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The support server at the office has been using redmine for a few years. When I set it up way back in the days it was configured to use a mongrel cluster behind an apache server. This setup has been great, lately it has started to show it's age. Sometimes a mongrel would get stuck, eventually the others would suffer the same fate, and the server wouldn't process anymore requests. So now that the holiday season is in effect I'm taking advantage of the lighter traffic to update the server.

Since this isn't a brand new install I'm taking a different track than most other redmine installs. And I've found upgrading to be more fraught with problems than a clean install. This is a production machine so in addition to normal backups I have to be cautious of breaking shit irreparably.

So let's get to work:
After logging in the update your gems

gem update --system

Depending on the version of redmine you are using you will need to update your rails accordingly.

bash#: rails --version

Rails 2.2.2

gems update

cd /var/redmine/

svn update

If it isn't done so you should install passenger

gem install passenger

As I mentioned before, redmine was running through a rails mongrel cluster. Now I'm moving it to passenger and apache. After passenger is installed it is time to build it into apache

bash: redmine# passenger-install-apache2-module

Welcome to the Phusion Passenger Apache 2 module insaller, v2.2.8.

This installer will guide you through the entire installation process. It shouldn't take

more than 3 minutes in total.

...

At the end it will ask you to add the module to the apache configuration file. We won't be doing that. Instead we will make a module file and use the a2enmod.

bash:redmine# nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/passenger.load


LoadModule passenger_module /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.8/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so

PassengerRoot /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.8

PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8

bash: redmine# a2enmod passenger

Module passenger installed; run /etc/init.d/apache force-reload to enable.

Finally, update your redmine database:

bash: redmine# RAILS_ENV=production rake db:migrate

bash: redmine# RAILS_ENV=production rake db:migrate_plugins

Modify your vhost.conf file to point the DocumentRoot to the redmine/public folder (mine was just pointing to the redmine root) and then run the apache force-reload command.

If you have anything like webrick or mongrels running it is alright to terminate them now. Point your browser to your redmine site and bask in your awesomeness :-)

The great thing about using Linux is it's free and the rules are really basic. The bad thing about Linux is it's free and getting support can be a bit of a nightmare. It's been a week since I successfully installed Fedora Core 8. After using a variety of help guides I can say that it truly rocks. Whether or not I can use it productively is another question. You see I'm a .Net developer. which means I'm closely bound to the Windows side of doing things. On my ancient and underpowered laptop getting Windows to run on VMWare can be a virtual nightmare. While it's great as a server the GUI is pretty sluggish. But since connectivity is the safe word I can get around that by RDPing into a real windows machine.

I am a pragmatic and polyglot so I did install the Java IDE and Netbeans. Now seems like the perfect time to learn Java programming and compare it to C#.

My ageing Acer laptop was behaving strangely since lastweek. Windows would have nearly 100% kernel usage making it completely unusable for anything. It got so bad I couldn't get past the login screen without it locking up. System restore nor uninstalling new apps would fix this problem. Since I thought everything was lost I booted into safe mode and was able to work on the computer from there. But safe mode is not a longterm solution. Fearing the hard drive failing I ran every test I could think of to make sure. And nothing was reported out of the ordinary. As a last resort I did a reinstall of XP and after installing all the necessary drivers (sound, wifi, m/b, and graphics) the problem persisted. I tried this twice and would still end up with the same 100% kernel lockup. That's when I decided to take another look at linux.

I previously had experience with it in university when a neighbor (yay newman hall) gave me a Redhat CD. I've used it on and off since then but exclusively for servers. I tried Ubuntu but found the default interface to be really garish (okay, yucky background and the buttons are cartoonish) and the screenshots of fedora looked really slick. So I popped in the installer DVD and bang nothing happens. It hangs at the /usr/sbin load and just sits there. After 30 minutes the installer resumes but fails after writing the files to the hard drive. Not one to give up I use the live installer CD. Boots up right away and no problems this time. The wifi works and besides the lag of the CD drive spooling up everytime I use the menu it looks really put together. So using this guide I was able to get it working right away.

One thing I can say about Fedora is it doesn't have the ease of Ubuntu. I had to massage the system a little to get it working smoothly. But this can be expected on a laptop where a lot of the hardware is custom designed and poorly documented. I had to tighten down the font size and install the Webcore package from Microsoft. The default fonts are really ugly on my laptop for some reason. I'm still erked about the button arrangements. Some applications use huge icon sets for no reason. I'm sure the icons were designed by computer users who have vision problems. But on a laptop, where real estate is a premium it would be nice if the proportions were better. I like the well designed iTunes interface, Rhythmbox and Banshee are no iTunes is my conclusion. As a developer of web applications, some of the UI "features" are quirky. Gnome doesn't test to see if it has a good connection to a windows share until after you click on the icon. Shouldn't there be some testing done before it commits an object to the desktop. When I see "Joe's Work share" I assume the connection went through.

It's been installed for 4 days and I'm getting the hang of it. It brings back a lot of old memories of hacking an old alpha to run NetBSD (a server this weblog was hosted on ages ago, and a really useful foot warmer for those cold Virginia winters). It will be interesting to see how this side of the world lives.

Okay it's done. Loaded up VMWare and did the duty of upgrading to Edgy Eft. Everything was looking great until I restarted the virtual machine. I haven't needed to restart the VM since I upgraded the kernel last time. Imagine my surprise when my screen shrinks down to a quarter of its normal self, and the colors look really horrible. That knocked the wind out of my sails.

So what have I gotten out of this upgrade? A useless VM for the time being. But I'm an intrepid geek so this problem is going to be licked one way or another. For once in my life I would like for a milestone release to just work. Seems the proper answer is to carpet bomb the drive and start a new installation at major point release. I don't think this is a practical solution. Especially for a developer who has installed tons of stuff in all the recesses of a running linux system. Only to have it come crashing down because part of the toolchain can't figure out how to compile a new X library.

Detecting X.org version 7.1.

Problem extracting version of X.org

Execution aborted.

Thank you, please play again.

I've just had the pleasure of installing Kubuntu Linux as the alternate OS on my desktop. It looks great, excellent hardware support, and seems to have all the software I want on the default installation. After using it continuously for a few days I notices a few things that really bothered me.

• Konqueror wasn't integrated into the OS.
  
  You would think the browser and window manager could launch a little faster. Like it as there the entire time. No when I want to go to my home folder I have to wait for a stupid bouncing ball before I get there. I've used Linux and other Unix OSs for a long time. It was not like this before. And really, I don't need all the bells and whistles it provides, I just want access to my files.
  


• KBluetooth
  
  Something is wrong with my bluetooth. It detects my dongle. It doesn't see any of my bluetooth toys (namely mobile phone and headset). I'm still monkeying around with it.
  


• KTorrent
  
  The two bittorrent clients I have installed are absolute leaches on the system. I've used azereus, bittornado and ktorrent. the results are all the same 25%+ CPU usage. At extremely modest sharing levels. My windows client runs quietly unless it gets a hyperactive torrent. Then the HDD whirs. But I'm still able to watch my shows. With this, no go.
  


• Video on Linux
  
  I remember a time when the requirements to run a linux workstation were less than for windows. Now the answer seems to be to get faster hardware. I don't seem to have this problem in bloated, 1 year installed XP on the same damn hardware. Even my G4 with half the MHz and a Mach kernel from God could play a video, download torrents, and have other programs running without a sneeze.
  

I'll figure it out eventually. I would like a snazzy interface thats friendly. But MS will just have to do. I seem less and less inclined to reboot into linux.

Really, I just want my Mac back :-(