Posted on
by

The Simple Download Manager is another itch scratch to open source software project tale, basically I needed a simple way to serve files for download and keep some statistics. So, like a good open source citizen I’ve made it available under the GPL, hopefully it’ll save someone some time!

Usage is very simple; clone the git repository onto your web server, put your downloads in the “downloads” directory, and describe them with a manifest in “products”, e.g.


DownloadManager::registerProduct(
new Product(array (
'productid' => 'ExampleProduct12345',
'name' => 'Example',
'description' => 'An example download',
'file' => 'downloads/example.zip',
'tags' => 'download, example',

'gacode' => 'GA-12345',
'icon' => 'gfx/download.gif',
))
);

Have fun!

» Visit the project page on Github…

Posted on
by

I have previously written about using Git to add revision history to existing rsync backups. Having performed a number of configuration changes and system upgrades recently, I have found another use of Git which has proven invaluable.

It’s a fairly obvious hack, but it turns out that turning selected configuration directories (for example /etc/apache2/ and /etc/exim4/) into in situ Git repositories is a very handy thing to do.

The revision log you get in a Git repo gives you a very handy place to note down the reasons behind a certain configuration change. This provides a very handy historical context for a change, meaning you’re less likely to remove something odd that turns out later on to have been important.

Having configuration under version control also means that even if you do accidentally remove or change something that later causes problems you can easily roll them back.

Another handy feature is the ability to easily branch, so you can very quickly experiment with some wild configuration settings and very quickly revert them to the original working configuration should they turn out to be problematic or if you run out of time to complete them.

So, give it a try!

Posted on
by

I would like to take a moment out of your normal reading to introduce a little project of mine, the NPPL (National Private Pilot Licence) Electronic Logbook.

The tl;dr is that as a private pilot myself as well as a programmer, I wanted a quick and easy way to keep track of my currency requirements, especially as I plan to fly more than one class of aircraft.

Flying is one of life’s great joys, but keeping track of your hours and currency requirements, especially if you fly multiple types, most certainly isn’t.

NPPL Pilot’s Logbook tracks your flights, works out hours flown and tracks your currency status, leaving you free to do what you love most… Fly!

This is an early version, and I’d love to hear your feedback (especially if you’re a pilot yourself), check it out and let me know what you think!

» Read more…