Categories
Networking

Grub, a Network Admin’s Greatest Nightmare

Yikes, just got a chance to try out Grub, a distributed web crawling project… aka cheap bandwidth… This thing is scary. If I were a Network Admin, I would be working on ways to block this right now. This thing is bad news.

Categories
MacVillage.net

MacVillage.net 4.0 Commencement

I’ve started work on MacVillage.net 4.0. Can’t say much… but the new design is in the works. It will include the capacity for more features to be implemented, without so much work. And better navigation abilities. Will be good. No idea when it will be done… I’m in real early stages.

Categories
Programming

SAproxy for OS X

Well, it’s going to happen. I decided that Mac OS X could use a good Spam Filter, and SpamAssassin is the way to go. I have it running on my system now. I hope to have it packaged for easy installation sometime soon. Perhaps shortly after finals end.

Perhaps after get a little Coca UI going so that we can configure that bad boy via System Prefs?

Will either most likely be distributed through Accettura Software. Of course it will be free, and bugs kept in SA’s bugzilla.

Of course this is all random thoughts, nothing is final… but at least there is a good chance Mac Users can appreciate the power of SpamAssassin.

Categories
Spam

SpamAssassin and OS X

Well, I’ve been working on getting SpamAssassin working with Mac OS X, and have gotten it working pretty good. Either just to filter spam for the computer, or for an entire network.

Categories
Funny Spam

Real Spam

Well, I have been spending some time (don’t laugh) reading spam. I’m actually analyzing spam for generating some new rules for the SpamAssassin Project. It’s seriously good software, check it out. This is some real spam about my favorite science, Penis Enlargement. It is slightly suggestive, so don’t read on unless you are ok with my immature sense of humor. I don’t need complaint emails. Don’t like, don’t read. It’s that simple.

Categories
MacVillage.net

MacVillage.net News and such

Well, macvillage.net is starting to come back to life again. After a week of server chaos. The backend is starting to look OK, less database errors due to mySQL timeouts, mail seems to be slightly more reliable (admin mail), and such. The NewsEngine 3.0 Project is nearing completion, after 2 days of work. Most of the news sources are found, and building properly, although crontab for some odd reason is acting up (again). Go figure. As soon as I can call and get that straitened out, we should be up and running with news in most categories. Then I need to fix the VersionTracker updates being out of sync.

After that, I will repair/update/remodel/someotherverb the Channel Pages, and move weather into a channel. And fix that annoying mail bug in weather. Perhaps a few layout fixes as well, while I’m digging through the code.

Then onward… to the next project(s).

Categories
Mozilla

Mozilla… did I know what was coming or what?

Well… I figured it out (or ironically ended up on Mozillazine during the brief moment the story was prematurely published). I think Mozilla splitting up into multiple apps is a good thing. Read on to see my hopes for the new Mozilla, and check out Asa’s Blog for some more info.

Categories
Personal

Ever have that lazy feeling

Ugh… Just not in the mood to do much this week. It’s classes, the necessary classwork… and nothing else. It’s getting pathetic. Every afternoon I find myself watching reruns of “Home Improvement”, “Friends”, “Seinfeld”… all of which I have seen every episode. And I still watch.

Tonight on the other hand is new Southpark and Chapelle’s Show. Always fun. I guess again I will not be doing much. As I need to get some sleep after. That damn 8:00 class again. We all know how much I love getting up for that class. Oh well… a few more weeks, and summer vacation.

Categories
Mozilla

Mozilla Announcement or April Fools?

As originally posted on Mozillazine (though disappeared). Not sure if it’s real, or if it’s a April Fools Hoax… anyway, here it is:

The Announcement
PROVISIONAL HEADLINE: Major Roadmap Update Centres Around Phoenix, Thunderbird; 1.4 Branch to Replace 1.0; Changes Planned for Module Ownership Model

LEAD-IN: In the most radical change to the Mozilla project since the late 1998 decision to rewrite much of the code, mozilla.org today announced a major new roadmap revision that will see Phoenix and Thunderbird (also known as Minotaur) becoming the focus of future development. 1.4 is likely to be the last milestone of the traditional Mozilla suite and the 1.4 branch will replace the 1.0 branch as the stable development path. In addition, there will be changes to the ownership model that will see a move towards stronger leadership and the removal of mandatory super-review in some cases.

FULL ARTICLE: In one of a string of changes, mozilla.org today announced that future Mozilla development work will be focussed around the stand-alone Phoenix browser and Thunderbird mail and newsgroups client (also known as Minotaur). Mozilla 1.4 will probably be the last milestone release of the traditional Mozilla browser suite and the 1.4 milestone is slated to replace 1.0 as the stable development path.

Aggressive and ambitious changes will take place during the 1.5 and 1.6 milestones to accomodate the switch to Phoenix and Thunderbird. Mac OS X versions of Phoenix will become available but Camino, a project to create a Mozilla-based browser with a native Mac user interface, will continue to be fully supported.

The Phoenix project started life in Summer 2002 as redesign of the Mozilla browser component known as mozilla/browser. It aims to create a browser for average users with a simplified user interface. The Thunderbird project plans to create a stand-alone mail client using the Phoenix toolkit and following its conventions. The project now incoroprates the work of the Minotaur effort to create a stand-alone version of Mail & Newsgroups. It is anticipated that Thunderbird will be available as both a completely separate application and as an add-on to Phoenix, which will integrate more closely with the browser.

The module ownership system will also be refined. Changes will be made so that all code modules have strong leaders who have the authority to make decisive and final decisions. In some cases, the need for mandatory super-review will be removed, as is the case in Phoenix today.

It was also announced that Gecko developers will be freed to make large architectural changes to make Gecko easier to maintain and more extensible.

mozilla.org is making these changes for many reasons. Moving to a collection of stand-alone programs will address criticisms that the monolithic Mozilla suite is too bloated. Annointing 1.4 as the designated stable branch will answer concerns that the 1.0 branch is too far behind the trunk. The new module ownership model should ensure a greater coherency in many aspects of Mozilla, particularly its user interface, which has often being criticised for lacking direction. Many feel that Mozilla’s two-stage review process is overkill in some places and the removal of mandatory super-review for certain areas will tackle this issue. Finally, rearchitecturing Gecko will ensure that Mozilla’s rendering engine remains world-class and does not further suffer because of excessive modularisation and poor design decisions, criticisms that came to light with Apple’s choice of KHTML for its Safari browser.

More information about this new development process can be found in the updated Mozilla Development Roadmap.