April 2005 - Arch-projects - lists.archlinux.org

[arch-projects] New ensmer development release
by Dusty Phillips 19 Apr '05

19 Apr '05

In case anybody's interested, I've released a new development version of Ensmer. It doesn't include any screenshots, since it looks pretty much the same as before, but there's quite a few internal changes. Here's the announcement: https://ensmer.dev.java.net/servlets/NewsItemView?newsItemID=2151 Another note, this release uses the build.groovy format I described earlier, and also uses groovy unit tests. The way that I did this may be kind of interesting to Java developers, as it is a lot cleaner than any other groovy build/test mechanism I have been able to find on the web. It is also cleaner than an ant build mechanism. I'm not absolutely certain where I want to take Ensmer right now. I think I'll probably start making some modifications to EnsmerMail next, since the stable release won't work at all with the development release of the core. I may focus on EnsmerMail for a while to make it genuinely useable... Dusty

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[arch-projects] Groovy ant-builder
by Dusty Phillips 13 Apr '05

13 Apr '05

A while ago I posted my interest in using Groovy instead of ant for scripting my build file. I spent the last couple of days working on this. I thought people might be interested in my results. Summarizing my previous post, I don't like ant because I don't like XML. I think that's about all the important points... I have two comparable build files, though they do not perform identically. Here's a comparison of them based on size: dusty:~ $ wc build.groovy build.xml 138 319 3630 build.groovy 158 584 6262 build.xml The xml build file has 20 more lines, and almost twice as many words and characters as the groovy build file. In other words, a groovy build file is less typing, although you would tend to press the enter key about an equal number of times. Here are the two files, for visual comparison (NOTE: I removed some targets from the xml file that haven't been implemented in the groovy script yet, but they still aren't identical): http://www.buchuki.com/misc/build.xml http://www.buchuki.com/misc/build.groovy Unfortunately, firefox won't syntax-highlight the groovy file. Aside from that, which one do people think is easier to read? I personally prefer the groovy markup, but maybe I'm strange. The main observation I found coding the groovy file is that its much easier to reduce duplication of code in a groovy script (just toss it in a method) than in an ant file (put it in a target and depend on it, sometimes conditionally). Also, its easier to group properties together into maps and having generic code manipulate them. This reduces both the number of total properties and the total amount of code. Most articles I've read have been anti-groovy scripting, and I doubt this would become a standard either within the Java community (ie: where ant currently dominates) or across all projects that need build management. I just find it interesting, and I must confess that I prefer it. Comments? Dusty

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[arch-projects] xenophile status
by Jason Chu 13 Apr '05

13 Apr '05

I bashed out a quick xenomail daemon yesterday. It is notified over jabber-rpc by a second script (it's not the best notification system and will be updated later) telling you whenever a new email comes in. So far there exists xenonote, xenoremind, and xenomail. I'm not sure what my friend has working daemon wise. I know he was working on shell directory detection: a sort of directory sensitive notification daemon. We'd like to make a release Mayish, so if anyone is interested in trying it out feel free to get the code from svn here: https://xentac.net/svn/xenophile/trunk/ If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'm trying to drum up interest here people ;P Jason -- If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are.

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[arch-projects] new WMII snapshot
by Dusty Phillips 10 Apr '05

10 Apr '05

This is mostly for phrakture, the window manager developer and WMII packager. Just a note to say wmii has released a new snapshot. I don't see they've updated the docs or anything, so this may be an insignificant release... or maybe they just haven't gotten around to updating the docs yet. I'm getting a little tired of wmi... so I may be switching soon. I like that wmii has better support for floating windows. When a dialog box appears full screen in wmi, I don't like it much. Even if I toggle the mode, it often doesn't show up right, especially with Java apps. Dusty

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[arch-projects] phpwiki-to
by cactus 09 Apr '05

09 Apr '05

http://e.solarblue.net/index.php/2005/04/08/41/ and http://user-contributions.org/forums/userproject/viewtopic.php?t=120 Synopsis: I am in the process of writing a python script that extracts phpwiki wikitext from a phpwiki install. Eventually phpwiki-to will have 2 connection mechanisms, and 3 export types. * The two connection mechanisms are: gdbm (for old school phpwiki) * mysql (for newer phpwiki) The three export types are: * plain wiki text * html (some simple html subset) * solarwiki xml (solarwiki compatible xml files) I will then write a simple solarwiki xml importer that will work with the solarwiki specific xml files. But..right now the gdbm to plain wiki-text output is mostly working, althought I have no idea how well, and the html export is partially working (formatting is a bid hosed up. I need more work on the regexp or a parser of some type). Be kind, this is my first python proggy.ever..(started picking up python last week).

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[arch-projects] New small project proposition
by Aaron Griffin 09 Apr '05

09 Apr '05

So, I always screw myself up when using vim - I work professionally using VS.NET, and there's alot of features that are real nice... most can be worked into vim somehow (for instance, the way the HOME key will toggle between column 0 and the first non-whitespace char). The only one I miss is the context-sensitive completion of VS.NET... Now I'm not talking about a little popup window with all the accessability and things like that... I'm just looking for <C-N> and <C-P> to complete within the context of the class/struct/union... I've looked a bit into some of the plugins that vim has right now and most of them suck. There are 3 though, that I cannot test yet... 2 are ruby-based, another perl-based... stupid win32 and their paths and grrr... "cannot load library perl58.dll, aborting" I give up... Anyway, what I'd like to do is create a little stand alone app that could very easilly be integrated into vim, or anything else... seeing as I like to think from the outside inward, here's the interface I have in my head: $ findsyms "XCreateSimpleW" /usr/include/X11/Xlib.h XCreateSimpleWindow $ findsyms --signature "signal5::conn" /usr/include/sigc++ void sigc::signal5::connect(const slot5&) $ cat "my_file.c" | findsyms --signature "foo" bool foo(int,int) $ findsyms "java.lang.String" /path/to/java/jar ...list all public String members... # from vim: :!findsyms <cword> % "well, not exactly... I'd need to get the type of a variable in the case of OO simple: scan file + included files for matching definitions basically, if finds matching patterns... not too hard... ideally, I'd go really generic and create language files to describe what each scope looks like, what an include file looks like, and how to determine if something is visible at that scope of not c++ would be rough when you get into templates (that sigc:: one would fail unless it ignores templates), but c would be easy, as would things like python... and maybe perl I want to be able to use this in vim somehow as a dict file... Now I may be way off with this, and there may be a simple way to do it *within* vim... but I don't know... Anyone have any opinions? Feel free to debase me or whatever... or suggest a language that would do this easiest... just really thinking outloud today

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[arch-projects] GroovyWeather 0.2
by Dusty Phillips 08 Apr '05

08 Apr '05

Groovy just updated their beta release from 1.0beta-10 to 1.0-jsr-01. The syntax has changed a fair bit, because they're standardizing Groovy using a JSR -- its going to be the standard java scripting language, I guess. What this means is that after I updated groovy this afternoon, groovyweather no longer worked. 0.2 includes a few syntax modifications to work with the JSR syntax. http://www.buchuki.com/groovyweather.html Its still eating resources -- I haven't bothered to figure out why, I've assumed the problem is in groovy, and not in my script... hehe. Dusty

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[arch-projects] Arch Forums review
by Rasatmakananda 08 Apr '05

08 Apr '05

Thu Apr 07, 2005 - dp in Arch Linux Forums wrote: > update: > it seems that the atmosphäre calmed down a little ... and i see new things > appear in the forums. > change is always a good sign while under pressure growing. Hi, I think the Forum calmed a quite a lot with the help of what took place when devs leaving, hues & cries, and posting of "what's happening" topics. It was for the good. Moreover, bound to happened. The growth was too smooth and no "struggle" for learning as a community. The problem in such situation, when active users move away, it creates a vacuum. If this vacuum is not filled in short time, creates more confusion and disorder, and will be difficult to restore. I am glad some of the active users came forward to help... (1) made an awareness of the situation and gave solution: Topic: "Old-timers retiring? An objective analysis" Topic: "Old Timers retiring please help!" (2) new forum guidelines ("FAQ" and "Forum Etiquette") by cactus. (3) more moderators, forum advisers, and new "ArchLinux Forum Moderation Team". (4) return of dp... reflecting the new environment and devs will come back. These were nothing special. But when major problems happen, users want to see something is done. Not only verbally but also physically. Now when seeing the Forum site, at first sight, there is a change. Maybe too early to say when browsing the posts, they are as what should be. And no access usage in Off-topic. For information, it was necessary to remove posts from Off-Topic. Some users blamed it was source of the problems... encouraging power-posting (increase of post count), trolling, spamming, rough language and insult. To conclude this short review, I ask developers and package managers who decided to keep away from the Forum, to come back home (smile). There is noting as perfect, but lets hope the new Forum Etiquette will keep everyone happy. Its locked and only authorized persons can edit. http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/Forum%20Etiquette The FAQ is also more or less ready. http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/ArchFAQ If anyone needs a "celebrity" protection, contact the ArchLinux Forum Moderation Team. :wink: Markku (rasat)

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[arch-projects] VR Gear in Linux
by Dusty Phillips 01 Apr '05

01 Apr '05

I'm starting to take an interest in virtual reality gear -- head mounted displays, head trackers, data gloves, etc. More specifically, I'm thinking about possible ways you might program for it, especially in the context of Ensmer. I've done some cursory research on google, just an hour or so's web browsing. I've got a vague idea of what is available, based slightly on third rate Sci-fi novels, and slightly on this research. The first thing I found out is I am WAY TOO BROKE to afford any of this stuff right now. ;-) I've found the following site to be quite interesting: http://virtualreality.physiol.ox.ac.uk/ (makes me wish I'd applied at Oxford). It provides some hints and tips on setting up a PC for use as a VR machine, but for the most part, it sounds like a PC can barely handle it. They mention that they use Linux for their PC work. I find this difficult to understand, since I would assume most VR equipment requires a weird-ass device driver, and I don't know how many Linux hackers are reverse engineering this stuff; its not exactly standard equipment yet. Even the gaem systems don't use it yet. Well actually, you can connect these head-mounted displays to an X-box if you want... Anyway, I was wondering if anybody out there has any experience with or knowledge about VR equipment, especially as used under Linux. And how it can be coded with OpenGL... Dusty

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