Skip to main content

I wanna mod_ruby!

I have a Ruby app which runs fine on the command line, but I want to embed it in a web page. This leaves me with a problem, since both of the machines available for me to do this with are running slightly older versions of Mandriva Linux (one 2005, one 2006.0) which don’t natively support mod_ruby.

This laptop, on the other hand (it’s 2007.0), took about 15 seconds to find & install it. Sadly, I need to carry the laptop around, so can’t leave it hooked up as a toy web-server.

One of the machines has been sitting on someone’s carpet for so long that the CPU overheats if I run an update on it, so it thermally shuts down & reboots before installing anything.

The other one runs several websites on specific versions of PostgreSQL, which are of course going to be difficult about updating smoothly. And it also runs as a workstation, which means that I have to kick someone off to update it. )-:

Both of them are DNS & email servers, as well as web servers, so even if I could update one immediately, all of those services would be down while I did it.

So... because I’m going to have to do some load-shuffling if we bounce off Sugarloaf Point, what I’m probably going to do now (although not, alas, in time to deliver this Ruby app) is clone these servers onto another one which I have kicking about, then update their email & stuff literally side-by-side & swap across to the new machine.

Which will be mounted further out of reach of the dust.

Alternatively, I could compile a mod_ruby on one of the machines, then have to deal with an out-of-date machine from the other side of Australia. Interesting, but...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.