Salmonella Dub – Watching it Rain

WordPress 2.3 is out but it refuses to behave when I run the upgrade, spitting up a 500 Internal Server Error message. And of course absolutely nothing shows up in the web server error logs. I’ve nuked deprecated tables (i.e unused spamkarma, shortstats etc) from my database and done everything short of overhauling the entire database by hand, all to no avail. Fortunately I was able to restore this site from a backup and I’ve instead upgraded to the latest release in the 2.2 branch, 2.2.3.

For people who have installed 2.3 to find that you’re receiving a 500 Internal Server Error or a similar issue that is preventing your site from working, simply install 2.2.3 over the top and you should be up and running again. At least enough to further investigate why 2.3 isn’t working for you. This of course assumes that you haven’t touched your database at all i.e you have not run upgrade.php yet. If you have managed to run upgrade.php, and 2.3 is giving you trouble, going back to 2.2.3 will get you nowhere due to the major changes in the database and you have two options – press forward and figure out 2.3′s issues, or drop your database and restore it from backup before rolling back to 2.2.3

For people considering upgrading to 2.3, ensure that you:

1. Disable All Plugins and check for compatibility with 2.3
2. Backup your site and database. A lot of WordPress admins have been complacent on this one, myself included. 2.3 is a BIG upgrade and has a lot of underlying database changes, if you don’t back up, and the 2.3 upgrade dribbles acid all over your database, you have only yourself to blame. A 2.3 upgrade is an occassion where backing up IS essential.
3. It might help to switch your theme to the default, WordPress 2.3 introduces a few new tricks that will break most existing themes. You can fix your themes though, but it’d pay to leave that until after you’ve got the 2.3 foundation working
4. Copy your wp-config.php file to somewhere safe, yes, back that file up AGAIN

Here’s how I’d currently do an upgrade to 2.3:

• Download 2.3 and extract it to your desktop. Usually it extracts to /path/to/your/desktop/Wordpress/ which is only really of use to people who have WordPress blogs in a directory called WordPress, e.g http://rawiriblundell.com/Wordpress/. What you’ll find is if you upload the archive to your host and then extract it, it’ll extract to /Wordpress regardless of whether you’re using that directory or not, which may or may not make a mess. It makes a mess for me, so I do my upgrades in a different manner as explained here
• Grab your wp-config.php and place it within the /Wordpress/ directory on your desktop
• Archive the contents of the /Wordpress/ directory.
• Disable plugins
• Set your theme to default
• Upload your custom archive to your hosting. If, like me, you don’t use a /Wordpress directory for your blog, you simply extract the archive in your site root. If you do use a directory for your blog, simply move the archive to that directory and extract it there
• Test! All going well, a WordPress message should pop up asking you to update the database, do so. If it fails and starts spewing up error messages, copy the messages down and revert to 2.2.3
• Awaken the beasts. Re-enable your plugins one by one. If it all turns to crap, well, I’ve blogged about how to get out of this situation before

UPDATE:
I managed to get logging working and I’ve managed to glean this:

[Wed Sep 26 03:16:27 2007] [error] [client 203.110.28.91] Premature end of script headers: /hsphere/local/home/myaccountnamethankyouverymuch/rawiriblundell.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php
Error in vphp.c on line 344: Inappropriate permissions set on script

Well now, that’s interesting. It seems that when extracting 2.3 over the existing site, no matter where you go you’ll get redirected to upgrade.php – standard stuff – and it fails out to a 500 and gives the above in the error logs – not standard stuff. What’s even more interesting is that this occurs when I revert to 2.2.3 and try to manually run the 2.2.3 version of upgrade.php. It seems that perhaps upgrade.php is trying to call a file that it can’t get access too, so I guess I think the next step is to do a fresh install of WordPress 2.3 elsewhere and compare file permissions between a working 2.3 and a non-working 2.3 to see if I can see any discrepancy.

The alternative is I nuke everything, install 2.3, import the 2.2.3 database and manually apply fixes, though this is roundabout, doesn’t really solve the core problem and is pretty hackish and messy.

UPDATE II:
Over the last few days, I have setup a couple of test subdomains and attempted to install WordPress 2.3 from scratch – the same problem occurs! Using a phpinfo I discovered that php was only getting some 8megs of ram, so I added the following lines to a .htaccess file:

php_value memory_limit 32M
php_value post_max_size 16M

phpinfo and my ego are now satisfied on that, but again – the problem remains. So on the advice of my host I tried a chmod -R 755 and again there’s no difference. It makes no sense – the file permissions are fine, the underlying server is fine, the database connectivity is fine – all we have is a vague vphp.c error log entry, and from what I can tell of that section of vphp.c is about posting changes. It seems that I’m going to have to manually nurse this upgrade by hand

UPDATE III:
I have updated my database to UTF-8 using g30rg3_x’s plugin, so that’s one big thing out of the way. I have also tested database connectivity and tweaked for better performance. Alas, no difference on the 500 Internal Server Error though At least now it looks like I’m not the only one, and it seems to be on FreeBSD servers where this problem crops up.

UPDATE IV:
I have continued investigation about this problem and posted my findings.

UPDATE V:
This has been fixed

PC-BSD, a counterpart project to DesktopBSD, has released their 1.4 version today.

The PC-BSD team is pleased to announce the availability of PC-BSD 1.4 (da Vinci edition)!
This release is made available via the efforts of many developers and testers, who have spent the past months refining and improving upon the core PC-BSD experience. �
PC-BSD 1.4 retail editions are now available to be purchased via our store provided by freebsdmall.com, or it may be freely downloaded on the 1.4 download page.

This release of PC-BSD includes several notable highlights, including:

 * Moving the FreeBSD base version to 6-STABLE
 * Xorg 7.2
 * KDE 3.5.7
 * Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2
 * Support for Flash7 in native BSD browsers. (Konq, Opera, FireFox)
 * Official NVIDIA drivers to simplify activating Hardware acceleration.

People in New Zealand can grab it from the NZFUG FTP

The schedule is finally set, I’m going to be in Europe from the 7th of October through to the 26th. One week in Paris (and wherever else), one week in Grenoble, and one week in Diegem. And the rugby world cup final is on the 20th. Unfortunately with all the to-ing and fro-ing around this trip, I was unable to commit to getting finals tickets and so I’ve missed out on that front, but no biggy – I can jump on the Eurostar through to London, grab a taxi to the Grand In Clapham and party it up with Professor Jedi Thian.

Unfortunately it’s not clear how to book in for this, the Grand specifies that doors open an hour before kick off, but the video specifies to grab a TNT magazine for details. Even more unfortunately, the TNT magazine is not easy to find in Wellington, so we’re stuck with the online version.

Let me put it this way, if I spend hundreds of Euros to get from the south of France to a pub in London, I’d like to be pretty damn sure I’m going to get in. And dragging my mate Benny along too, I don’t want us to look like twats fully blacked out and stuck in the streets of London, though it would make for a great drinking story.

Which reminds me, I’ve got to get some All Blacks gear this weekend – socks, shorts, shirt and anything else.

People wanting me to bring crap back from Europe, get your shopping lists in now. Professor Thian, or anyone from TNT Magazine, or anyone from Rugbyheaven.co.nz – if you read this, please get in touch, because Rawiri “Fitzy’s stunt double” Blundell and Benny “Kees Meeuws is a god amongst mortals” Martin are coming from the Petone Mighty in the seat of blackness, and customs allowing we’re bringing a slice of pain cake with us.

I read with some interest the claims by the Maori party about New Zealand’s indigenous rights record, where they claim among other things:

“It is very clear they still think of Indigenous Peoples as sub-human with only sub-human rights” -co leader Tariana Turia.

Sorry, but I don’t see it that way, and I don’t buy into this “woe is us” style of Maori-dom taken up by some either.

Maori enjoy the same human rights as everybody else, and are not treated as sub-human. Hell, Maori even enjoyed more rights in Australia than Australia’s own indigenous people – the Aboriginies. If you want a fine example of how an indigenous people is treated as sub-human, simply look at any genocide attempt – the Jewish suffering in Europe during WWII is a prime example – or you can watch Rabbit Proof Fence. The Aboriginies were treated like animals, and apparently you could even get licences to hunt them. White Australians, in effect, pretty much gave the Aboriginies a big “fuck off!” Maori suffered injustices, sure, but they had it easy in comparison.

So before making wild sensationalist claims, it would pay to put things in perspective. This is what I feel is lacking from the Maori party – perspective. The Maori party, to my mind, appeals only as a fork of the Labour party that is hell bent on getting the foreshore and seabed under Maori control – the control of a minority. An indigenous minority, granted, but still a move straight out of segregation 101.

To claim that Maori are being treated as sub-human is to blatantly insult any group that actually is or has been treated as sub-human. Women in some middle-eastern countries, or the many women and young girls locked into sex trade slavery for example. Many Maori are not treated well, that much is true, but they’re not being treated as sub-human, they’re being treated as what they are – which is usually as people in a lower socio-economic position (or in plain terms – in the lower class). There are plenty of people in the same socio-economic position who are treated exactly the same way, and that is not an issue of ethnicity, that is an issue of of the classist mentality of old. At the end of the day though, each and every one of them enjoys at the very least a basic level of freedom and human rights here in New Zealand, I would say thanks to our socialist past.

So what can you do about Maori stuck in a perpetual cycle of lower-class generational existence?

Māori are poorer on average than the rest of the population, and are at greater risk of many negative economic and social outcomes. Over 50% of Māori live in areas classed in the three highest deprivation deciles, compared with 24% of the rest of the population.[18] Although Māori make up only 14% of the population, they make up almost 50% of the total prison population.[19] Māori have higher unemployment rates than other cultures resident in New Zealand.[20] Māori have higher numbers of suicides than non-Māori.[21] Just over 50% of Māori pass NCEA Level One,[22] New Zealand’s main secondary school qualification usually attained after 11 years of schooling. Māori also suffer more health problems, including alcohol and drug-related problems, per head of population than any other culture living in New Zealand.[23] (source)

Yeah, things aren’t looking good.

Education and healthcare are two areas where we can make radical changes, hand in hand with improving matters for all New Zealanders. In regards to Education, we can pay our teachers more and do what needs to be done to enable them to do the best they possibly can do. We also need to embrace an educational system that encourages children to think openly, to be inquisitive, and to daydream, instead of our current system of “try to stamp them into the conformist mould and toss away those that don’t fit.” Do yourself a favour – half an hour every day, just look out the window and look at the clouds., it’s good for you, and it’s a great destresser. Now imagine a generation of open minded thinkers who aren’t wound up tighter than a tourniquet – New Zealand will return to its roots. Every household under a certain income threshold gets free/subsidised internet access – limited internet access mind you – speeds can be restricted to 128k or 256k, the number of allowed sites and protocols would be whitelisted, it’d be enough for people to do research.

With healthcare, well again – pay the professionals what they deserve, provide them with the tools they need and then begin focussing on prevention is better than the cure methods. All state owned buildings should be retrofitted with insulation, double glazing, and should impliment solar lighting and solar hot water heating. Heatpumps can also be considered or subsidised. This both cuts the occupants bills, freeing up money to be used elsewhere, and improves their health too. It also injects a lot of work into the construction/building industy.

It will take some time, but eventually the improvements in education will filter through. Improving the baseline living standard will also improve the health and financial standing of not just Maori who are in a lower socio-economic position. Not all will take advantage of this, but those who are motivated will, and that should be enough to get things snowballing. I sincerely believe that a lot of Maori will take advantage of any opportunity offered to them, and Maori have a historical claim to some of the bragging rights about Kiwi Ingenuity: Maori have proven time and time again to be very resourceful, for example introducing to the world the concept of trench warfare. Modern lower-class Maori should be equally capable given the opportunity and motivation.

The point I’m trying to make is that yes, many Maori are not in a good position, but they also must reap what they sow. Some are able to overcome where they are and move up the societal ladder, some are simply incapable of doing so, and being misrepresented by people at the polar opposite of the societal scale doesn’t help them. We need to enable and motivate them to overcome their rut, and if we can do that in a way that positively affects all New Zealanders, then all the better.

Ultimately, I agree with Labour’s Maori affairs minister:

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia told Radio New Zealand that New Zealand was far ahead of other countries in terms of promoting the rights of indigenous people and the Waitangi Tribunal already provided an appropriate system of redress.

You hear that? The Waitangi Tribunal, which has been around for over 30 years, is an appropriate system. Unlike some other countries, like the West Island, New Zealand has accepted that yes, past atrocities happened, but for at least a few decades work has been in place to rectify that. Making outlandish claims about being treated as sub-human does not help. Accepting that wrongs have been done, working to right those wrongs – which is happening now – and then moving forward as a unified people is the answer, not segregation in the name of Political Correctness.

Note: I am 1/4 Maori, and for those who are that interested: Ngati Wehiwehi. I am well aware and proud of my whakapapa (genealogy), but I am not what you would describe as openly or actively Maori, if anything I’d be described as selectively Maori, and even then I’m more Ngati Urban. Being only part Maori, I am one of those with ‘mongrel genetics’ who identifies more as a New Zealander rather than either Maori or the very nonsensical “New Zealand European.” If your family has been here for generations, you’re a bloody New Zealander, grow up and accept it folks.

Well, I can’t really claim “and you” but seriously, what the hell is this? 1995?

I went to my bank’s website today to access my internet banking, and was met with this atrocity.

It seems to work fine regardless, and it doesnt affect internet banking at all, but it’s just the whole concept that here we are in 2007, when we should know better, still doing browser detections and CSS hacks. Thanks for the fucking legacy there Microsoft, take a bow. Preferably into a pool of acid.

If you’re a webdev, and you need to do browser detection, you’re doing shit wrong and should consider changing careers to one where you stab yourself with sharp instruments. If you absolutely must have certain features, follow comrade Rawirimov’s three laws

No webdev shall make a site that is not usable by all. Yes, I’m looking at you Dreamweaver-toting graphics kiddies who couldn’t code raw php in notepad to save themselves.
No webdev shall make a site that is not accessible (is Lynx an unsupported browser I wonder?)
All webdevs shall make their sites standards-compliant or as close as practically possible.

It’s not that hard, it’s not that much extra effort, and everybody wins. The sooner you start abiding by the three laws, the sooner we can move away from this 90′s throwback. Because it’s as fun as watching Full House reruns.

I was a little saddened to read this morning that Anita Roddick has passed away. Now if you don’t know who she is, you will soon. If you do know who she is, you’ll know her as the creator of The Body Shop (note: the website doesn’t seem to have mentioned her yet, though the company is run out of the UK/France, which is still a few hours away from its early morning news folk getting into gear), I on the other hand know Anita Roddick for this interview she did in 2000 for the 1GiantLeap collaboration:

After that interview I immediately respected Anita and her work – that she could build a business empire while staying as moral and humane as possible is a display of anti-establishment leadership rivalled by few.

Cafe del Mar – Bush / Letting the Cables Sleep

Old and busted:

New hotness:

So I went and got a new Plasma TV today and a brand new home theatre system to replace my aging (and nothing wrong with it) equipment. Reasons? Well, for one, the rooms in my place are massive and I’m trying to fill as much negative space as possible with as few items as possible – a minimalist urbis if you will. And another reason is that no matter how I configure the sensitivity, I can’t seem to get the Wii control system to really work well on the 32″ widescreen – and I’m glad to say that this new TV matches the Wii perfectly. Hell, I’m even considering replaying Twilight Princess, all 65 hours of it. And I’ve cranked the Empire Strikes Back and I, Robot on it and I’m chuffed.

Downsides so far? The TV is so good that DVD compression looks like shit and satellite freeview looks even worse, so I guess I might have to invest in some high def equipment too. Next purchase though is a large entertainment unit, as it’s currently sitting on my coffee table.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – As Long As I Can See The Light

Microsoft has released Silverlight, its Adobe Flash Killer. And on top of that, they’ve announced that they’re going to help out on Moonlight, the Linux version of Silverlight being spearheaded by the Mono guys.

This is both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because there’s good promise that this will extend to BSD, and may force Adobe to pull finger on its Linux Flashplayer development, maybe even making Flash more BSD friendly.

A curse because well, it may take the internet back to when Flash was new – imagine: Useless Silverlight intro pages, and websites with no accessibility displaying side to side full on Silverlight. Sure, it looks good, but how are you conveying the content to people with visual impairments?

It seems that the GPL-zealots are already dribbling on about how this won’t be software libre, how our freedoms will be stepped on, and how this is like a Microsoft Trojan Horse being rolled into the Linux camp. Then there are people proclaiming it will be bug-ridden and exploit filled who are missing the point.

Microsoft will NOT be releasing the Linux version, they will simply help with Moonlight – an open source project. Useful posts like this are sinking in a sea of zealotous rubbish:

It’s not about what Silverlight can do that flash can’t. It’s about how you make Silverlight do things. For flash, you need to code in ActionScript. For Flex, you have to code in JavaScript which every developer says is the worst language ever. With Silverlight, you can use Ruby (which some people really love), Python, JavaScrip, C#, VisualBasic, XAML. And you can mix these languages on the fly. It’s a developer’s heaven.

The other point I’m seeing made is that Microsoft doesn’t have a good history with cross-platform endeavours – namely they support such work long enough to get people hooked and then drop support for all platforms except for Windows. Again, so long as this gets the hibernating Adobe to wake up and get to work on Flash and Flex, then maybe the competition will see the web skip forward in overall quality.

This guy is doing some interesting Silverlight work, too.

It’s funny because it’s true

ENZSO – Neil Finn – Message to My Girl

“It’s a pity you’re not in Auckland” she sighed “I’d love to buy you a drink.” And then it was over, she thanked me for brightening up her day, bade her farewells and then she was gone. We two strangers ended a pleasant 40 minute phonecall and both went on with our lives.

She had been dealing with angry callers all day, and when I called in I was angry too, furious even. But I had an advantage: I had three years of helldesk experience on my side, so despite my inner monologue screaming at me to go ballistic and let her know what I thought of the bank she was representing, I kept my cool. I knew from experience that screaming at someone who simply isn’t paid enough to care will not make them care any more. I knew that seething threats to get managerial disciplinary action would help neither me or them. I knew that unreasonable demands to speak to a supervisor would be viewed negatively and again, would not help either of us to sort out my problem.

She answered with the standard answer that all her colleagues will give you, she sounded like she’d had a long day but was soldiering on with her best fake corporate smile. I immediately sympathised, the poor thing probably would kill for a 10 minute break right now, instead another bloody caller has denied her that, and that bloody caller was me. I’ve been there – call after call of angry hotheads and you just need a couple of minutes to gather yourself, but it just keeps coming like a torrent of stupid.

I greeted her back, pleasantly and repeating her name, and I went straight into creative smalltalk: “How’s your day so far? You sound a little tired”

A giggle. She responded through an actual smile this time “yeah, it’s been flat out all day and I only got ten minutes for lunch, quite a few workmates are away sick today”

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