Yann Kerhervé's blog

My take on installing gerrit (git code review tool) on ubuntu

I've used one main resource, but comments are closed, so I've decided to throw random remarks in this post, for myself and for you dear googler.

The reference is here:

http://gregmeiste.com/2009/06/gerrit-code-review-installation/

It looks much better than the official documentation, at least if like my you don't usually touch java stuff.

• I used ubuntu 9.04 (xen)
• apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client postfix
• I've started installing java packages (sun-java6 sun-java6-jre libcommons-configuration-java libservlet2.4-java un-java6-javadb) not sure all are usefull though
• Step 4: I didn't use phpmysql to create gerrit2 user but:
  'GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON 'gerrit2'.* TO 'gerrit2'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTIONS; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;'
• Step 9: when you are done editing GerritServer.properties you should move it to /home/gerrit2/cfg and chown it to gerrit2 user.
• Step 11: though jetty7 should work (using the distribution package?) I went for the latest 6 version.
• Step 12: I'm not sure about this 'plus' directory. I've done what she said, but l've also put stuff into 'jetty/lib/ext/' 
• Also, in addition to the two packages to add, I've also moved the stuff I've apt-getted previously:
  
  •  cp /usr/share/java/commons-pool-1.4.jar jetty/lib/ext/ 
  •  cp /usr/share/java/commons-dbcp-1.2.1.jar jetty/lib/ext/
• Step 13: The documentation says:
   java -jar gerrit-*.war --cat extra/jetty_gerrit.xml >gerrit.xml
  But with my version it was more 'extra/jetty6/gerrit.xml' find out for yours using 'java -jar gerrit*war -ls'
• Step 15: I installed jetty on 0.0.0.0:8081 instead of 127.0.0.1:8081

Tada! I had gerrit UI at the address above.

I registered the first user with openid.

Then it turns out I had to add an admin group, the SQL from the official guide wasn't working, so I did this:

 insert into account_group_members (account_id, group_id) values (1, 1);

After having verified that my id was 1 and the admin group id was 1 too.

I declared my email address, which I confirmed.

I declared my ssh public key.

I declared my ssh username.

I restarted gerrit.

I confirmed that my ssh key was taken into account by: 

ssh -p 29418 yann@codereview.local # should say: 'no shell something'

ssh -p 29418 yann@codereview.local gerrit ls-projects

Then I created my first project:

ssh -p 29418 gerrit@codereview.local gerrit create-project --name findlib

Then I had to give my group (Administrators) the right to push into this new project (using the UI)

 
Then I pushed my 'my-review' branch, should be something like:

git push ssh://yann@codereview.local:29418/findlib my-review

Then I worked.

Then I committed the work.

Then I used the magical refs to create a review:

git push ssh://yann@codereview.local:29418/findlib HEAD:refs/for/my-review

That's all, I hope this helps, comments are wide open for addendum to the above, but don't ask for help since it's merely chance that I went through all these steps without killing myself, so the mailing list would be a better place to ask.

National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009 - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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I just learned about sailing stones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones
fascinating.

Git and code review tools

I'm wondering what's out there for code reviews for pure git projects. So far I've found:

• http://code.google.com/p/gerrit/ that you can view in action with android: https://review.source.android.com/ It looks featureful, but also very painful to setup if you are not a java person?
• review board  http://www.reviewboard.org/ which supports more than git. I know some are allergic to the UI. Another drawback is that the workflow is not really geared toward git as far as I can judge
• github and the like? I guess you could use the comment feature to have a very minimal UI, maybe you can have a set of hooks to do email notifications? That looks a bit hackish, and also forces you to externalize the code-review unless you go for the standalone github server?

Anything else?

I've done something bad: I broke backward compatibility

I broke backward compatibility of Find::Lib. It's not on CPAN just yet, but it will be soon.

I know that potentially breaking other people's code is bad but on the other hand, what I'm deprecating was a serious stupid idea of mine. I think it's better that way. Besides, it will be version 1.0: major release *blink* *blink*.

Now you can do:

use Find::Lib 'lib1', '../lib2'; # much simpler!

print Find::Lib->catfile('path', 'to', 'somefile.txt'); # convenient!

In case you wonder, the stupid idea was to write:

use Find::Lib 'mylib' => 'MyBootstrap' => 'bla';

instead of:

use Find::Lib 'mylib';
use MyBootstrap 'bla';

I'm sure nobody relies on that anyway.

San Francisco biking 101

Today I helped a friend Mathieu getting started cycling in San Francisco. Here are some of my practical advices.

1. "Safety first" is the most important rule. Though relatively safe, riding a bike unfortunately carries some risk. I hope some of the hints exposed here will keep you safer.

Secondary rules:

2. Be seen
3. Be predictable by other vehicles (signal your turns, etc...)
4. Predict and anticipate the traffic: That's what you'll build with experience anyway, but it better be a conscious process.
5. Control your bike at all times
6. Better piss off a motorist that being dead. Remember: "Safety first"

From there there are a number of corollary points:

You have to have the right equipment:

• Helmet
• Lights
• Appropriate clothes to be comfortable (cold/rain). Flashy clothes are best (see 2nd rule)
• Appropriate bag (your bag shouldn't become an hazard)
• Maintain your bike in shape: good breaks, inflated tires is the bare minimum.
• Watch out for hazards related to the drive-train (laces and pants out of the way)

In traffic:

• Careful with right turns and pedestrians!
• Car dooring is a big risk in the city. I personally keep a lot of distance with parked cars (I ride in the middle of the lane most of the time, except if it's totally safe otherwise, which is rarely the case).
• Anticipate obstacles: I change lanes ahead of time to avoid double parked cars, construction work etc...
• Warn other bikers that you are passing them
• Predict motorists behavior and don't take unnecessary risks...
• • Watch out for wild u-turns
  • Fear the distracted driver ("I'm on the phone and eating a burger, and oh, yeah, I'm driving too")
  • Mad cab driver case (most of cab drivers are skilled and prudent drivers, but a few are really crazy)
  • Keep an eye on parked cars (use their rearview mirror and traffic lights to spot the ones that will insert themselves in the traffic by rolling over yourself)
• At a red light, I like to be upfront, to avoid pollution and be seen by cars.
• I ride as fast as I can to flow with traffic
• Be nice and respectful (but keep that u-lock at reach if necessary ;-)
• Plan your route: Avoid problems in the first place (I don't like Market street for instance)
  

Riding tips, special conditions

• Brake front first (but not too hard obviously)
• Watchout for rail tracks (those ugly caltrain tracks at townsend and 7th...)
• Careful going down: braking power of a car is much greater than a bike, so keep your distances with front traffic.
• There is an infinity of traffic conditions:
• • Night conditions because of visibility of course, but also watchout for drunk drivers.
  • Rush hour: watchout for crazy busy guys.
  • Ball game conditions: they are drunk, and they don't know how to drive in the city.

Protect your goods:

• Learn how to lock your bike properly
• Roll over your pants
• Watch out for potholes (hurting your bike)
• Watch out for glass on the street, check your tires if there is a big risk of a flat
• Never, never leave your bike out for an entire night

Another tip: I have bike stuff at the office and at home: u-locks, tubes, clothes

Last but not least, be part of the community. Subscribe to the local bike coalition (sfbike.org).

Fellow bikers, do I miss anything in this list?

Have Fun, enjoy the city from this unique perspective!

My favorite fix in Snow Leopard

As far as I can tell, for now, the problem I always had with password protected screensaver are gone.

The problems that I previously experienced were:

- Computer goes to sleep with protected screensaver. On wake up, it would beach ball

- Close lid with external display connected. On wake up: black screen of death

- If it works it take a long time to get out of sleep and to be presented the login window

I'm happy to report that in 2 weeks, all the above didn't happen to me. I'm happier.

HOW TO use dates

• I don't need the current time and date on your freaking web page, I have a wrist watch, thank you
• If you do release software, I appreciate having the date of the release next to the download link

IRC push notifications to your iPhone

I played a bit with my friend Fabien's iPhone app, that let you push notifications to your device, simply using a REST API.

I've come up with a simple IRC bot that connects to the specified channel, and from there send you any message that matches a specific regexp.

The AnyEvent framework is pretty cool for this kind of things. This is what I used to build the Perl5 AppNotifications API wrapper (in the process of being uploaded to CPAN now).

Improvements to really make it useful:

• implement blackout hours where the notifications is silent
• simple IRC command to switch from silent/noisy

If you want the app, search for 'notifications' in the app store, the app is sold by CONOVAE. Then, you'll have access to the API as well.

The calculator-keypad-usbhub device

In the category "most ridiculous toy ever" I've found this in an empty office at Six Apart.

via www.flickr.com

• What the sticker says: "Notebook keypad calculator with USB HUB"
• You have a "mode" button switching from calc or keypad modes
• In calc mode, you can press "send" to send the result to your computer
• You cannot use it as a portable light or bottle opener though :/

I seriously fail to see the real marketing reason for bundling these features together. Ideas anyone?

old stuff: ikea timelapse

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A time lapse of me bulding ikea furniture preparing Maelys arrival (2 weeks away)

And yes, it took me one hour to build one chest. It's a lot, but please try to beat me to it ;-)

The Programming Language with the Happiest Users

via hello.typepad.com

source blog.doloreslabs.com

"La loi du bon samaritain" contre "Non assistance a personne en danger"

Samedi dernier, alors qu'un temps magnifique rayonnait sur San Francisco, j'ai passé ma journée à la lueur des néons a Six Apart avec d'autres collègues... Cela aurait pu être agréable, étant donné que c'était pour la bonne cause... malheureusement l'instructrice n'aimait vraiment pas son boulot. Enfin bref, j'ai quand même appris beaucoup de choses, accessoirement: comment sauver mon prochain (dans une une certaine mesure tout au moins).

Une partie du cours portait sur la responsabilité juridique du secouriste volontaire, et c'est la que j'ai pris connaissance de la ˝loi du bon samaritain˝. Cette loi, qui est présente apparemment dans tous les états dans des formes plus ou moins équivalentes, est faite pour protéger juridiquement la bonne âme qui voudrait secourir quelqu'un.

Le premier point de cette loi tel que présenté par notre instructrice est que cette loi protège quiconque déciderait de ne pas porter assistance à autrui. A ce moment là, le doute m'a envahi et je me suis demandé pendant une seconde si mon anglais approximatif n'avait pas fait un malencontreux amalgame... Mais non! J'avais bien compris, dans l'hypothétique situation ou j'assiste a la chute d'un enfant dans une rivière, je peux me contenter de profiter de cet (horrible) spectacle et personne ne pourra m'en tenir (légalement) rigueur. Ce que je trouve totalement choquant et contre mes principes. Mon éducation m'a depuis longtemps inculqué que je suis censé faire le maximum raisonnable pour porter assistance a la personne en danger. Dans l'exemple ci dessus, rien ne m'oblige a me jeter à l'eau, car je pourrais y rester aussi, mais alerter les secours en plus d'une glorieuse idée est juste l'absolu minimum qui m'empêcherai d'aller en prison...

A partir de là, selon wikipedia [1] il y aurait entre deux et huit états qui auraient intégré le ˝duty to rescue˝ dans leur loi du bon samaritain. Cela étant dit, cette loi ne dit pas grand chose sur la moralité du plus grand nombre, si l'on devait comparer les chiffres de français et d'américains portant effectivement secours à autrui, je ne serai pas étonné que les américains en fassent plus que leurs amis français. En fait mon impression générale est que les américains sont plus charitables que les français [2]. Mais je trouve cela symptomatique d'une société individualiste et sur-règlementée (les avocats y ont généralement la belle vie), je me reconnais beaucoup plus dans une société qui insiste sur l'obligation d'aider son prochain.

Des amis américains m'ont opposé que c'était une question de moralité individuelle et que le ˝gouvernement˝n'avait pas a s'en mêler... aie aie aie. La déclaration universelle des droits de l'Homme stipule (Art 29) [3]:

1. L'individu a des devoirs envers la communauté dans laquelle seule le libre et plein développement de sa personnalité est possible.
2. Dans l'exercice de ses droits et dans la jouissance de ses libertés, chacun n'est soumis qu'aux limitations établies par la loi exclusivement en vue d'assurer la reconnaissance et le respect des droits et libertés d'autrui et afin de satisfaire aux justes exigences de la morale, de l'ordre public et du bien-être général dans une société démocratique.

Si l'on prend cela comme base, cela me semble d'aller de soi que ˝la non-assistance à personne en danger˝ soit réprimée par la loi, étant donné qu'elle bafoue le droit d'autrui de jouir de sa propre sécurité.

Samedi on a essayé de se conforter comme on pouvait en se disant que dimanche serait aussi certainement très ensoleillé, mais non, il a fait froid et brumeux. Mais au moins, on sait pratiquer le bouche à bouche et le massage cardiaque.

[1] Good Samaritan Law, Duty to Rescue, Non assistance à personne en danger, La loi du bon samaritain en français

[2] Je ne suis pas sûr que l'on puisse comparer tel quel, mais en 2007 les français auraient donné 4.9% de 60 milliards d'euros en dons et mécénat (soit environ 3 milliards d'euros) alors que les américains auraient contribué a 22% de 1.4 trillions de dollars (soit 308 milliards) sources: fr us

[3] http://www.un.org/fr/documents/udhr/

collect & manage data directly from your blog with FormSpring

FormSpring.These guys have built an app that allows you to build custom forms that you can integrate with your TypePad blog.

via everything.typepad.com

Just had some cake in 6a kitchen thanks to FormSpring :)

A Note About Git Commit Messages | tpope.net

 Short (50 chars or less) summary of changes

More detailed explanatory text, if necessary. Wrap it to about 72
characters or so. In some contexts, the first line is treated as the
subject of an email and the rest of the text as the body. The blank
line separating the summary from the body is critical (unless you omit
the body entirely); tools like rebase can get confused if you run the
two together.

Write your commit message in the present tense: "Fix bug" and not "Fixed
bug." This convention matches up with commit messages generated by
commands like git merge and git revert.

Further paragraphs come after blank lines.

 - Bullet points are okay, too

 - Typically a hyphen or asterisk is used for the bullet, preceded by a
  single space, with blank lines in between, but conventions vary here

 - Use a hanging indent

via www.tpope.net

I understand know why the default vim commit message was weird;). Also I'll switch to the present tense for my commit messages from now on.

Serious Parenting Fail 2

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They had it coming, those parents and their bike-this, bike-that!