there. That said the court is just as likely to hear the case and make an order on the basis that the order should be enforceable through the courts of the other jurisdiction. OTOH, national businesses using an global TLD is hateful. Why? The global TLDs are not reserved to multinationals. They are, rightly, first come first served subject to reasonable restrictions in law - ie trademark, etc.
Re: Fun Friday afternoon topic: domain name disputes
On Fri, 2010-02-05 at 14:29 +0100, mirod wrote: My friend owns the trademark for the name in Europe, the US and Asia. It is a very distinct name and a Google search on the name returns only hits related to her product. So it looks like a clear case of cyber-squatting to me. It might be. It depends upon whether the domain name was registered in bad faith (see http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp-policy-24oct99.htm for details) or not. Do bear in mind that Trademark protects a name in relation to a specific market segment and is not universal so if the current registrant was using the name in connection with some other market segment or not commercially and specifically in a manner not likely to cause confusion as to who was using it your friend might not have a right to try and take the domain via a DRP. I am not sure what she can do about it though. It seems like the only solution is to go to court, and there have been very few cases that went to trial. Perhaps the registry operator the domain was registered through (as shown in the whois record) operates a dispute resolution service although many of them effectively don't. WIPO is an option for a dispute on a .com domain but it will be expensive and slow. It's really designed to accommodate the needs and desires of larger companies. If the person who has registered the domain is based in the UK taking them to court over the matter should not be too hard. If they are elsewhere you might well have to bring action in a US court which will be expensive.
Re: No more IP for you
On Wed, 2010-01-20 at 15:51 +, Roger Burton West wrote: That's OK, TCP timeouts aren't long enough for the lightspeed delay. IP != TCP ;)
Re: No more IP for you
On Wed, 2010-01-20 at 09:07 +, Mike Whitaker wrote: So, there's still nearly half a billion addresses unallocated? Do I /really/ need to worry /just/ yet? Absolutely yes. You need to be terrified or you wont go our and spend oodles on new routers and switches which have a half arsed implementation of IPv6. How else do you expect Cisco, et al to meet their sales targets? Seriously though the issue of IPv4 exhaustion is a real one that we either face up to now or accept serious consequences later. Excessively large allocations made years ago waste vast ranges of IPv4 and it's not likely that those will be recovered so Luis is right that early entrants to the market (and those who have bought them up) will have significant business opportunities soon while new entrants will be screwed.
Re: Domain acquisition
On Mon, 2009-12-14 at 08:52 -0800, Ask Bjørn Hansen wrote: But what is the etiquette in these situations? I'd rather not reveal to them to what extent my friend is interested in the domains. To hide that I have to go through aliases or proxies. Which feels just a bit sordid, somehow... 1) Offer more money. No reason to reveal who the real buyer is or what the domain is for. 2) Consider if the recipient is actually getting your message (assuming they're not responding). There was an unused domain we wanted where we offered $1000 (or something like that) but never got a response. Some time later the domain expired and we could get it for $70 or some such from the registrar that controlled the almost-deleted domain. There is also the possibility that they know that replying to any expressions of interest at all may result in the an increased risk of the domain being snatched through whatever systems the registry has in place to deal with abusive registrations (a process that can be and is abused to steal domain registrations). I occasionally receive emails asking about one of my domains and I never reply to them in any way whatsoever. I do, however, renew them to keep them.
Re: Online payment providers
On Thu, 18 Sep 2003, Sam Vilain wrote: For new businesses though other banks tend not to offer the service without very large bonds, if at all. I didn't have £5,000 to £10,000 to give to the bank for this. I know of a company who were charged a £500,000 deposit for their merchant account. Probably to do with their turnover and market though. From what I understand that's the rough price of a payment gateway where you only get charged 2.5%. Online transactions always attract premium charges even though there seems to be little or not evidence to support claims that there is a higher risk of fraud. Internet merchants also seem to be required to pay higher deposits. But you still get stung £25 for chargebacks. I cannot remember what worldpay charge for them. I avoid them by the simple expedient of checking all transactions and refunding those that seem dodgy - two in the past 18 months of trading with a total value of about £4.00. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: back to the 80's
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003, Steve Keay wrote: Does anyone happen to have a collection of old computers like BBC micros, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, ZX 81, etc? My g/f wants to photograph them for a book being published for the Reader's Digest as well as an annual price guide for lunatics that collect things. The British Computer Museum at Bletchley Park have quite a good collection of old personal computer equipment including, I think, all of the above. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Online payment providers
On Sun, 14 Sep 2003, nemesis wrote: Netbanx: http://www.netinvest.co.uk/ncr/netbanx/ Of the ones listed these are the only ones I would specifically avoid. On the few occassions I've had to pay via their service it's been impossible as their site only seemed to work with a browser from a certain company in Redmond. Worldpay: http://www.worldpay.co.uk/ I am using Worldpay and their service works really well for me. If you subscribe to their Select Junior service you can use the perl module I've written to handle the transactions and callbacks from WorldPay. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exim and HELO
On Wed, 10 Sep 2003, Paul Makepeace wrote: Thanks for this! I implemented the rejecting plain IP and non-FQDN suggestions rejecting rfc-breaching [EH]LO strings, and now it's cheaply 550'ing hundreds every day here. I wonder what the long-term falsepos rate is... I've had one definite falsepos from a server announcing itself with an IP address so you really need a whitelist to go with it and occasional scans of logs and/or some reporting mechanism. I'd strongly recommend against blocking sites because they announce with an IP unless they are offering an IP other than the one they connect from. Lots of servers are poorly configured and a facist configuration will prevent genuine email as well as spam. A whitelist is only going to help you after you've already permanently rejected a message. Maybe you can modify the rule so that you check $sender_helo_name against the client IP. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exim and HELO
On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, Robin Berjon wrote: It's Willow. My oh my. To say I had been putting such an absurd notion on the back of the fact that they were rosbifs. You're making me doubt if building that tunnel was a good idea, maybe it was better off as an island. Faith Faith Faith Faith Faith. No, it's definitely Willow - particularly in leather. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exim and HELO
On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, Rafael Garcia-Suarez wrote: No, it's definitely Willow - particularly in leather. What do you guys have about this leather thing ? It's the great British passion - leather on willow. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exim and HELO
On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, David Landgren wrote: I hope you succeed in doing in your MTA of choice. If you can drop the connection before DATA, you can save a lot of bandwidth. You may safely reject any SMTP connection that announces itself this way (HELO compuserve.com) Just be sure you only match on compuserve.com as if you match subdomains you'll be blocking email from a lot of people. yahoo.com is another one to look for. Their servers announce themselves using FQDNs. Hotmail doesn't, may they roast in hell. It's that a given? If you get this to work there are two other easy ones to block: HELO 1.2.3.4 (where 1.2.3.4 is the public IP address of your MTA) and HELO example.com (where example.com is your domain name). And HELO localhost as well as HELO [ any unqualified hostname ] Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Dave and Religion
On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, Earle Martin wrote: For a start there's the three they get into enough trouble with just by admitting their existence: God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit (whatever that is). One being - three persons. It's funny how everyone forgets that there are actually branches of Christianity that *don't* believe in the trinitarian doctrine. Which ones and what do they believe? I know that some faiths call themselves Christian but don't seem to have a clear view on who Jesus is and who he meant by the Father and the Spirit. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Dave and Religion
On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, Earle Martin wrote: More than I ever knew about the subject: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarianism I count myself as a Unitarian Universalist. http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/uufaq.html Of the two urls the second seemed to contain more answers whereas the first seems to be more about people and what they didn't beleive. shrug. What you believe is your choice. I've looked at lots of other faiths and none of them seem to satisfy my own experiences of life and the supernatural. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Dave and Religion
On Fri, 5 Sep 2003, Iain Tatch wrote: Only in Monotheistic religions, and the only one of those that's got any substantial following in this country is Judaism. One of my favourite Christian-baiting tactics (when I'm in that sort of mood) is to put forward my proposition that they have a pantheon of gods. Christianity is a derived form of Judaism. It teaches that there is one God and that's it. For a start there's the three they get into enough trouble with just by admitting their existence: God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit (whatever that is). One being - three persons. Then you've got a couple of other major deities such as the Virgin Mary (especially revered in Catholicism) and Satan, and a host of minor gods who they usually name saints. Neither is a God. Mary is human and that's it. She is revered as an example (as are the saints). Satan is just a messanger whose gone off message. His name, Satan, means accuser and that's basically what he does according to Christian teaching - he accuses us before ourselves and God. All very simple. ;) It's also all very beside the point. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Dave and Religion
On Fri, 5 Sep 2003, Iain Tatch wrote: If he / she / it is worshipped, then regardless of what name they're given, I still maintain it's a god. While some people fall into that trap there are not many Catholics who worshop Mary at all. Certainly the official position of the Church is that doing so is forbidden. She's no more a God than Madonna is. Do those who adore Madonna generally do so as a god? If a devout christian walks into a church and kneels at the foot of a statue of Mary and crosses him/herself, then that to me is a worship of that particular god. There is a whole bunch of teaching regarding this in the Church just as with icons. It all comes down to the same thing - focal points while considering something too big to be a single point of focus. It's also a side show of an issue. If you send a prayer for salvation to Jesus, Mary, and all the saints, you're hedging your bets -- if one of those gods won't save you, at least there's a chance one of the others is will. I've never heard a catholic send up such a prayer. The only prayers I've heard addressed to Mary or the saints is pray for us. Viewed from the outside, Christianity is an extremely polytheistic religion, regardless of the claims of its followers. I can see that. It's also poorly understood inside the ranks too. Many people have reversed the whole thing to sanitise it. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Dave and Religion
On Fri, 5 Sep 2003, Robin Berjon wrote: You are being presented an external view yet answer with theology -- theology is of little importance to the external eye. The old Egyptian/Kemetic religion is often called polytheistic, when in fact their theology claims that there is only one Divinity (it just happens to have lots of names). How often are stereotypes correct? You are asserting a stereotype about a religious group. I answered with a couple of facts. I did not state theology other than as absolutely necessary. Between those who believe and those who do not lies a very large gulf. All of it is inconsequential in respect to Christianity as everything an outsider see is just trappings and fundementally it's worthless stuff. She's no more a God than Madonna is. Do those who adore Madonna generally do so as a god? Dunno. She sure looks good in some of those leather outfits. A god of slaughtered cows? ;) Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Ob-buffy
On 3 Sep 2003, Randal L. Schwartz wrote: http://www.reason.com/0308/cr.vp.why.shtml Sorry for me this The mere existence of Buffy proves the declinists wrong about one thing: Hollywood commercialism can produce great art. Complex and evolving characters turns the whole article into shite. Hollywood commercialism had it's chance with Buffy and produced the movie - truly awful rubbish that nearly frightened any TV network from buying the show when Joss finally got complete control to make it himself. Still - it was the best TV ever made ;) Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Ob-buffy
On Wed, 3 Sep 2003, Elizabeth Mattijsen wrote: Still - it was the best TV ever made ;) You jest surely. Have you never seen The Prisoner or Twin Peaks? Ah, the ignorance of youth... ;-) I am not that young and I watched both The Prisoner and Twin Peaks. Neither is as good in my opinion. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: gzipping your websites WINRAR 40 days trial
On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, the hatter wrote: It's certainly not what I'd call anywhere close to being standard or universal. I'm told it's fairly popular in (some?) Usenet binary newsgroups as a standard way of distributing warez and moviez. Certainly a majority of warez that show up on our network are rars (and they tend to be single large files, so they're not directly taken from multipart usenet posts) They might have been. The .rar file is what you get after recombining the multipart messages. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: DOS/WIN archivers of the mid 1990s (was Re: gzipping your websitesWINRAR 40 days trial)
On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Roger Burton West wrote: Both correct, though I've never seen PAR actually produce a result. Download a large enough set of rar component files (as in grabbing Buffy each week) and you'll soon find how useful par files are. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: insidious biometrics, identity crises
On Mon, 1 Sep 2003, Piers Cawley wrote: *You only have to be able to produce your driving license when asked, and *you have up to 7 days to do so. You don't have to be carrying it. Well, I suspect something similar would happen with an ID card. How would they know who to arrest if nobody turned up with the ID card within seven days? Given that the proposals call for biometric data to be stored on the card and in the system I assume that once cards are compulsory (probably even before then) the police will have powers to take a biometric sample from anyone they stop as a matter of course. Then they'd just look up the matching record(s) and thus know who to arrest for not showing up. Organised criminals would just forge ID cards as necessary and always carry them thus satisfying the cursory checks likely to be carried out in any situation where the person stopped is not arrested on the spot. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: insidious biometrics, identity crises
On Mon, 1 Sep 2003, Piers Cawley wrote: Cop with gun: Show me your ID, sir! Me: I'm terribly sorry, I don't have my wallet about my person. CwG: Okay, what's you're name and address? Me: Albert Urquhart of 72, Regent Square, Doncaster. CwG: Postcode? Me: Um... I've just moved in, terribly sorry I can't remember it. CwG: Right, you have seven days to produce your ID card at any police station -- here's the appropriate bit of paper to bring along with it. Me: Right ho. Have a nice day. If they require my DNA they are going to have to arrest me to get it. Refusing to provide it will probably be made an offence and you could then find yourself sharing a cell with Big Ron. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now UKPOST.COM get your @ukpost.com address now... http://www.ukpost.com/ professional hosting/ADSL Broadband
Re: insidious biometrics, identity crises
On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Sam Vilain wrote: He My s.o. has been ill for years with extreme pain, fatigue, and He brain troubles. She's starting to recover after having had her He fillings exchanged for composite ones last year. Without doing He much in the way of detox, some of her symptoms have almost He completely gone, and the rest about half better. /me considers getting all his amalgam fillings changed to composite... Everything I've seen on that issue indicates that it's a danger only for those who have an allergic reaction to the mercury traces. That said I am not confident that sufficient (any?) real research has been carried out on the long term effects. It's not possible to composite for all filings either which is a problem for those of us who have needed root canal filing work. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
RE: [OT] SQL woes
On Thu, 21 Aug 2003, Colin Magee wrote: As a Perl beginner who has realised I need to set up a database, I have to add that I immediately went for MySQL due to all the attention it seems to have, and bought a few books to get me started. The whole thing - using installing etc etc looks hellish complicated AND I haven't even been able to install it. What Linux distro are you running? Pretty much all of them offer binary packages of MySQL so you should be able to use rpm or apt-get to install it. All I can see is where the files are installed in my copy of Linux. So it looks as if you already have to know what you're doing in order to use it which is useless for a beginner and teh antithesis it seems to me of what Perl is all about - because you don't already have to know what you're doing to get started/ use it. I disagree. Installing MySQL is very simple. Using it with perl is as simple as: perldoc DBI read and learn. The same is true for PostgreSQL. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
RE: [OT] SQL woes
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003, Colin Magee wrote: What Linux distro are you running? SuSE 8.1. As I say, I can see the files installed in usr/bin, as root, but when I try running it I get all sorts of error messages: 1.Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock. Try checking mysqld is running and that the socket exists 2.When I try to run mysqld independently, or add it to my .bashrc it doesn't work either. That's not what you need to do. First check that you have the mysql server package installed: rpm -qa | grep mysql will give you a list of all of the mysql packages installed. Like many others SuSE provide several packages and the server may not have been installed by default. Once you have the server package installed make sure it is started at boot: chkconfig --add [package] chkconfig --level [level] [package] on Where [package] is the name of the server package and level is the runlevel you start your system at. 3.Even if the above did work, I understand there are a number of other setup and admin tasks with MySQL. ie. you need to run mysql_install_db, set permissions, passwords and so forth. The rpm will initialist MySQL for you. The frist task will to set the root password as by default there isn't one. The database is only for my use, so (1 + 2 + 3) = not straightforward in my book. That's why the rpm does it for you. As I said previously PostgreSQL is pretty much the same. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: [OT] SQL woes
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003, Nigel Hamilton wrote: And one day when I can afford a cluster I'm hoping to implement the MySQL DB replication Hack (outlined in Linux Server Hacks) to distribute parts of the database onto the nodes. I'm using that and it works beautifully. It'd also very easy to recover when you do something stupid resulting in the database getting out of sync (on a test box - I try to keep away from production systems when I am on the stupid). Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: [OT] SQL woes
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003, Simon Wistow wrote: So, to sum up this thread : 1. PostGres has some advantages 2. MySql has some advantages 3. Oracle has some advantages 4. SQLite has some advantages 5. All of the above have disadvantages. 6. There will be a film. At 11. Which will be delayed for a new advertising campaign promoting MS-SQL. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Bra
On Fri, 15 Aug 2003, Nicholas Clark wrote: This counts as art rather than debauchery? On the basis that debauchery is frowned on at social meetings? Anyway, this seems unlikely, given Leon's previous insistence that he won't be wearing it. Count the number of people who pat him on the back at the meeting just to check ;) Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Bra
On Fri, 15 Aug 2003, Ali Young wrote: and the number of people who try to ping his bra strap [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~ ping bra-strap.leon ping: unknown host bra-strap.leon Jason -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exporting from .mdb Access files
On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Paul Makepeace wrote: It seems like if you can get an instance of Access running with the file, you should be able to use ODBC to extract the data. Indeed, but that would require running Windows, obtaining a copy license for Access, not to mention all the faffing with DSN and connect permissions, AFAIK. In all, it would add to the number of my problems, rather than reduce them :-) Isn't there a system that does have a license to run Access somewhere - ie where the mdb file came from? I agree that it's not ideal however neither is it ideal to be making the conversions on a platform without full access to the data. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Exporting from .mdb Access files
On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Chris Devers wrote: For that matter, if you can run Access then I'm pretty sure you can avoid ODBC by saving the tables into Excel format (I'm pretty sure there's an option for this; at least, there used to be an option...) and then using Spreadsheet::ParseExcel to extract the data fro the resulting .xls file. Of course, running Access itself might be a pain under Wine... :-/ If you can bear to run access you get download Access Visual Basic scripts to convert the database to a MySQL or PgSQL dump format file. I've done this in the past and it worked well. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: License question
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003, Nigel Wetters wrote: I guess some of you have thought about licensing issues, so might be able to help me. I have some code that can't be included in the Debian project because it doesn't work without some bundled data. The bundled data is free (as in beer), but has a non-Debian-compliant license (it cannot be used to spam people). I can only assume that the data includes personal identifying data such as email addresses if it can be used in such a manner. Why not simply remove the data altogether and release the application with notes on how to build the required data. Then the application can stand on it's own. So long as it does not depend upon the specific data you provide that should work and you could still include details in the readme file of the data you have available and where it can be obtained. I would comment however that if you are publishing such identifying data you probably require the explicit consent of those identified in it. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Eurocracy sucks.
On Mon, 14 Jul 2003, Earle Martin wrote: My wife, who is not from within the EU, requires a Schengen Visa[0] to come with me to YAPC::EU. So, I just called the French consulate's visa appointment booking line (which costs a fucking outrageous pound a minute) to try and get her one. They haven't got any appointments free until the 4th of August. My wife, and some of her friends, have the same issue. The solution is to completely ignore all this nonsense about making appointments and just show up at the Embassy. You will have to wait most (all?) of the day but you should get seen. So long as she has all the required documentation she should be able to get the VISA sorted out in time. It's usual for the VISA to be posted out to arrive after about a week. Note the amount of time you have to wait will be dependant upon how busy it is, whether there's anything good on the lunch menu, etc. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Eurocracy sucks.
On Mon, 14 Jul 2003, Earle Martin wrote: VISA ISSUING PROCEDURE Please note that all persons wishing to apply for visas to visit France MUST make an APPOINTMENT BY TELEPHONE before attending and submitting their documents in person at the Consulate. THE PHONE NUMBER IS : 09065 540 700 Applicants MUST NOT attend at the Consulate without first making an appointment using the AUTOMATED TELEPHONE APPOINTMENTS BOOKINGS SERVICE. The AUTOMATED TELEPHONE APPOINTMENTS BOOKINGS SERVICE is the ONLY way by which you can make an appointment. People without appointments will NOT be admitted at the Consulate. Well my wife didn't need one. I cannot imagine how they expect to deal with people who are not online and will simply turn up at the Consulate - ie the majority of people - as they wont have that information prior to arriving at the Consulate and will expect to be seen. I'd try just turning up. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: [gear] Spare 1U?
On Wed, 9 Jul 2003, Andrew Beattie wrote: Builtin NIC, VGA (as mentioned elsewhere) A 1U PSU - they are expensive! Low profile fan. A motherboard that has the spare footprint for a low profile CPU fan (they are wider, so you need more empty real estate round the CPU) You should use a large-die CPU because it offers a larger contact area with the heatsink - heat can be a problem in 1U. You also need a motherboard that supports memory being installed at an angle that has been designed to provide for decent airflow through the case. The case should similarly be designed for good airflow with additional fans as necessary. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Broadband available now
Re: Linux firewall / web server
On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Martin Bower wrote: I'm going to build a Linux firewall web server at home (not necessarily the same box) and wondered if anyone can advise of the best route to go. I've seen smoothwall, but would I be better hardening a linux install ? if so, which flavour ? I'll be installing Apache, mod_perl, + db on the same box, so maybe this will influence your recommendation ? As far as I know none of the pre-cooked firewall distros are suitable if you want to install a fully functioning webserver on the box - certainly Smoothwall/IPCop are not. What the best approach will be depends, as ever, upon what you really want to do with it, what you want to protect and the level of protection you want. I suspect you'll need to roll your own. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ ADSL Available Now
Re: Class::DBI
On Sat, 28 Jun 2003, Alex McLintock wrote: The problem I have is that I can't see how to build up more complicated queries such as give me the first one hundred book titles Now I am using MySQL which I don't think can limit the number of records returned... but I do have a title number so I could try to do something like Yes it can. From the manual: SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 100; # Retrieve first 100 rows or SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 5,10 # Rows 6-15 The syntax is LIMIT offset, max_rows_to_return The MySQL manual is very good. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: DBD::Pg - insert_id
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Raf wrote: I haven't used postgres for a while, but I used to use something like select(next_val(my_sequence)) and then insert this in or something along those lines. If you find the sp I mean, which grabs the next id in the sequence id, it'll work for you.. How safe is this in environments where lots of separate processes, using separate connections to the database, are updating the same table? With the MySQL insert_id method you get the result of a completed insertion so you know for certain what it is. If you grab the number in advance isn't there a risk that another process will insert a record first and get the sequence number you're expecting? Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: DBD::Pg - insert_id
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Roger Burton West wrote: How safe is this in environments where lots of separate processes, using separate connections to the database, are updating the same table? That's the point of sequences. They are guaranteed to work. The procedore of getting a new number and incrementing the counter for the next process tha wants a new number is atomic. Wouldn't that result is latency serving application database requests in a busy environment? In the case where an application is written poorly so that it grabs the sequence number and spends time on $OTHER_TASK before performing the actual insert other database clients will suffer delays wont they or does the method used allow breaks in the sequence? If you grab the number in advance isn't there a risk that another process will insert a record first and get the sequence number you're expecting? Not if the program has been written by someone vaguely competent. There is a little voice in my head shouting about how many programs I see are written by the incompetent. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: DBD::Pg - insert_id
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Jason Clifford wrote: In the case where an application is written poorly so that it grabs the sequence number and spends time on $OTHER_TASK before performing the actual insert other database clients will suffer delays wont they or does the method used allow breaks in the sequence? I'll get my coat - a quick check of the FAQ informs me that sequence breaks are indeed the solution used for this. For some applications that would be a bad thing but not that many I suppose. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: Number Indicating Participation in London.pm (NIPL) (was:assimilating CPAN)
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, the hatter wrote: You think the majority of l.pm'ers get buffy on their TV ? I suspect more of them download it. Though we might get a better idea now the season is finished again, and see how many more people come out on thursday nights. That was never a problem for me as Tuesday was my Buffy night (yes, I downloaded it when it was shown in the US). Thursday however is the night my wife goes to college so I am invited over to her place in order to look after our kids. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: DBD::Pg - insert_id
On Fri, 20 Jun 2003, Luis Campos de Carvalho wrote: AFAIK, this is the safest method of updating the same table using different processes. The sequence never offers the same value for two different requests, even when they're parallel. Unless you have multiple servers accepting inserts to the same database with a unique record id (a terrible idea, I know) parallel isn't a problem as the database should handle that (MySQL certainly does). With the MySQL insert_id method you get the result of a completed insertion so you know for certain what it is. MySQL don't implement transactions. Yes it does. As others keep pointing out it's just a matter of table type with current version of MySQL. When you commit your transaction, you're sure that everything is fine. And then you could get the current value from the sequence using SELECT sequence_name.currval (...) or something like this. I don't remember exactly the attribute name, please take a look at your manual. I know it just seems an expensive way of doing it. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: [Advert] indy hardware for sale
On Mon, 9 Jun 2003, the hatter wrote: If people are looking to consolidate, I'll quite happily exchange their indys for assorted decent (18-36GB) scsi drives of the appropriate types (I assume they're either SCA or 68 pin micro D) So if anyone wants to buy one of the machines, and buy a disk off me for the price of the other, I'll happily take the other. If you have 18GB or 36GB SCI drives for a reasonable price I may well be interested in those. How much? Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: Making perl modules for CPAN
On Mon, 9 Jun 2003, Nicholas Clark wrote: cheaper than free? I think you've missed an important point of the case he's describing With existing hardware and free minutes that would otherwise go to waste at the end of the month, there's no cost in using the 9.6 modem. The other options you describe, although faster, involve spending money. Then it comes down to the usual how valuable is your time question. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: The Perl Color?
On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Joshua Keroes wrote: Perl is black. Not so. It is multicoloured: shebang is purple; directives/function calls are orange variables are light blue quoted strings are red comments are navy blue Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: Net::Whois::RIPE
On Thu, 29 May 2003, Chris Andrews wrote: You'll be lucky. There's a whole bunch of different 'standards' for the output of whois servers, but there doesn't seem to be a module that understands them all. I've had a lot of success with Net::XWhois which seems to address this issue. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: [PUB] Green Man, Marylebone, big function room
On Thu, 3 Apr 2003, Kate L Pugh wrote: On the way home I remembered the Green Man, which is near Great Portland Street and Regent's Park tubes, and has a huge function room in the basement that they've been quite happy to reserve for even quite small groups in the past. We use the Green Man for beer after GLLUG meetings and it is very good. I'd recommend giving it a try. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: [PUB] Green Man, Marylebone, big function room
On Fri, 4 Apr 2003, Paul Mison wrote: UKBloggers met there in February, so evidently it's doing something right for the 'large groups of people thing'. (Not that I was there, but I didn't see any complaints about it in the subsequent days.) On occassion when GLLUG has met there we've seen other fairly large groups of people too. On one occassion we shared the downstairs with a Pratchett fan meeting (we really should have tried a few tortoise sacrifices to wind them up ;) ) Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: [OT] Broken sendmail
On 1 Apr 2003, Dave Cross wrote: I've just worked at that at some point on Saturday 22nd March, my Linux box decided to stop sending emails out. On 22nd March I installed some new rpms via Redhat's up2date tool. These were: nscd-2.3.2-4.80 Sat 22 Mar 2003 03:09:43 PM GMT glibc-profile-2.3.2-4.80 Sat 22 Mar 2003 03:09:41 PM GMT glibc-devel-2.3.2-4.80 Sat 22 Mar 2003 10:20:48 AM GMT glibc-common-2.3.2-4.80 Sat 22 Mar 2003 10:19:28 AM GMT glibc-2.3.2-4.80 Sat 22 Mar 2003 10:18:33 AM GMT evolution-1.0.8-11 Sat 22 Mar 2003 10:17:28 AM GMT But I can't really see how any of those would effect mail (I use mutt, not Evolution for mail). A glibc update often requires that you restart daemonised applications such as sendmail. Have you tried restarting it? Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign up now
Re: Beginners Help Needed again
On Fri, 21 Mar 2003, Brian Smart wrote: I am trying to get the following cgi script called ice_cream.cgi to work. I has been copied from the 'Learning perl' book. When I call the script I get an error message: Error Message: Permission denied Error Number: 13 Can someone explain what I might be doing wrong? It's not your script. The error is specifically about a permissions issue. Is the script executable? Assuming you are on a *NIX platform chmod u+x the script. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
RE: Beginners Help Needed again
On Fri, 21 Mar 2003, Brian Smart wrote: My web server is unix Apache. I am running Window2000 on my machine. If I use ssh to contact my website, change to the cgi-bin directory and enter ./icecream.cgi as stated with the web host documentation, I get the following: Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd snip Unfortunately this means nothing to me. I hope it means something to you all! The output is the HTML for your webpage and it proves that the script is executable by your userid and that the path to the perl interpreter is correct. It would seem reasonable to state that the problem is that the script is not executable by the web process. Ensure that the user your apache process runs as has execute and read rights to the script. The easiest way to do this is probably chmod 705 ice-cream.cgi Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: Starting Again
On Tue, 18 Mar 2003, Brian Smart wrote: I started to learn Perl and then had a period in Hospital which has put me right back where I started. I would like to delete all references to Perl on my website so that I can start from scratch. My website is hosted on an Apache server and I use windows2000 on my PC. I tried to delete all the Perl related files on the server but ended up with some directories that could not be deleted because the directory held files that I could not view. Some help or advise would be greatly appreciated. If you cannot view or delete the files from FTP this usually indicates that the web process created the files with odd permissions. The easiest way to resolve this is to nicely ask your web hosting company to remove the files for you. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: DNS blocklist software?
On Tue, 11 Mar 2003, Paul Makepeace wrote: Has anyone implemented a barebones or better DNS blocklist? I'm wondering if Net::DNS::Update might appear somewhere there, and what changes to named.conf would be needed. Basically I'm trying to keep my secondary MXs aware of any IPs that are pissing me off. I am running such a blocklist here (spamsource.ukpost.com - the IPs of servers from which I have received SPAM, and yes anyone can use it) and it's fairly trivial to do. It's just a simple DNS zone so you configure it as any other in BIND (or other). Keeping it up to date is a simple matter of adding/removing entries to the zone (typically two entries in the zone file per IP - one that returns an A record and one that returns a TXT record being the error message to return). If you want to update the zone from a script and want the updates live immediately then Net::DNS::Update will work well for this however do be warned that you can end up with very large journal files. Alternatively, if you are not adding thousands of entries each our simply update the zone file manually of via a simple script and reload the name server. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: mailsewer etiquette
On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, David Cantrell wrote: I run a secondary MX for an ex-colleague's domain, in exchange for him doing the same for me. I have noticed recently that particular messages get stuck in my queue for him, despite his server being up. Judging from the sender addresses, they're spam. Question is - is it polite for him to reject messages coming from his MX secondaries, for reasons such as ... r.latency.net [209.123.200.18]: 450 27155_12766_200303031042~2602e1fd06ada994ea [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Sender address rejected: Domain not found especially as he sends a 450, which is SO wrong, as I damned well know that the destination address exists. It's not the recipient address his server is bitching about but rather the sender address. Obviously your ex-collegue has set his mail server up to be very strict in who it accepts email from. Sending a 450 is probably the correct behaviour as a name resolution failure at his end may be the result of a temporary DNS failure. My own feeling on this is that if you are going to offer secondary MX it is a good idea to either have very similar policies in this regard or simply to accept that you will end up with lots of timed out messages and failed bounces in your queue for n (often 5) days. UKFSN offers this service on a commercial basis and I've decided to accept that we'll see such failed messages however our backup MX server is dedicated to the job so resources are not a problem. Are you really seeing so many messags that it has become a serious issue for you? Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: mailsewer etiquette
On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, David Cantrell wrote: especially as he sends a 450, which is SO wrong, as I damned well know that the destination address exists. It's not the recipient address his server is bitching about but rather the sender address. According to RFC 821, a 450 status means mailbox unavailable. Yes the code means that however I think we all know that many folks use whatever 4xx number they've seen before just to indicate a temporary failure and rely upon the message text to inform of the actual error condition. Are you really seeing so many messags that it has become a serious issue for you? No, it's just a bit irritating. Yes I know. I regularly check up on our backup MX server and manually remove messages that are obviously dead. I suppose I could just leave it however this way there are fewer futile delivery attempts. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: Microptomisation games
On Fri, 28 Feb 2003, darren chamberlain wrote: my $left = shift; # this/self my $right = shift; # the other obeject my $rev = shift; # have the args been reversed by perl? But you can do that anyway: my ($left # this/self $right # the other obeject $rev) = @_; # have the args been reversed by perl? But the latter method is more susceptible to maintainance errors in my view. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
RE: London.pm Aptitude Test
On Thu, 27 Feb 2003, Chris Devers wrote: Ducks!!! Do you like ducks? Funny, I don't remember that one ever coming up before... In a pancake with spring onions, cucumber and hoi sin sauce. Yum! Jason -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
RE: London.pm Aptitude Test
On Thu, 27 Feb 2003, David Wright wrote: Ducks are edible and rather delicious. Therefore infinitely preferable to kittens, which are a bit scrawny. I suspect kitten may have about as much edible meat as duck. I regularly cook duck and it's bloody hard to get them with a decent amount of eating meat on them. I'm thinking of complaining to the local council about the ones in the local pond ;) Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: London.pm Aptitude Test
On Thu, 27 Feb 2003, CyberTiger wrote: Do you like pie ? Yes. Do you like kittens ? With orange sauce. Do you like Buffy ? I like Willow more but yes she'll do. Do you like beer ? Is that a question? I'm sure I missed a few things, feel free to add some more :) Do you use perl? Jason -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Get the T-Shirt Now
Re: Domain reseller survey
On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Paul Makepeace wrote: Is anyone else reselling domain names? (Or even ICANN accredited?!) I recently become a value added service provider for BulkRegister and am poking about with their API. (You can either contact them via HTTPS POSTs or send XML at a socket. It's nice if only to check domain availability, and have a programmatic way to change nameservers en masse.) Who else provides these kinds of services? In particular BR don't offer *.uk registrations. We use OpenSRS however we do .UK registrations directly as it's trivially easy to interface with Nominet's automaton and cheaper too. Jason Clifford -- UKFSN.ORG Finance Free Software while you surf the 'net http://www.ukfsn.org/ Sign Up Now
