PHP 4.2.2 grumble grumble released to address security flaw grouch grumble also for OSX by Marc Liyanage – but grumble frown this release changes the way global variables are handled – HTTP_POST won’t magically call them into being at form submit any longer.

Which helps with the whole security deal. Grumble grumble.

It’s been clearly documented for months and months, even, that this would be the Way It Shall Be Done. Grump.

But did this get covered in the PHP stuff I took last fall to get going? Well, to be perfectly honest, i don;t recall it being covered, although I have yet to peep my notes I’ll update here if I come across it. Naturally, I took full advantage of that tiny little time savings of not having to type a bit bit more. Naturally.

Argh, so now I have some stitching to do. Grump grum grumble.

I already knew that Google (as well as other search sites) doesn’t index .shtml pages, and it’s biting my butt here. Any one got the Apache directive to tell it “treat .html as .shtml in domain x only?”

Ahh, s’awright, I can figure it out. I know you can restrict server behavior on a domain by domain basis. This is really just one of those “where did I put my keys?” posts, which to my frustration I could NOT find a good example of (except for my lost hat of a few months ago).

Ohhh kay. Insomnia drove me to pound on the sidebar build problem, which I may summarize as build once, use many, in order to speed build times.

My ideal solution would be to include an MT perl-generated file into the pages at build time, but MT does not allow the user to easily set build order. Furthermore it does not offer an inbuilt file-include tag since include functionality is so easy to get via SSI and PHP. It’s not a deal-breaker.

THEREFORE, experimentally, this site is now served with SSI and server-parsed html. The old html pages will remain in place. However, their links will rot after a while, I imagine, until I can do some fancy Apache stuff to transform incoming *.html reqs into *.html reqs.

Jimmy James whould know what to say here: Guzizah! (hmmm, must search for WWJJD…)

… and I just know you are fascinated to hear that the latest round of site fiddlin’ is just about wrapped up. For the curious:

• I added domain-restricted searching via Google to the sidebar. Google seems to pay attention to my site, so it seems to work fairly well.
• The drop-down archive menus are now sitewide.
• In a related matter, I added the appropriate new secondary category archive flags (KG of the Week, Monday Art, Blimp Week) to the appropriate entries and cleaned up some incidental duplicates.
• I added the sidebar to all of the ancillary pages.
• I made the category archives navigable, and edited their format to increase load speed.
• I’m still futzing with “Recent Entries” on the archive pages; currently the “recent” list is, in fact, what’s recent within the appropriate category. I think I have a brute-force workaround in place but I believe there’s a better way.
• Last but not least, I’m working on a “recently discussed” link area for your easy reference, currently viewable only on the main page.

*phew!* man, the rebuilds are starting to D R A G, though. All those queries and page builds for pore ol’ l’il perl to crunch thru… good camel, good boy.

Hunh, you know, what I *should* do is build the sidebar once into a flat text file, and have the pages call it in either at page view (via PHP or shtml SSI) or (this is somewhat preferable) at perl-munging time. Hm, yes, that’s the way to do it.

Alrighty! MT is now running against MySQL, which I was hoping would improve rebuild performance.

Alas, no.

Could I even do brute pforce category reassingments? Well, maybe; but sadly the fields under “entry_category” are … null. So; hm, still pluggin’. I guess I’ll have to, like, RTFM and find the schema.

Always always the tradeoff b/t the convenience of access and speed, especially in large-scale operations, in server-oriented apps. Always.

Still working the kinks out, but I’ve added topical archives to the link area to the right of the main page.

There’s some div nesting problems to be worked out on the archive pages, too; but hopefully this will make finding a particular entry or reading within a given subject area (hi, Matt!) somewhat easier.

I think I can stuff the archive lists into drop-down menus; would that be helpful?

The most onerous task is properly categorizing the “special” entries into the new categories: I’ve added a category for “Blimp Week” and of course one for your Ken Goldstein of the week.

BTW have your printer ready for tomorrow’s Ken.

Mostly a test post.

Naturally, the upgrade kilt my perl-to-Image::Magick pathing, and in what I suspect to be a related development, MT’s configuration checking script does not b’leeve I have MySQL installed and humming along like a top, sooo…. some hacking is in order.

UPDATE:

So, I forked for the Adobe Photoshop upgrade (with the rebate it’s less than a hundred bucks) and mmm, I da no.

First, the most time intensive thing I do in photoshop is color and orientation correction for batches of digital photos. In Photoshop 6, a “save” command issued upon a jpeg resulted in the file being saved. In PS 7, the default has been changed to – for every file and save instance – a dialog in which you are prompted for the compression level of the jpeg. Even if you accept the default, a one-keystroke action has just become a two-keystroke action.

More aggravating, even you choose to automate the save action, the dialog still apears.

Second, I have to admit, I see NO speed gain, and the lack of speed appears to be associated with the silly demoware gewgaws Apple has incorporated into the OS interface.

The most egregious example is translucent windowbars. PS opens large numbers of files concurrently in a step-and-repeat pattern on screen; each step, then, creates a compositing task for the OS which apparently robs the system of what might otherwise be respectable speed gains.

Finally, there’s the by now traditional remapping of tool-keys, a persistent annoyance across all software upgrades. Curiously for me, Adobe has added color correction tools to the Image->Adjustment menu selection which are directly accessible via keyboard, Auto-Contrast and Auto-Levels; but my preferred manipulation tool, Curves, is denied a default direct keyboard shortcut. That’s easily fixed via Actions, however.

I have yet to pick up or concoct a truly trying assignment that will push the complex image management tools of photoshop to the edge, but I hope to soon.

Naturally, I no sooner get bellerophon restored to her normal, sweetnatured self when I hear of things one and two.

thing one

Movable Type has released 2.mumble of the very fine content management system which helps provide these pages, and it changes the back end from perl and flatfile – based databasing to perl and MySQL, very good news indeed for me, at least. I rather imagine that the cutover should make saving and rebuilding a bit snappier. I do hope they stick with the cold HTML-based output though – very nice for backup.

I suppose I should schedule that project for Monday.

thing two

OpenSSH has a security hole in it which means I can either demonstrate my manly prowess with open-source software updates, or wait until Apple fixes it and distributes it via Software Update. Hm, which one would you choose?

I think I’ll schedule my masculinity-demonstration session for Monday as well.

And just for giggles, the image which adorns this entry came from an eleven-page thread at The Comics Journal discussion board in which, as nearly as I can make out, some comics collectors who feel that Chris Ware’s scathing, brutal depiction of their species in the just concluded “Rusty Brown” segments of his work means he should by no means be allowed to produce collectibles that would appeal to their ilk.

The object in question appears to be a Rusty Brown lunchbox first released a few months ago.

Well, the Wallstreet’s T-board came in, and I performed the requisite surgery. I swapped the drives, as promised, and Bellerophon boots properly. However, the duped OSX boot drive is not behaving as it should, and the T-board does not appear to have solved the invisible battery problem – so more fiddlage to come next week, pursuant to rule #2:

No hardware projects allowed during weekends!

After I work everything through I’ll post surgery shots. Drive space is the original issue that led me to this pass,

And, I’m trying out blogrolling.com as a linkmanager; it’s pretty slick. Unfortunately, it works via embedded javascripts, which creates refresh problems on my browser, what about yours?

…And tomorrow is the Fremont Solstice Parade and art car fiesta!

Here’s a route map. Apparently there’s some sort of pageant at Gas Works this year as well.