Claus Conrad

Cheaper than locally: ordering food online in Sweden

Claus Conrad — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:49:36 +0000

You’re a parent? Living in Sweden? Trying to save money by shopping at Netto, ALDI or LIDL?

Read on - there might be cheaper alternatives to buy some of your food!

When I was visiting the US i frequently shopped food at Amazon.com. Since that time I have always been jealous of the assortment, prices and delivery speed of Amazon’s grocery department, advantages that haven’t been available to Swedish residents – until recently, that is.

Amazon has local sites in many larger countries around the world, though none in the Scandinavian countries. Still, many Swedes are used to ordering books from Amazon.co.uk or one of the other Amazon branches inside the European Union (in order to avoid customs). However, the delivery of grocery items has traditionally been restricted to the primary country of each Amazon branch – e.g. their UK site would only deliver groceries to the UK and possibly Northern Ireland.

Thus I was pretty excited when I recently discovered that Amazon.de had loosened their restrictions and now offered to ship some groceries to Sweden and other countries. Our kids just love Chili con carne and when time is of the essence (as I guess it is for most parents), Knorr’s “Chili con Carne” is a tasty and not-too-unhealthy way to save time while preparing the childrens’ favorite dinner. If you are asked to prepare the same dish once in a while, buying it in bulk through Amazon.de can save you money despite the additional shipping costs.

Here’s an example based on the above product as an example:

Shop	Item	Price	Shipping	Total
LIDL	25 x Knorr Chili con Carne	25 x SEK 11.90 = SEK 297.50	SEK 0	SEK 297.50
Amazon.de	25 x Knorr Chili con Carne	EUR 20.68 = SEK 176.03	EUR 5.90 = SEK 50.22	SEK 226.25

So even a “small” order of 25 bags of Knorr products can save you SEK 71.25 (not taking the time for going to the nearest LIDL shop versus going to the nearest post office into account).

Now SEK 71.25 doesn’t sound like a huge amount, but if you order several products together the savings can easily mean a couple of hundred SEK more in your pocket. Of course, whether this way of shopping is worth it for you depends on a couple of factors, such as the variation of dinner dishes you prepare, your distance to the supermarkets versus your distance to the post office etc., but I hope this idea is helpful to somebody.

Parcel tracking (for nerds)

Claus Conrad — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:53:15 +0000

I am currently waiting for an order from amazon.de, which is taking the following route:

According to track & trace, the parcel is following the route from A-D on the map below (D being my location). The distance between C and D is 360 km (224 miles), so as the parcel makes this route twice it is basically traveling 720 km (448 miles) unnecessarily.

Now, I know this sounds nerdy and it is The reason I picked an amateurish interest in logistics is my participation in the “World mail panel”, which is a project by the German company Quotas that tries to survey the mail routing for large letters (or small parcels) between European countries. They use this information to help carriers improve their transit times and transport costs. Seems like Amazon could profit from their data, once the study is finished

If you are interested in helping them collect data, register here – they are sometimes looking for participants from different countries. Participants can choose between receiving monetary compensation or have Quotas donate their reward to one of several charities.

Zend OPcache for PHP on SmartOS

Claus Conrad — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:14:12 +0000

Installing an opcode cache such as Zend OPcache is a simple way to improve your PHP’s performance on SmartOS. Here’s how.

Zend OPcache (previously known as Zend Optimizer+) is one of several opcode caches for PHP, the other most well-known being APC and eAccelerator. Zend Optimizer Plus has been available in binary form together with Zend Server (CE) for some time, but Zend recently decided to contribute the code to the PHP project. Thus it can now be used on platforms such as SmartOS, where Zend Server isn’t an option. Thank you Zend!

Zend OPcache will be part of PHP from the upcoming 5.5 version, but the source code is compatible with PHP 5.2 and later versions. At this time, most of us on SmartOS are (hopefully) running PHP 5.4. If you are in the same situation as me (PHP 5.4.9 on SmartOS x64) you might be able to save some time by installing Zend OPcache from my repository. Otherwise, see below for manual installation steps.

Pre-compiled Zend OPcache for PHP 5.4.9 on SmartOS (64-bit)

To install the pre-compiled version from my repository follow these steps:

Add my repository:
echo "http://www.clausconrad.com/smartos/" >> /opt/local/etc/pkgin/repositories.conf
Update your package database:
pkgin up
Install the package:
pkgin in php54-opcache

After these steps, follow the instructions beneath the manual installation steps to activate the extension.

Manual installation

If you are running SmartOS (32-bit) and/or another PHP version than 5.4.9, or if you simply want to install the most recent version of Zend OPcache from GitHub, follow these steps instead:

Update your package database:
pkgin up
Install prerequisites for building Zend OPcache:
pkgin in unzip php54-pear gmake gcc47 autoconf
Download and unpack the code:
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/zend-dev/ZendOptimizerPlus/archive/master.zip unzip master rm master
Build the extension:
cd ZendOptimizerPlus-master/ phpize ./configure --with-php-config=/opt/local/bin/php-config make make test make install

Activating the extension

The following steps apply whether you installed the pre-compiled version or compiled Zend OPcache yourself:

Edit your php.ini:
vi /opt/local/etc/php.ini
Add the following line at the bottom of the file and save it:
zend_extension=/opt/local/lib/php/20120301/opcache.so
If you are using PHP-FPM, restart it:
svcadm restart php54-fpm

Backup Jenkins configuration to S3

Claus Conrad — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:33:16 +0000

Here’s a simple Jenkins job that backs up your Jenkins configuration (i.e. job definitions) to Amazon S3.

Dependencies

S3 Plugin

Global configuration

Set up a S3 profile at jenkinshost/configure.

Job configuration

Create a new free-style project and give it a name.
(Optional) I recommend to check “Discard Old Builds” and choose the following settings to save disk space:
Strategy: Log Rotation
Days to keep builds: (empty)
Max # of builds to keep: (empty)
Days to keep artifacts: 1
Max # of builds to keep with artifacts: 1
Set a build trigger of your choice; I use this:
Build periodically – Schedule: H H(0-5) * * *
Add an “Execute shell” build step with the following command:
# Delete all files in the workspace rm -rf * # Create a directory for the job definitions mkdir -p $BUILD_ID/jobs # Copy global configuration files into the workspace cp $JENKINS_HOME/*.xml $BUILD_ID/ # Copy keys and secrets into the workspace cp $JENKINS_HOME/identity.key $BUILD_ID/ cp $JENKINS_HOME/secret.key $BUILD_ID/ cp $JENKINS_HOME/secret.key.not-so-secret $BUILD_ID/ cp -r $JENKINS_HOME/secrets $BUILD_ID/ # Copy user configuration files into the workspace cp -r $JENKINS_HOME/users $BUILD_ID/ # Copy job definitions into the workspace rsync -am --include='config.xml' --include='*/' --prune-empty-dirs --exclude='*' $JENKINS_HOME/jobs/ $BUILD_ID/jobs/ # Create an archive from all copied files (since the S3 plugin cannot copy folders recursively) tar czf $BUILD_ID.tar.gz $BUILD_ID/ # Remove the directory so only the archive gets copied to S3 rm -rf $BUILD_ID
Create a post-build action of type “Publish artifacts to S3 Bucket” and configure as follows:
S3 profile: Choose the profile from the global configuration
Source: **
Destination bucket: Enter the name of the bucket where you want the archive to go
Note: Even though it says “Destination bucket”, it is possible to enter a bucket name AND path, the S3 plugin will create the directory or use it if it already exists.

S3 configuration

The setup described above creates a new backup each day. I like being able to go back in history, e. g. if the accidental deletion of a job was discovered after several days. I’d recommend to use a lifecycle policy on the bucket to remove old backups after a desired number of days.

Alternatively one could achieve a similar effect by enabling versioning on the bucket and change the archive’s file name to a fixed value by changing the tar command in the shell script:
tar czf jenkins-configuration.tar.gz $BUILD_ID/

Diigo backup script

Claus Conrad — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:05:53 +0000

A simple script to backup your Diigo bookmarks to a JSON file.

Download/contribute: https://github.com/cconrad/diigo-backup

Check for WordPress updates from the outside

Claus Conrad — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:45:07 +0000

“wp-external-update-check” is a small WordPress plugin that lets you check your WordPress site(s) for updates.

It provides a secret URL to check for updates to the WordPress core, plugins and themes, without requiring cookie-based authentication. It is meant to be used from external monitoring or continous integration systems.

A simple usage example for Jenkins (requires the Python plugin for Jenkins) is given in the docs directory.

Download/contribute

My first open source commit

Claus Conrad — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:42:57 +0000

This is a VERY small patch, but still, I’m a little bit proud that my first try to commit a patch to an open source project was accepted

http://bugs.dojotoolkit.org/ticket/15669

AutoHotkey MouseMove not working in Virtualbox

Claus Conrad — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:22:46 +0000

A simple solution for me was to disable mouse integration (Host key + I).

Weekly review: Week ending February 16, 2013

Claus Conrad — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:28:08 +0000

Trying to get into the routine of writing these updates again…

Work

Launched a customized Magento shop

Relationships

Borrowed childrens books at the library
Ordered new prescriptions for the kids
Commented on the city’s family evaluation plan

Life

Tried out new contact lenses

No concrete plans for next week yet.

SmartOS configuration notes

Claus Conrad — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:07:37 +0000

Some notes about my experimentations with SmartOS (for personal use).

Change keymap
Default is US, to change, add a line to /usbkey/config like this:
default_keymap=denmark
Source
VirtualBox networking
* Set VirtualBox NIC to NAT mode
* Set SmartOS configuration (during install) to:
IP: 10.0.2.15
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: 10.0.2.2
Source
Installing a Joyent VM (zone)
imgadm update
dsadm avail
dsadm import fdea06b0-3f24-11e2-ac50-0b645575ce9d
Create JSON configuration file for new VM (source)
Source
NAT for zones
Source

Minimize (almost) any window to the systray

Claus Conrad — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:14:27 +0000

“RBTray is a small Windows program that runs in the background and allows almost any window to be minimized to the system tray by right clicking its minimize button.”

This is a nice tool that runs perfectly well on Windows 8 with minimal resource usage. It works with any window I tried yet, doesn’t require administrative rights as far as I know, has no cumbersome installation/setup process, and the code is open source (C++).

Give it a try if you use Windows

Download RBTray

Installing Caldecott on Windows

Claus Conrad — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:12:07 +0000

Caldecott is a ruby gem required for e. g. tunneling to AppFog services. This short writeup explains how to get it running on Windows.

I wrote this because I received the following error trying to establish a tunnel to a MySQL instance on AppFog:

To use `af tunnel', you must first install Caldecott:

        gem install caldecott

Note that you'll need a C compiler. If you're on OS X, Xcode
will provide one. If you're on Windows, try DevKit.

This manual step will be removed in the future.

Error: Caldecott is not installed.

To solve this problem, follow these steps:

You need a Ruby distribution from rubyinstaller.org for this.
You probably already have that, otherwise go download the newest RubyInstaller from the top of this page.
Download the latest DevKit (Development Kit) from the same page, it is right below the heading “Development Kit”.
Run the DevKit executable (it is just a self-extracting 7Z archive and can be unpacked with other tools, if necessary) and extract it somewhere. Be sure to specify a new or empty directory as the destination.
Rename the directory extracted in the previous step to devkit and move it to your Ruby’s installation folder, e. g. C:\Ruby193.
Open a command prompt as an administrator (e. g. by pressing the Start button, typing cmd, right-clicking the link to the command prompt and choosing “Run as Administrator”).
Change to the devkit folder by typing e. g. cd C:\Ruby194\devkit (depends on your Ruby installation folder of course).
Run the following command:
ruby dk.rb init
Run the following command:
ruby dk.rb install
Finally, to install Caldecott, run the following command:
gem install caldecott --platform=ruby

In case of problems check these instructions on GitHub. Good luck!

AppFog command line tool support for Jetbrains IDEs

Claus Conrad — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:06:08 +0000

If you use AppFog and develop using IntelliJ IDEA, PhpStorm, RubyMine, PyCharm or WebStorm, this command line tool configuration file can make your job a bit easier.

The next version of IntelliJ IDEA (v12) will have integrated support for CloudFoundry and I guess that means AppFog too, however the current version 11 has no such feature. Fortunately all Jetbrains IDEs have support for command line tools, so I don’t have to switch to a terminal or command prompt to run “af” commands – this works out of the box. Since I can’t remember all command line options and their syntax, I made a configuration file to enable auto-complete of “af” commands in the Jetbrains IDE command line. If you want to use this, here’s how to install it:

I assume you already have AppFog’s command line tool installed; if not, follow these simple instructions:
https://docs.appfog.com/getting-started/af-cli#installation
Make sure the “Command Line Tool Support” plugin is enabled in your IDE:
Go to “Command Line Tools Support” in the “Project Settings” area of your IDE settings; click the + icon to add a new framework and choose “Custom Framework” from the dropdown that appears. Enter a name for the framework (e. g. “AppFog”) and af for both of the “Tool path” and “Alias” fields. (If af is not in your path, you could also enter the full path into the “Tool path” field.) Finally, click “OK” in the dialog and “Apply” at the bottom of the Settings dialog:
With the “af” line selected, click the “Edit” icon at the right of the Settings dialog, then close the Settings dialog:
The IDE has opened an editor window with an XML file describing the new “custom framework”. Replace all contents of this file with the following XML, then save and close the file:
target Reports current target or sets a new target url[=null] login Login email[=null] --email[=null] --passwd[=null] info System and account information apps List deployed applications push Create, push, map, and start a new application appname[=null] push Push application to specificed infrastructure appname --infra[=null] push Push application from specified path appname --path[=null] push Set the url for the application appname --url[=null] push Set the expected number <N> of instances appname --instances N push Set the memory reservation for the application appname --mem M push Do not auto-start the application appname --no-start pull Download last pushed source of <appname> to [path] appname path[=null] start Start the application appname stop Stop the application appname restart Restart the application appname delete Delete the application appname update Update the application bits appname --path[=null] mem Update the memory reservation for an application appname memsize[=null] map Register the application to the url appname url unmap Unregister the application from the url appname url instances Scale the application instances up or down appname num|delta crashes List recent application crashes appname crashlogs Display log information for crashed applications appname logs Display log information for the application appname --all[=null] files Display directory listing or file download for path appname path[=null] --all[=null] stats Display resource usage for the application appname instances List application instances appname env List application environment variables appname env-add Add an environment variable to an application appname variable value env-del Delete an environment variable from an application appname variable services Lists of services available and provisioned create-service Create a provisioned service service --name[=null] --bind[=null] create-service Create a provisioned service on a specified infrastructure service --infra[=null] create-service Create a provisioned service and assign it <name> service name create-service Create a provisioned service and assign it <name>, and bind to <app> service name app delete-service Delete a provisioned service servicename[=null] bind-service Bind a service to an application servicename appname unbind-service Unbind service from the application servicename appname clone-services Clone service bindings from <src-app> application to <dest-app> src-app dest-app user Display user account information passwd Change the password for the current user logout Logs current user out of the target system add-user Register a new user (requires admin privileges) --email[=null] --passwd[=null] delete-user Delete a user and all apps and services (requires admin privileges) user runtimes Display the supported runtimes of the target system frameworks Display the recognized frameworks of the target system infras Display the available infrastructures aliases List aliases alias Create an alias for a command alias command unalias Remove an alias alias targets List known targets and associated authorization tokens help Get general help or help on a specific command command[=null] help options Get help on available options
Click “Tools” > “Run Command…” to open the command line pane:
Type af and press Space to get a list of AppFog commands. The list narrows down as you continue typing, or you can choose the desired command from the list using the mouse or arrow and Enter keys:

Apache segmentation fault after enabling SSL

Claus Conrad — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:18:14 +0000

If you use the Zend Server (CE) PHP distribution on Debian/Ubuntu, apparently there is a conflict between PHP’s curl extension and Apache’s mod_ssl, resulting in a segmentation fault (crash) upon starting Apache.

The easiest solution is to disable the curl extension, if you don’t need it (by default, this can be done by commenting the first line in /usr/local/zend/etc/ext.d/curl.ini).

Thanks to Sirex for this answer! Unfortunately I am not allowed to upvote his/her answer on StackOverflow yet. I hope this link helps someone else.

Weekly review: Week ending July 14, 2012

Claus Conrad — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 22:00:37 +0000

It’s been almost a year since I wrote my last weekly review here – and I can’t promise to write one next week either.

Shame on me, but I am sitting in a train bound back home, after returning 3 of our special needs kids back to their father – they have been with us for 2 weeks – ‘nough said?

Okay, probably not – though it was a hard time trying to get work done while avoiding the constant lingering tantrums from untreated children

So, in a kindof new format, here’s what I accomplished anyway:

Work

Changed almost all page templates to load JavaScript using the AMD standard (a progressiv style of coding that allows developers to modularize code instead of copy/pasting, while retaining functionality and performance due to the ability to bundle modules together in .js files) (MM)
Inlined some ads to avoid the last synchronous iframe loading on the frontpage (MM)
Noticed Google Page Speed go down about 30% (i.e. faster loading of pages) due to switching from synchronously loaded ads to ads loaded in “friendly iframes” (with both of our ad servers, Emediate and Google DFP Small Business) (MM)

Relationships

Had some good talks with Mikkel
Supported Birgit in branding herself personally

Life

Paid some overdue invoices
Sent an invoice to MM that hopefully will be paid in time so that I don’t get overdue again on payments next month

Plans for next week:

Work

Fix JavaScript and CSS bugs tue do the previous refactoring (MM)
Recreate functionality that existed before the switch to the new design (MM)

Relationships

Reestablish a better relationship with my girlfriend after the last weeks’ stress

Life

Improve my personal finances by declaring company expenses as such
Improve my personal finances by settling debts with my girlfriend

Please feel free to hold me accountable to the above goals in 1 week from now – i’d appreciate it