Subversive SVN for Eclipse is Troubled

Kind of, yes. What is so terrible, in fact, is the great number of pitfalls waiting to be uncovered.

You can hope for no whammies but you will most likely trip the eclipse-subversive trap along the way to configuring a working setup. Problem is, JavaHL and SVNKit don't tend to work out of the box. You have to hunt them down from at least 2 locations, and doing so often results in installation conflicts.

If you are using SVNKit, it is because your svn over ssh is password-protected. If you go this route and don't mind the confusion of double passwords with very poor contextual info, you may be almost home free. The subversive interface interchanges the exact same control panel for both ssh and svn credentials, mediated by what is a very unreliable drop down for context. The combination is tricky at best.

If you choose JavaHL, it is most likely in order to configure an ssh key to engage your repository. SSH keys require JavaHL be enabled rather than SVNKit. You will be dismayed to discover how difficult it is to properly resolve a file key through the subversive interface. In all likelihood, it will fail silently.

To minimize the difficuly, the following is highly recommended:
Use SVNKit and password authentication for SSH
When the duplicate credentials dialogs mock you, just keep trying combinations based on your notes.

Good luck.

Update:
Subversive is easier to manage if your ssh and svn un/pw are the same.
It would be great if subversive could remember it if the SSH port is not 22. If it is not, you will have to input it every freaking time. Or!:
Visit Eclipse > Preferences > Team > SVN > Properties Configuration > Custom properties and add

SVN_SSH = ssh -p [portnum]

If you fail to synchronize, do over and over again. My subversive setup sometimes fails to synch 3-4 times before finally consenting.

Setting up PyAMF for Django on Slicehost VPS

I'm continuing to elaborate on a server environment for multiple django projects. In this case, they are serving flex applications on the front end and providing AMF data through PyAMF.

The structure allows domains to be added as needed in a /domains/ subdirectory. Each directory has a virtualenv set to encapsulate the packages installed and minimize complications.

Currently, I am installing PyAMF onto my current project dir using easy_install, from /domains/site.com/site.com/bin

./easy_install pyamf

it is important to run the command from within your virtual environment, otherwise it will default to your system install at /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages, which isn't mapped to a server and won't be using pyamf at all.

Install PyAMF 0.42 successful. "So far so what," you say pithily. Well, it could certainly be worse than that. Remember that easy_install allows indiscriminate updating of installs via the command

./easy_install -U pyamf

Next some info about eclipse and subversive.

Setting up Post-Hooks for Subversion

The publicly available subversion book at svnbook.red-bean.com is both concise and comprehensive. It can help you deftly steer a subversion server in any way your inner administrator hankers to go.

I found subversion helpful in tracking versions. I found it less useful in quick commit-to-staging server process. As some bountiful moments in freenet #svn IRC led me to discover, using post-hook scripts is the way to go.

Check this info box on tigris.subversion.org, leading to this part of ch 5 of the svn book on using hooks to automate and extend commands. There are also some helpful examples of scripts that can be brought to bear on a project.

The code is built thus and left in the hook directory sans .tmpl extension:

REPOS="$1"
REV="$2"

# commit-email.pl "$REPOS" "$REV" commit-watchers@example.org
# log-commit.py --repository "$REPOS" --revision "$REV"

svn update /home/[username]/django/projects/mysite.com/projectdir >> /var/log/vhosts/svn-django-errorlog

Be sure to set your post-commit file to executable

chmod +x post-commit

Eclipse Galileo with PyDev and Subclipse

Just installing a bunch of stuff so I can begin developing some django projects locally for a remote deployment. Consisting of:

• Eclipse 3.5 Galileo
• Subclipse 1.6.x
• Python 2.6
• ActiveState ActivePython (currently 2.6)
  

Getting it up and running.

Update: A WinXP install of Eclipse 3.5 will not be able to svn over ssh (see below instead) until you point out a valid ssh app in its config. A good method for this is on the breakitdownblog.

Get the latest PyDev for Eclipse Galileo at http://pydev.sourceforge.net/updates.

Don't forget, you'll have to manually install the connectors. Galileo will need SVNKit and/or JavaHL to reach your subversion server.

Enabling Bombproof Django Logging For Beginning a Project

"Hey, I installed Django and it doesn't work."
"Don't panic. Check the error logs."
"Logs? Django doesn't do logs."
"Python does. You have to add them into your project."
"Yes, but Django doesn't work. Now I am panicking."

And...cut. Beautifully acted all around. The point of the above is, there is a potential chicken-and-egg scenario brewing when you:

1. Have a nonfunctioning Django app.
2. Install logging to debug it.
3. Can't run the application to test the logging...
4. to run the application.

I poked around a bit in search of cut-n-paste logging scripts that get a project back into the light of day. I found a few, so thanks to lawfulsamurai and caktus for hearty illumination.

For brevity and to add a couple of caveats, I have combined what was published elsewhere into this quick how-to. Simply put, it will get you up and logging straight away. Just add it to your settings.py:

import logging
import logging.handlers

logger = logging.getLogger('project_logger')
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)

# IMPORTANT, make sure python can write to the below log-file, or you will get an error
LOG_FILENAME = '/root/to/your/logging/dir/and/log-file'

LOG_MSG_FORMAT = '%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s'

handler = logging.FileHandler(LOG_FILENAME)

formatter = logging.Formatter(LOG_MSG_FORMAT)

handler.setFormatter(formatter)
logger.addHandler(handler)
logger.info('testing logging')

There are some fine debugging options out there e.g. djangologging and the django debug toolbar. The advantage of the above is, it is simply a python module so you can't get more native than that.

Feel free to try whichever you find is best and to comment on this option.

Working with Alfresco in Java EE

I've dedicated some serious hours to installing and deploying Alfresco on a MediaTemple (dv) VPS. The result has been a revelation of sorts. It's the big time for open source enterprise content management (ECM) and there's no going back.

Alfresco is like having your own personal cloud-based Google Docs to customize and host as many secure accounts as you like. While set up and configuration are not a cakewalk, it can be done. I took some decent notes on the process, so I will check back in to detail the process of configuring MediaTemple's vps environment.

In particular, I will show a method to set up a new JDK, fine tune Plesk and the Apache environment, and finally modify some scripts in Alfresco with the result of a successful java build.

That aside, the Java EE with Alfresco is a beast on memory. If there is any hidden cost on running the community edition of Alfresco, that may be it.