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Covering random thoughts and findings on state-of-the-art web technologies, including Node.js, NoSQL, jQuery, and anything HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript. And Ubuntu Linux, yea.

[gantrithor-blog]

"The Neck" by JJ Harrison

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The Intenterface

Coming up in Ubuntu Precise (12.04 LTS) - HUD, the "intenterface", per Shuttleworth's definition. Looks like something having great potential if with the right flavor of voice input/control.

It's definitely good to see a Linux distro is taking such a bold step making itself become more accessible to common users. Would be a shame though if this turns out to be a double whammy. Hopefully Shuttleworth also has something up his sleeve to get Ubuntu more visibility from the general consumers.

[ohhlookitsadam-blog]

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8-)

[myfotolog]

[fastonfour]

[gantrithor-blog]

Yippeeeeee!!

[gantrithor-blog]

Carefree CoffeeScript Auto-compiler Part 3

Due to some issues with inotifywait, if you are copying over a deeply nested directory tree, occasionally there may be a file or two left uncaught by our coffeemaker auto-compiler script.

Since a fix doesn't seem to be trivial (expected events not being emitted by inotifywait at all), we are now providing --all as an optional argument to the script, which, as the name suggests, will traverse through your whole CoffeeScript directory tree, compiling every .coffee file on the way.

Below you may find the recommended way now on how to utilize coffeemaker:

How to Use It

Download the script ("coffeemaker").

Put coffeemaker at the root of your working directory. For example: ~/project/coffeemaker Important: By default, coffeemaker is expecting the directory structure convention set by Express.js, namely you are having your CoffeeScript files under ./public/coffeescripts, and wish to output your compiled JavaScripts to ./public/javascripts; otherwise you’ll have to tweak some paths inside the script yourself. With enough demand we may consider making the pathnames as passable arguments to the script in the future.

Add coffeemaker into your Startup Applications; make sure absolute path is used:

Well that's it! From now on this tiny script will execute automatically upon login, and keep a tight sync between your CoffeeScript and JavaScript folders throughout all kind of situations such as file/directory copy/move/creation/deletion/modification, etc. Directory tree structure is also aptly preserved.

It is recommended, however, that whenever some filesystem operations involving deeply nested directories have been commenced, or that you are about to do a commit, for extra safety you should fire up your terminal, navigate to your working directory and hit this following command to recompile your CoffeeScript directory tree at once:

$ ./coffeemaker --all

About coffeemaker

This script attempts to fix two of the major flaws of coffee --watch: new files and sub-directories aren't being watched, and that it requires manual initiation and goes on to occupy one of your terminal tabs afterwards.

Compiled JavaScript files are placed inside a separate output directory, with the whole directory structure preserved.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you think there are ways to further improve it, thanks! =D

[gantrithor-blog]

Node.js v0.6.0 Not Working with CoffeeScript v1.1.2

Just a quick heads-up: If you are developing in CoffeeScript, now is quite not yet the moment to upgrade your Node.js to v0.6.0 because this will break coffee -c! Should be fixed in the upcoming CoffeeScript update - which is also why we are holding off our PPAs updates right now.

[gantrithor-blog]

Carefree CoffeeScript Auto-compiler Part 2

EDIT:

Please refer to the newest post on coffeemaker instead.

There was some feedback regarding our CoffeeScript autocompiler being "less than optimal" because it loops over the whole directory tree every once in a while, recompiling those files that haven't changed at all during the process, which may cause some system overhead if you've got a pretty large project to maintain. Furthermore, the coffee --watch command is built upon Node.js' fs.watchFile method - which relies upon inotify in turn.

Since Node.js isn't really specialized in CPU-bound tasks, I believe we all would agree that it's more efficient for our autocompiler to listen to inotify directly, rather than through two extra layers. So here it goes - the new Carefree CoffeeScript Auto-compiler.

Note that in order to take advantage of this new autocompiler, you will need to install inotify-tools:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install inotify-tools

The script is expecting the directory structure convention set by Express.js, namely you are having your CoffeeScript files under ./public/coffeescripts, and wish to output your compiled JavaScripts to ./public/javascripts; otherwise you'll have to tweak some settings inside the script yourself.

The rest is pretty much all the same - put the Bash script at the root of your Node.js project, and add it as one of your startup applications.

If you think this script is helpful to you, or can take some more improvements somewhere, please be sure to let me know =)

[pr0mise]

[nutbustin]

[gantrithor-blog]

Dream monster ;)

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Carefree CoffeeScript Auto-compiler

EDIT:

Please refer to the newest post on coffeemaker instead.

Like all Jedi need to craft their own lightsabers... all CoffeeScript developers need to code their own autocompilers! *lol*

So here it goes: are you looking for some way to watch over your CoffeeScript working directory tree ever since system login, and automatically compile them into JavaScript on each file save/change or new file creation? Well look no further because it is right here:

#!/bin/bash

while true

do

    coffee -cw "$(cd "$( dirname "$0" )" && pwd)"/* &

    sleep 300

    kill $!

done

Or grab it on my gist since Tumblr has a nasty habit of messing with quotation marks in articles which isn't very friendly for codes.

Kinda surprised that CoffeeScript didn't walk the extra mile to take the --watch option here, because literally anyone who doesn't treat CoffeeScript as a fancy toy but a real tool would be needing this bad.

How to Use It

Download the script ("coffeemaker").

Put coffeemaker at the root of your working directory. For example: ~/project/coffeemaker

Add coffeemaker into your Startup Applications; make sure absolute path is used:

Well that's it! From now on this tiny script will execute automatically upon login, recompile your CoffeeScript automatically upon every file save however deep it is inside your directory tree, and rewatch your whole directory automatically every 5 minutes to extend its grip onto any new CoffeeScript file you might have just created. Speaking about automagic ;)

About coffeemaker

This tiny script fixes two of the major flaws of coffee --watch: new CoffeeScript files aren't being watched, and that it requires manual initiation and goes on to occupy one of your terminal tabs afterwards.

Compiled JavaScript files are placed in the same directory as their CoffeeScript source files, which is the default behavior of coffee.

All it does basically is to start the coffee command in a subshell, wait 5 minutes before terminating the process and restart one. You can modify the value to make it wait longer or shorter, but I think 5 minutes is about right.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you think there are ways to further improve it, thanks! =D

[decrepito-deactivated20160813]

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Scenic and lovely. These photos never cease to amaze me =)

[flavorwire]

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Incredible shot... Guess what this is?

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Install Up-to-date MongoDB on Ubuntu

Again, this week we are providing a new Launchpad PPA for up-to-date MongoDB .deb packages.

Though there is an official MongoDB repo for Debian/Ubuntu provided by 10gen, it doesn't work really well with Synaptic (as it tends to spew some errors), and the package-renaming approach is simply not necessary and not good.

Just like CoffeeScript, Debian Sid already has the newest version of MongoDB, so the Debianization was largely painless, except that it took me a while to figure out the hidden build dependency of gcc-4.6, due to which the packages are only available to Ubuntu Natty/Oneiric for the moment.

If you are using Ubuntu Oneiric:

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gias-kay-lee/mongodb

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install mongodb

For Ubuntu Natty, the steps slightly differ:

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gias-kay-lee/mongodb

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install mongodb

The python-software-properties package is required to run add-apt-repository. Packages for Maverick and below are currently not offered due to unavailability of gcc-4.6 packages corresponding to these series.

Disclaimer

My MongoDB PPA is not an official effort, so use it at your own free will. Since I need to use it myself in my upcoming projects, you kinda take for granted that it won't fall into disrepair or oblivion, but I make no guarantee that it will keep a tight sync with the Github upstream and always offer the newest version. Because I am still far from a packaging guru, and because my real focus is my on projects.

Reference

If you wanna know how to build and maintain your own Debian package along with a PPA, here is how I've done it:

Debianize Github Projects And Upload to Ubuntu PPA

[gantrithor-blog]

Install Up-to-date CoffeeScript on Ubuntu

In my last post, I mentioned it is a bad idea to npm install -g something that should be done by sudo apt-get install instead. We are out to fix that for CoffeeScript today, using the workflow introduced inside our Git-Debianization-PPA guide. You'll find out very quickly that the newest version of CoffeeScript, v1.1.2, was already incorporated into Debian Sid, so all we need to do actually is some minor changes to the Debian tarball.

In total, it only took me like 10 minutes to port the newest version from there onto Ubuntu PPA:

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gias-kay-lee/coffeescript

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install coffeescript

The python-software-properties package is required to run add-apt-repository. You'll need to add in Chris Lea's Node.js PPA as well because CoffeeScript depends on it.

Disclaimer

My CoffeeScript PPA is not an official effort, so use it at your own free will. Since I need to use it myself in my upcoming projects, you kinda take for granted that it won't fall into disrepair or oblivion, but I make no guarantee that it will keep a tight sync with the Github upstream and always offer the newest version. Because I am still far from a packaging guru, and because my real focus is my on projects.

Reference

If you wanna know how to build and maintain your own Debian package along with a PPA, here is how I've done it:

Debianize Github Projects And Upload to Ubuntu PPA

[gantrithor-blog]

Do Not Use npm install -g

While NPM is a great tool to manage everything you'll need about your Node.js projects, it should not replace your system's standard package manager if there is already one.

I had a brief exchange of opinions with Chris Lea when I was trying to turn NPM into a Debian package, and I believe both of us were supportive (though to a different extent) about the concept that the role of APT as the global package manager on Debian/Ubuntu should not be marginalized.

Since NPM v1.0, it installs packages to the local directory you are currently in by default. This makes NPM an excellent tool suppose you are in need of maintaining multiple Node.js projects. As an analogue, think about maintaining 3 different websites on the same computer; all of them would require some common modules like jQuery or Lightbox, yet each of them would also need a few extra niche JavaScript includes individually. Such scenarios would make the idea of maintaining these modules using APT much nonsensical.

However, if you are going to use some Node.js "module" over your command line or inside your shell, or the installation guide of this "module" tells you to simply try npm install -g, I'd say ditch it - you are actually trying to install a JavaScript program inside your global environment and you should by all means use your APT/Synaptic UI for the good practice and health of your system.

That being said, I think it may be time for various Linux distros to start thinking about a more fluent, clutterless packaging flow for programs written in interpreted languages such as Ruby and JavaScript, seeing the rise of RubyGems and so on. The crazy Debianization thing just looks like writing a website in Java and needs to be seriously booted 20 years forward imperatively.

[gantrithor-blog]

Install Up-to-date Node.js and NPM on Ubuntu

Following our Git-Debianization-PPA guide, below is the newest way to install both Node.js and NPM (Node Package Manager) inside your system in a neat manner you system admins would all like and love:

$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gias-kay-lee/npm

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install nodejs npm

The python-software-properties package is required to run add-apt-repository; to install the unstable branch of Node.js (odd versions), add in this PPA instead:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js-devel

Disclaimer

While the Node.js PPA by Chris Lea is officially backed, my NPM PPA is not an official effort, so use it at your own free will. Since I need to use it myself in my upcoming projects, you kinda take for granted that it won't fall into disrepair or oblivion, but I make no guarantee that it will keep a tight sync with the Github upstream and always offer the newest version. Because I am still far from a packaging guru, and because my real focus is my on projects.

Take npm v1.0.30 for example - the upstream has just deleted all the man pages and I am not sure I know what that means. So until I figure it out - or someone helps me to figure it out - we may be stuck in v1.0.29 for a little while. But I guess that's no real issue as long as you know who's maintaining the repo - and where to find this guy ;)

Be sure to drop me a message if you think something needs to be done to the package or the repo or anything else - I'd highly appreciate it! =)

Reference

If you wanna know how to build and maintain your own Debian package along with a PPA, here is how I've done it:

Debianize Github Projects And Upload to Ubuntu PPA