Shameless Double Promotion

Well I woke up this morning with that metallic taste in my mouth, the tang of irony... and it's not because of the Dominos Pizza I had last night, or wait, yes it was. Ew. ...anyway, the thing is I'm Massey University's Microsoft Student Partner (Palmerston North campus) AND a believer in the open source movement. I've got two posters, one set was sent to me from the MS guys at Auckland and I'm putting them up around campus, and the other I made myself.

(You can sign up here if you can get to Wellington)

vs

(Stolen from MS NZ Student Blog, from this post)

The thing about producing software is that it never pays to be the guy who makes it. Software is 10% making the thing, and 90% maintaining it. Most of my life I've known that people will remember and hate me for my error messages. It's rare you get acknowledged for a good job, and your viability is so low that you end up loosing your identity. We're not as interchangeable though as you might think. Software is complex and has it's own interesting quirks. I guess that's why I've always liked the idea of Open Source. Free as in freedom, free as in beer, but more importantly, a community. I just love my subject, and I do get a buzz out of it's elegance when everything comes together smoothly. I've always thought of myself as agnostic as to the path you take towards a solution, yet I've always leaned towards the little guy. I've been having a few sideways glances as it sounds like I'm playing both sides, but it doesn't matter to me, I like what I'm doing and I have no problem pushing on multiple fronts. You've got to love what you do. Yes it's ironic, so laugh with me and enjoy life :).

Howto Install Apache SSL in Ubuntu

Overview

I've had this problem with apache for a while. I want an SSL site, and I'm running ubuntu. The script to generate keys has gone walk about since 7.04 (that's March, 2007). It's now more than a year later and it's still not resolved. I've already done this but I keep forgetting how, so I thought I'd just put it down in some central place that it can be found again.

A word of caution: I've decided you're an adept user if you're going to attempt self signing SSL certificates on a hardened customizable apache server. If you're just aspiring to it, put a comment down and I'll see what I can do for ya. I'll tweek this as needed, but basically it's a quick way to get SSL running. If what you're doing seems a little crazy, look at the specified pieces and try figure them out. Type man <command name> on a few of them and see what you think :).

Instructions

1. Install Apache2 through the package manager of your choice.
2. Enable the SSL apache mods with the command:
   
   sudo a2enmod ssl
   
   
   fyi, this under the directory '/etc/apache2/mods-enabled' you'll now see the following:
   
   ssl.conf -> ../mods-available/ssl.conf
   
   ssl.load -> ../mods-available/ssl.load
   

   
   
3. Now you've enabled the mods, you're going to have to generate a certificate. Please update now, as there are several blacklisted keys.
4. Creating keys is HARD. It used to be done in a script, but now that's not there anymore. To create a private key, run the following command, replacing the mp3 mentioned with your own file (this will provide the random seed):
   
   cd ~
   openssl genrsa -aes256 -rand '~/Music/Desert Rose.mp3' -out server.key 1024
   ...Now enter a passphrase. Don't forget this.
   openssl rsa -in server.key -out server.pem
   
   
5. Now make it self signing, unless you want to pay a company to hold it for you like verisign or thawte. This key will register for a year.
   
   openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
   
   
6. Now that we've got a self signing key... or a signed by another authority key, we're going to have to move that crt file somewhere useful. Like into apache's directory.
   
   sudo su
   mkdir /etc/apache2/ssl
   cp server.* /etc/apache2/ssl
   
   
7. Now you've got the certificate, and the mod enabled, you have to make sure you're registering a URL pattern to the site.
   
   cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default
   
   /etc/apache2/sites-available/daemonsadvocate-ssl
   

   
   
   ...and edit that file...
   
   gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/daemonsadvocate-ssl
   
   

   Replace Text	With The Following
   NameVirtualHost *	NameVirtualHost *:443
   <VirtualHost *>	<VirtualHost *:443>

   
   Add between <VirtualHost *:443> and </VirtualHost>:
   SSLEngine on
   SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem
   SSLProtocol all
   SSLCipherSuite HIGH:MEDIUM
   
   
8. Enable the site. Run the command:
   
   a2ensite daemonsadvocate-ssl
   
   
9. Restart apache. You're done.
   
   sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Jazz Programming

Prelude: I wrote this up last year sometime and filed it away in a corner. It's sitting on google docs still n' I just thought I'd resurrect it here.

---

Software Development has been on the rise as more and more things are automated, glorifying the role of Programming the magic little box that runs our lives. Lately, recruiters have been posting job positions with “rockstar” in the title. However, Rockstars do not give a good image for the society of technical guru's that may, or may not have their titles fluffed. To illustrate the point that titles in modern times have become superfluous and less meaningful, this essay will cross compare Rockstar developers, and the would-be Jazz musicians of the industry.

One thing that really bugs programmers is that they're remembered for the stupid little error messages. The Rockstar may appear in a cape and announce free music, lo' and behold Napster is taken down by the courts, but they're a one hit wonder. Ironically the people who remember you are your peers, in the Jazz world your one hit song becomes an influence. This is important because it's feedback, and positive feedback is job satisfaction.

Contractually a job is just a job, fights break out between Human Resources and departments because the marker on what people are really worth is never stable. A Rockstar won't work without contract and advanced payment, making the whole thing stressful. Conversely, the Jazz musician usually doesn't have to stress about such things and will just move on if thing's aren't working out. It's a sign that the whole organizational structure isn't really working if you've got to argue hard over contracts. What's more, a Jazz artist will jam on the street just because they feel like it.

In fact, because of their outgoing attitude towards programming, the Jazz artist is always on the look out for a way to produce a new sound. On the other hand, the Rockstar believes that the sound they used to have was what got them there. Variety is important though, memorizing parts of a book doesn't aid your understanding of the whole. The structure and methodologies serve only to scaffold your understanding.

That being said, the Jazz musician is mostly disinclined to claim they wrote the song, and aim more to point out that the song is just a rearrangement of a standard. The same point cannot be awarded to the Rockstar who pounces on the originality of their music. These differing approaches aren't necessarily bad or good. it may be true, they may have actually written that piece of music; but it's rare that that same bridge has never been built before.

As a profession, Software Development is in it's infancy. The musician attitude towards a job title is just one way to feel better about where you are. Collaboration, though not apparent helps manifest something that is greater than the sum of their parts.We don't all dream to become Deputy Vice Treasurer for the company, most of us aim at icons such as Rockstars or Astronauts. Part of that innocence can be captured in the jobs section of the paper, but some day we'll have to come to terms with what we do.

You know you're sleeping with science when...

Well here's the setup. I'm living in a five bedroom flat for at least another two weeks with 4 other guys with a hard-core interest in science. Three of them are doing their PHD's in their respective fields, and it's quite common to find skermishes or monologue in the hallway.

Now walking out in a half dead state with my drippy morning brain just barely kept alive on a stream of coffee I see this scene painted. One man is eating from a pot with a fork, yet the fork is suspended mid-bite between the pot and his face. His eyes have widened and there is talk on radiation observation and superconductivity. Sure, I could detail what that was, but I'd rather describe the way his toes were curled up and the look of intense listening pleasure on his face.

Not that the words were vile; but the whole picture was so laughable I almost shot coffee out my nose. Picture perfect.

Countdown for degree, T minus 6 months. Countdown for moving flat, T minus 2 weeks.

*pounce*

To be quite honest with you all; I actually created this account early 2007 as an alternative to Live Journal. I never really liked the LJ style to things, but felt that Blogger had a neater feel to it.

So yeah. Blah. I've not told anyone about this yet, not that I know anyone on this network. There's a first time for everything I guess.

This blog might delve into how-to's, things that I got into; little projects n' goings-on in my life. Most of the time though, I warn you all, I'll be a 4th year University student which makes me prone to random ranting. I'll try keep spelling errors to a low, and try keep the doofers, the thingiema's and the dohickles explained away.

At the end of the day, my motto will be "It's all good"; let it fly from there. 2008 I hope will be a good year.

~Ciao