Welcome to Alan Lupsha's (un)generic blog

getNowAsTimestampString

2011-12-27T16:44:00.002-05:00

public String getNowAsTimestampString() {
Calendar nowCalendar = Calendar.getInstance();
java.util.Date myDate = nowCalendar.getTime(); // ex: Thu Aug 09 13:20:36 EDT 2007
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy.MM.dd_HH.mm.ss");
return sdf.format(myDate);
}

Setting up a gateway - fresh OpenSUSE set up

2011-12-26T20:59:00.000-05:00

ping google.com
connect: Network is unreachable

Grrr...

cat /etc/resolv.conf
echo "alias net-pf-10 off" >> /etc/modprobe.conf
echo "alias ipv6 off" >> /etc/modprobe.conf
ip route show all
route add default gw
ip route show all
ping google.com

Fixed!

How to back up web accessible files using wget, and to remove files older than 30 days

2011-12-19T14:10:00.000-05:00

1. Script to back up files over wget:


#!/bin/bash
#
# This script grabs all the my-server.alanlupsha.com/logs/ files and
# backs them up on the local server in /home/
#
# @author Alan Lupsha 12/19/2011
#

# keep track of the start time
STARTTIME="Started backup at: `date`"


#########################################################################
# You should change these entries
#
# make sure to create the directory first
# ex: "mkdir /home/lupsha/backups"
BACKUPDIR=/home/lupsha/backups

# save text to a temporary file
EMAILFILE=/tmp/email.txt

# update this
EMAILADDRESS=my-email-address@my-domain.com
#########################################################################

# clean up email file
rm "$EMAILFILE"

# save file in this directory
cd "$BACKUPDIR"

LOC="`pwd`"
if [ "$LOC" != "$BACKUPDIR" ]; then
echo "ERROR, I should be in $BACKUPDIR, but I'm not! Exiting...";
exit 1
fi

# download files
wget -e robots=off --recursive --no-directories \
--no-host-directories --level=1 --no-clobber \
http://my-server.alanlupsha.com/logs/


# save timestamp
echo "$STARTTIME" >> $EMAILFILE
echo "\r\n" >> $EMAILFILE
echo "Ending pass logs backup at `date`" >> $EMAILFILE

# send an email with the result
cat $EMAILFILE | mail -s "Ran pass logs backup" $EMAILADDRESS

2. Save the script and run it from a cron job, only week days, at 7:30 AM


sudo crontab -e

# run script every week day at 7:30AM
30 07 * * 1-5 /home/lupsha/backup-logs-script.sh

3. On the server where the files are stored, remove the files that are older than 30 days:


cd /var/www/html/myfiles
find . -type f -mtime +30 -exec rm -- {} \;

How to convert video to a lossless format using ffmpeg!

2011-12-03T23:35:00.001-05:00

How to convert a .3gp video to .flv:
ffmpeg -i a.3gp -ar 22050 -ab 32k -f flv a.flv

How to convert to almost lossless format:
ffmpeg -i a.3gp -an -f yuv4mpegpipe b.avi

(Careful, an 11MB 3gp file becomes a 1.6GB avi file!)

Renaming directories and files

2011-11-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

Supposed you have the following directory structure:

/home/user/files/A/
/home/user/files/A/1/
/home/user/files/A/2/
/home/user/files/A/3/
/home/user/files/B/
/home/user/files/B/37/
/home/user/files/B/38/
/home/user/files/B/39/

and you wish to concatenate the subdirectories to the parent directories (ex: "A - 1", "A - 2", "B - 38"), to result in the following structure:

/home/user/files/A - 1/
/home/user/files/A - 2/
/home/user/files/A - 3/
/home/user/files/B - 37/
/home/user/files/B - 38/
/home/user/files/B - 39/

First,
cd /home/user/files

Next, allow spaces in file names:
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")

Then:
for dir in `ls`; do cd "$dir"; for files in `ls`; do mv "$files" "$dir - $files"; mv "$dir - $files" .. ; done; cd .. ; echo "rm -Rf $dir" >> /tmp/cleanup.sh ; done

Take a look at the generated cleanup file:
cat /tmp/cleanup.sh

If it looks ok, make it executable:
chmod u+x /tmp/cleanup.sh

and execute it:
/tmp/cleanup.sh

How to convert .m2ts videos to .avi, using a script

2011-06-18T14:19:00.000-04:00

The problem:
I have a bunch of vacation videos located in: /mnt/drive2/vacation_videos/ , but they are all .m2ts format, and I want them to be in .avi format

The solution:
- Create a generic script "convert.sh" which converts a .m2ts file to .avi
- Create a script "vacationVideos.sh" with all the custom vacation videos, and call the convert.sh script
- Run this as a background process, which allows you to log out of the session without interrupting the process. i.e. "nohup shellscriptname &"

1. Generic conversion script. Save as: nano /usr/sbin/convert.sh

#!/bin/bash
# AlanLupsha: this script converts .m2ts files to .avi files
# If you do not have mencoder, run sudo apt-get install mencoder
if [ -z $1 ] ; then
        echo "syntax: convert.sh file.m2ts"
        RETURNCODE=1
        exit $RETURNCODE
fi
mencoder "$1" -ofps 23.976 -ovc lavc -oac copy -o  "$1.avi"

2. custom script with the names of all my vacation videos. Save as: nano ~/vacationVideos.sh

#!/bin/bash
# This "vacationVideos.sh" script copies my vacation videos into a
# temporary directory and then invokes the convert.sh
# script which converts .m2ts format to the .avi format

MAINPATH=/mnt/drive2/vacation_videos/
TMP=/dev/shm
cd "$TMP"

FILE="2011.grandparents.m2ts"
cp "$MAINPATH/$FILE" "$TMP"
# convert the file from .m2ts to .avi (takes a long time)
convert.sh "$FILE"
# copy the converted .avi file back to the drive
mv "$TMP/$FILE.avi" "$MAINPATH"
# remove the temporary copy of the .m2ts file
rm "$TMP/$FILE"


FILE="2010.SouthFlorida.m2ts"
cp "$MAINPATH/$FILE" "$TMP"
# convert the file from .m2ts to .avi (takes a long time)
convert.sh "$FILE"
# copy the converted .avi file back to the drive
mv "$TMP/$FILE.avi" "$MAINPATH"
# remove the temporary copy of the .m2ts file
rm "$TMP/$FILE"


FILE="2006.DriveAcrossTheUSA.m2ts"
cp "$MAINPATH/$FILE" "$TMP"
# convert the file from .m2ts to .avi (takes a long time)
convert.sh "$FILE"
# copy the converted .avi file back to the drive
mv "$TMP/$FILE.avi" "$MAINPATH"
# remove the temporary copy of the .m2ts file
rm "$TMP/$FILE"

echo "Done converting!"

3. How to run:

ssh myname@linuxserver
nohup ~/vacationVideos.sh &

To see the progress:
tail -f nohup.out

To see the process:
ps aux | grep mencoder

To kill the process:
killall mencoder

Enjoy.

How to set up Subversion in Ubuntu

2011-06-09T18:09:00.001-04:00

sudo adduser subversion

sudo mkdir /home/svn
sudo svnadmin create /home/svn/dev

# change ownership
sudo chown -R subversion:www-data /home/svn/dev

# make the dir group write-able
chmod -R g+w /home/svn/dev/

# add yourself to the www-data group
sudo usermod -a -G www-data alan

sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo apt-get install libapache2-svn

sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf

add at the end:

DAV svn
SVNParentPath /home/svn
SVNListParentPath On
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion Repository"
# AuthUserFile /etc/subversion/passwd

Require valid-user

Save.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

# Add your users in subversion, create their accounts:
sudo nano /home/svn/dev/conf/passwd

alan=123456
mary=654321

# For subversion over http, also add the same users to the
# subversion passwd file, first time use -c to "create" it.
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/subversion/passwd alan
sudo htpasswd /etc/subversion/passwd mary

# Empty out config file
sudo su -
echo "" > /home/svn/dev/conf/svnserve.conf

# Edit file and add next entries:
sudo -u subversion nano /home/svn/dev/conf/svnserve.conf

[general]
anon-access = none
auth-access = write
password-db = passwd
realm = digitalagora
[sasl]

# Save, exit.

# Install xinetd, and let it take care of running the subversion server
sudo apt-get install xinetd

# edit a new svn file
sudo nano /etc/xinetd.d/svn

# Paste these contents:

service svn
{
port = 3690
protocol = tcp
socket_type = stream
wait = no
disable = no
user = subversion
server = /usr/bin/svnserve
server_args = -i -r /home/svn/dev

#ALAN - increase incoming connections per second
# X connections per second, 1 sec to reset after overload
cps = 3000 1

# if in /var/log/messages you see: FAIL: svn per_source_limit from=IP...
per_source = UNLIMITED
}

# Save the file, exit.

# start the xinetd service
sudo service xinetd restart

# check that subversion is running, you should not get an error from this command (use your

username/pass)
svn --non-interactive --username alan --password abc12345 list svn://localhost/

# ===================================================
# ALTERNATIVELY, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO USE XINETD:
# Start the server manually...
svnserve -d -r /home/svn/
#
# Check that it's running
ps aux | grep svn
#
You should see something like: svnserve -d -r /home/svn/
# to stop svnserve, run
ps aux | grep svn
killall svnserve
ps aux | grep svn
# ===================================================

Test the installation

# create project
svn --non-interactive --username alan --password abc12345 -m "new" mkdir

svn://localhost/dev/testproject

# check out project
cd ~
svn --non-interactive --username alan --password myPassw0rd checkout

svn://localhost/dev/testproject

# create new files in checked out project
touch ~/testproject/newfile1.txt
touch ~/testproject/newfile2.txt
touch ~/testproject/newfile3.txt

# go into project
cd ~/testproject
svn add *

# commit the files
svn commit -m "new" *

Adding newfile1.txt
Adding newfile2.txt
Adding newfile3.txt
Transmitting file data ...
Committed revision 2.

=================================
a2ensite default-ssl
a2enmod ssl
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
sudo make-ssl-cert generate-default-snakeoil --force-overwrite
=================================

Check that it's working:
http://localhost/

Ubuntu - simple setup after install

2011-04-26T00:03:00.003-04:00

0. change root password
su -
passwd root

1. static network
Check the network interface:
ifconfig

Change to static network:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 10.1.10.99
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 10.1.10.0
broadcast 10.1.10.255
gateway 10.1.10.1

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

2. Install SSH server:
sudo apt-get install openssh-server

3. Disable root logins:
nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Change to say "no":
PermitRootLogin no

Save file, exit.
Start up ssh:
/etc/init.d/ssh restart

4. test by logging in from another server:
ssh user@newserver

5. Set up secondary drives using UUID:

sudo mkdir /mnt/d1
sudo mkdir /mnt/d2
sudo mkdir /mnt/d3
sudo mkdir /mnt/d4

Next, we need to list all the drives and mark down the UUID of each drive, and make sure you know which drive is sda1, sdb1, sdc1, and so on.

# list all drives
sudo fdisk -l

# next, list them by uuid
ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/

Edit fstab and start adding entries. For each drive, copy and paste its UUID and associate it with a mount point, ex: /mnt/d1, etc.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

# sda1
UUID=ba20caf8-6ef0-42e7-9e45-4187bfa8e543 /mnt/d1 auto defaults 0 2
# sdb1
UUID=315310c3-b3f2-4092-a7fa-eb944084e335 /mnt/d2 auto defaults 0 2
# sdc1
UUID=e041f16e-a009-4390-97f9-2daf29c0c505 /mnt/d3 auto defaults 0 2
# sdd1
UUID=2a236394-5010-4742-9ef8-1a5b2d1b74fa /mnt/d4 auto defaults 0 2

Save fstab file, close it.

Mount all file systems in /etc/fstab, run:
sudo mount -a
(fix any errors, try again, until it works)

List all drive contents,
ls /mnt/d1
ls /mnt/d2
ls /mnt/d3
ls /mnt/d4

I personally create directories on each drive so that I can identify the drives later. For example, on the root of each drive, I create a directory such as: "this_is_drive_1"

6. set up Samba

#Install samba - for network file sharing
sudo apt-get install samba

#create group
sudo groupadd samba

#create a system user who should have samba access
sudo adduser sambauser

#add this user to the samba group
sudo usermod -a -G samba sambauser

# add the user who can access samba shares
sudo smbpasswd -a sambauser
(enter their password)

#edit conf file
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

# my drives
[d1]
comment = This is the /d1 shared drive
path = /mnt/d1
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = no
writable = yes
admin users = sambauser
write list = sambauser
create mask = 0775
directory mask = 0775
public = yes

[d3]
comment = This is the /d3 shared drive
path = /mnt/d3
browseable = yes
read only = no
guest ok = no
writable = yes
admin users = sambauser
write list = sambauser
create mask = 0775
directory mask = 0775
public = yes

Save the file.

#restart samba
sudo service smbd restart

# list the shares from another PC (from Windows, start, run \\IP_of_server)
smbclient --username=sambauser -L 10.1.10.99
(you should see the drives being listed)

You just bought a new 1 Terrabyte drive for your Ubuntu server. Now what?

2011-01-07T01:04:00.003-05:00

After installing the RAID card for the SATA drive, and after seeing the drive at boot-up time, you're ready to partition the drive, format it, and mount it by id, and then use it.

1. List drives:
sudo fdisk -l

2. If drive is not formatted but it is listed, format it (ex: drive is /dev/sdb):
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
p (print partition information)
n (create new partition)
p (primary partition)
1 (partition #1)
[enter] (accept first cylinder default, which is 1)
[enter] (accept last cylinder default, whatever that is)
w (write partition information, and then the program will exit)

Verify that a partition has been created (it's not yet formatted), do a list:
sudo fdisk -l

You should see the new partition listed, and a number added to the device name. For example, the drive is /dev/sdb and the partition became /dev/sdb1

3. Format the partition (Be very careful that it's the correct partition, in this example /dev/sdb1):

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb1

Wait for the formatting to be over.

4. List drives by UUID:
ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/
Note down the UUID of the disk that you've just formatted, for example sdb1.
The UUID is a long sequence of alphanumeric characters.

5. Create directory where to mount drive (disk 1 = /mnt/d1)
sudo mkdir /mnt/d1

6. Copy UUID of drive in fstab so that it gets mounted every time the server is booted:
sudo nano /etc/fstab

# My 1TB drive on /dev/sdb1
UUID=91f86f8a-4b59-4b67-b62b-0f2a3c2b235c /mnt/d1 auto defaults 0 2

6b. Optionally, if you just want to mount the drive now without adding it to the automatic mounting in the /etc/fstab file, then you can mount it manually, also by UUID:
sudo mount -U 91f86f8a-4b59-4b67-b62b-0f2a3c2b235c
or
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/d1

7. Restart server, if you have to. (you shouldn't have to)
sudo shutdown -r now

Now the drive is available in /mnt/d1. Check the space: df -h /mnt/d1

How to fix annoying Ubuntu Nautilus errors such as... "Nautilus cannot handle burn locations"

2011-01-02T18:02:00.000-05:00

"Nautilus cannot handle burn locations"
"Nautilus cannot handle COMPUTER actions... and such...

sudo apt-get remove gvfs
sudo apt-get install gvfs

Restart the system.
The whole Nautilus look and feel is different, and everything starts working, even samba shares: smb://me:passwd@192.168.0.1/myshare, etc...

Done.

How to convert an m2ts video to an avi

2010-12-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

1. install missing libraries:
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-unstripped-51

2. convert:
ffmpeg -i vacation.m2ts -vcodec libxvid -b 11182k -acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 640k -deinterlace -s 1440x1080 vacation.avi

3. example:

$ nohup ffmpeg -i vacation.m2ts -vcodec libxvid -b 11182k -acodec libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 640k -deinterlace -s 1440x1080 vacation.avi >> processing.txt &

$ tail -f processing.txt

How to list all the jar contents in one line and redirect the output to a text file for easy searching

2010-10-07T14:40:00.000-04:00

1. place all the jar files in a directory on a linux server

2.
$ cd jardirectory

3. list the files
$ for file in `ls | grep ".jar"`; do `unzip -l $file >> jarcontents.txt` ; done

4. use vi and search for entries
vi jarcontents.txt
In vi, type forward slash, and your search string.

On the Android phone: how to disable the annoying Verizon VCAST messages that autoplay when you plug your phone into the USB connector

2010-10-04T23:55:00.000-04:00

dial ##7764726
Hit Call (you will not hear a ring tone)
Type Password 000000 (that's 6 zeros)
Hit Feature Settings
Choose CD ROM
Click Disable
Hit menu, commit modifications (it will say "No item changed")
Done.
----------------------------

Credits: http://community.vzw.com/t5/DROID-Incredible-by-HTC/Disable-V-CAST-Media-Manager-Web-Pop-Up/m-p/275464

How to delete a fail2ban IP from the iptables chain of rules

2010-10-01T11:54:00.000-04:00

################################################
root@myserver:~# nano /usr/local/sbin/deleteipfromfail2ban.sh
#!/bin/bash

IP=$1

if [ "$IP" = "" ] ; then
echo "Syntax: deleteipfromfail2ban.sh "
RETURNSTATUS=1
exit $RETURNSTATUS
fi

iptables -D fail2ban-ssh -s $IP -j DROP

################################################

Example of usage:
deleteipfromfail2ban.sh 10.1.1.25

How to change the Ubuntu message of the day (MOTD)

2010-09-30T17:41:00.002-04:00

Source:
http://www.newbtopro.com/guide/change_message_day_ubuntudebian

Basically, you remove the symbolic link /etc/motd and re-link to a static file:

sudo touch /etc/motd.static
sudo cat /etc/motd.tail > /etc/motd.static
sudo rm /etc/motd
sudo ln -s /etc/motd.static /etc/motd
sudo vi /etc/motd.static
Edit the file to your liking! Done.

Nu ratati o vacanta de vis la:

2010-09-22T13:35:00.000-04:00

Nu ratati o vacanta de vis la: ... :)

Getting banned from Facebook by Eric Hancock

2010-09-22T09:47:00.002-04:00

Thank you, Facebook, for being unjust.

My "friend" Eric Hancock emailed Facebook and lied to them, saying that I'm abusive. Facebook simply closed my account and deleted everything I had, 4 years worth of pictures and contacts.

Thank you, Eric, thank you Facebook.

------------------

from The Facebook Team info+rxnvms@support.facebook.com
reply-to The Facebook Team info+rxnvms@support.facebook.com
to facebook@alanlupsha.com
date Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 1:43 AM
subject Re: My Personal Profile was Disabled
mailed-by bounce.secureserver.net
signed-by support.facebook.com

Hi,

Your account was disabled because your behavior on the site was identified as harassing or threatening to other people on Facebook. Prohibited behavior includes, but is not limited to:

• Sending friend requests to people you don't know
• Regularly contacting strangers through unsolicited Inbox messages
• Soliciting others for dating or business purposes

After reviewing your situation, we have determined that your behavior violated Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. You will no longer be able to use Facebook. This decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Please note that for technical and security reasons, we will not provide you with any further details about this decision.

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

---------------

TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMERCIALIZATION - FALL SEMESTER 2010

2010-08-23T11:10:00.001-04:00

Grading:
• Final Commercialization Plan Report (Team): 35%
• Final Commercialization Plan Presentation (Indiv): 35%
• Class participation (Indiv): 10%
• Team evaluation of your contribution (Indiv): 20%

Final Report and Presentation: A Product Commercialization Plan
Assume you are making a pitch for a $150k state technology commercialization grant

Content Outline

1. What’s Your Idea & Technology Overview

2. What Problem is it Solving & How Big is the Problem?
3. What is the market for your idea? How would you categorize competing technologies in the market? And, where does your idea fit?
4. Who are your target customers? (i.e. target market) How will you get your product to them?

5. Who are your competitors in this category? What are their strengths & weaknesses?

6. What are your competitive advantages? Why should you be selected instead of the competition?

7. What is your product development plan? From concept, to prototype, to market? What are the steps & what is the time frame? How will you protect your invention & when will you initiate the protection in your product plan?

8. What are your commercialization alternatives? Licensing to a company in this category? Starting a company? Risks vs. Rewards.

9. Conclusion.

Startup scripts

2010-07-29T16:09:00.000-04:00

Sample startup file, place in /etc/init.d:

cat /etc/init.d/archiva
#! /bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 90 10
# description: Archiva server

# uncoment to set JAVA_HOME as the value present when Continuum installed
export JAVA_HOME=/opt/SDK/jdk
export ARCHIVA=/opt/archiva/current/bin/archiva

case "$1" in

'start')
su - archiva -c "$ARCHIVA start"

;;

'stop')
su - archiva -c "$ARCHIVA stop"

;;

'restart')
su - archiva -c "$ARCHIVA stop"
sleep 20
su - archiva -c "$ARCHIVA start"

;;

*)
echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop | restart }"
exit 1
;;
esac

exit 0

To add it to startup, execute as root:
chkconfig --add archiva

Done.

Another example, using Geronimo:

[geronimo@mypc bin]$ ./geronimo.sh --help
Using GERONIMO_HOME: /home/geronimo/geronimo-tomcat6-javaee5-2.1.6
Using GERONIMO_TMPDIR: var/temp
Using JRE_HOME: /opt/SDK/jdk/jre
Usage: geronimo.sh command [geronimo_args]
commands:
debug Debug Geronimo in jdb debugger
jpda run Start Geronimo in foreground under JPDA debugger
jpda start Start Geronimo in background under JPDA debugger
run Start Geronimo in the foreground
start Start Geronimo in the background
stop Stop Geronimo
stop --force Stop Geronimo (followed by kill -KILL)

Create /etc/init.d/geronimo as follows:

#! /bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 90 10
# description: geronimo server

# uncoment to set JAVA_HOME as the value present when Continuum installed
export JAVA_HOME=/opt/SDK/jdk
export GERONIMO=/opt/geronimo/current/bin/geronimo.sh

case "$1" in

'start')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO start"

;;

'stop')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO stop"

;;

'restart')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO stop"
sleep 20
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO start"

;;

'debug')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO debug"

;;

'jpdarun')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO jpda run"

;;

'jpdastart')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO jpda start"

;;

'jpdastop')
su - geronimo -c "$GERONIMO stop"

;;

*)
echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop | restart | debug | jpdarun | jpdastart | jpdastop }"
exit 1
;;

esac

exit 0

Test each entry:

/etc/init.d/geronimo
Usage: /etc/init.d/geronimo { start | stop | restart | debug | jpdarun | jpdastart | jpdastop }

/etc/init.d/geronimo start

/etc/init.d/geronimo stop
(login/pass = system / manager)

/etc/init.d/geronimo debug

# add to startup
chkconfig --add geronimo

# check that the file exists in the startup location, ex:
ls -la /etc/rc.d/init.d/geronimo

How to load properties files in Oracle's Weblogic 11G

2010-07-16T16:11:00.005-04:00

PropertiesLoader propertiesLoader = new PropertiesLoader(propertiesFileName);
if (propertiesLoader.thePropertiesFileExists()) {
System.out.println("Properties file exists: " + propertiesFileName);
} else { ... }

String serverName = propertiesLoader.getProperty("serverName");

...

And the properties loader class:



package alan.lupsha.properties;

import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.io.InputStream;

public class PropertiesLoader {
    private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(PropertiesLoader.class);

    private Properties props = null;
    private String propertiesFileName = null;
    private boolean propertiesFileExists = false;

    public PropertiesLoader(String propertiesFileName) {
        this.propertiesFileName = propertiesFileName;
        try {
            props = new Properties();
            ClassLoader cl = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
            // does not work in 11G: java.net.URL url = cl.getResource(propertiesFileName);

            InputStream in = cl.getResourceAsStream( propertiesFileName );
            if( in != null )
            {
                props.load(in);
                setPropertiesFileExists(true);
            }
            else
            {
                logger.warn("InputStream is null while trying to load properties file: " + propertiesFileName );
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            logger.error("Error while loading properties from file "
                    + propertiesFileName + ". Error is: " + e.toString());
            System.out.println("Error while loading properties from file "
                    + propertiesFileName + ". Error is: " + e.toString());
        }
    }

    public String getProperty(String propertyName) {
        String returnStr = "";
        if (props == null) {
            logger.error("Sorry, your props file couldn't be loaded: " + propertiesFileName);
        } else {
            returnStr = props.getProperty(propertyName);
            if (returnStr == null) {
                returnStr = "";
            }
        }
        return returnStr;
    }

    public void setPropertiesFileExists(boolean propertiesFileExists) {
        this.propertiesFileExists = propertiesFileExists;
    }

    public boolean thePropertiesFileExists() {
        return propertiesFileExists;
    }
}

How to set up ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse in Apache

2010-05-04T23:36:00.002-04:00

How to set up ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse in Apache to allow access to Continuum (which runs on port 8080) and to Archiva (which runs on port 8082):

As root, edit: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Enable:
LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so

At the bottom of the config file, add:

# ***********************************************************
ProxyRequests On
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyVia full

Order deny,allow
Allow from all

ProxyPass /archiva http://myserver.my.domain.com:8082/archiva
ProxyPassReverse /archiva http://myserver.my.domain.com:8082/archiva

ProxyPass /continuum http://myserver.my.domain.com:8080/continuum
ProxyPassReverse /continuum http://myserver.my.domain.com:8080/continuum
# ***********************************************************

Restart Apache: /etc/init.d/httpd restart

How to scan using the Epson Perfection 3490 Photo scanner

2010-03-26T00:52:00.000-04:00

Source: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/sane-backends/+bug/311191

Binary package hint: libsane

Epson 3490 wont run without the following modification
The following steps did it for me (running 8.04 Hardy, 8.10, 9.04):-

1) sudo apt-get install sane-utils

2) Go to the Users and Groups screen and add yourself (and other
scanner users) to the "scanner" group.

3) Log off and on (or reboot) to make 2) effective.

4) sudo mkdir /usr/share/sane/snapscan

5) sudo cp Esfw52.bin /usr/share/sane/snapscan

6) sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/sane/snapscan/Esfw52.bin

7) sudo gedit /etc/sane.d/snapscan.conf

Change firmware entry to say:-
firmware /usr/share/sane/snapscan/Esfw52.bin

Please note point 6 as the file was initially created with insufficient access.

Firmware .bin is attacted

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=108256&page=6 - is the scanner being discussed

=================
# How to scan from the shell:

scanimage --device-name snapscan:libusb:002:006 --resolution 200 --high-quality=no --mode Color --format=pnm > lastscan.pnm

# Convert the file to jpg:
convert lastscan.pnm 01.jpg

# To convert all the pnm files to jpg files, type this command on one line:
for i in `ls *.pnm`; do convert $i $i.jpg; done

=================

Ubuntu - how to fix the annoying error "resolvconf: Error: /etc/resolv.conf must be a symlink"

2010-03-03T19:57:00.001-05:00

How to fix the error: "resolvconf: Error: /etc/resolv.conf must be a symlink"

1. Kill the NetworkManager process:

sudo kill -9 `ps aux | grep sbin/NetworkManager | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`

2. Run the resolvconf reconfiguration tool:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure resolvconf

(select YES, OK )

3. Verify that the resolv.conf file is ok:

ls -la /etc/resolv.conf

It should look very close to this:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2010-03-03 19:53 /etc/resolv.conf -> /etc/resolvconf/run/resolv.conf

4. Check the contents, it should have your name server(s) listed. The following shows an example using Comcast nameservers, and includes a router with address 192.168.0.1:

cat /etc/resolv.conf

# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 68.87.74.162
nameserver 68.87.68.162
nameserver 192.168.0.1
search wp.comcast.net

5. Verify that it all works, try a restart of your system, and start with:
ping google.com
If you get a reply, your network works.

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How to install the command line transmissioncli bittorrent client in Ubuntu

2010-02-08T10:15:00.001-05:00

mkdir ~/downloads
cd ~/downloads

# get the latest stable version from http://www.transmissionbt.com/download.php
wget http://mirrors.m0k.org/transmission/files/transmission-1.83.tar.bz2

bunzip2 transmission-1.83.tar.bz2
tar -xvf transmission-1.83.tar
cd transmission-1.83/
cat README | more

sudo apt-get install intltool
sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev
sudo apt-get install openssl

./configure
make
sudo make install

# verify that the install worked
ls -la /usr/local/bin/transmissioncli

------

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How to set up Apache with groups of users and basic HTTP authentication

2010-02-06T14:33:00.001-05:00

1. Do this as user root:

sudo su -

and find the path to the config files for Apache, ex: ls -la /etc/apache2/

2. create users, and use the htpasswd tool to encrypt their passwords
and store them in the password file:

htpasswd /etc/apache2/passwords john

and

htpasswd /etc/apache2/passwords mary

3. add your users to a groups file

nano /etc/apache2/groups

Create a group called "trusted" followed by ":" followed by
the user names who are in that group, space delimited:

trusted:john mary

and set permissions so that user apache (who is in group "www-data")
can actually see the "passwords" and "groups" files.

chown root:www-data /etc/apache2/groups
chown root:www-data /etc/apache2/passwords

4. edit the apache config file to set up the directory which you are serving

nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

At the end of the Apache config file, add the following alias,
assuming that you keep all your files in /home/john/coolfiles/

alias /john "/home/john/coolfiles"

Options Indexes +MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Required"
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/passwords
AuthGroupFile /etc/apache2/groups
Require Group trusted

5. restart apache, as user root

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

6. test with a browser

http://localhost/john/

or

http://yourdomain.com/john/

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