September 2011 - Roundtable

Winnipeg Harvest donations from December meeting - thank you!
by athompso＠muug.mb.ca 04 Apr '12

04 Apr '12

Thanks to the generosity of our members, we were able to donate three large boxes’ worth of non-perishable food items to Winnipeg Harvest in December 2010. The text of the thank-you letter we just received (see attached) is as follows: January 5, 2011 Manitoba UNIX User Group Attn: Adam Thompson Dear Friends of Harvest, We here at Winnipeg Harvest want to thank the Manitoba UNIX User Group for your support of helping those less fortunate in our community. Over the last few months 743 pounds of food was donated to the food bank. Your donations will go into hampers that will help Winnipeg Harvest feed more than 58,000 people each month, half of those being children. On behalf of the entire team at Winnipeg Harvest, thank you for helping us fight hunger and feed hope in Manitoba. We look forward to working with you again in the future. If I can ever be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone at 982-3670 or by email at tori(a)winnipegharvest.org. Yours truly, Tori Webber Development Associate Winnipeg Harvest Inc. So, thanks again. See you all in another six (6) days, at our next meeting on January 11th, 2011. -Adam Thompson athompso(a)muug.mb.ca

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FW: CIRA consultation on accented domain names
by Adam Thompson 21 Jan '12

21 Jan '12

CIRA, the .ca domain registrar, is proposing to allow a restricted subset of IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) in order to support accented French characters in domain names. If you speak or write in French, this will likely affect you at some point. If you use any .ca domain names, this may still affect you, although probably in less direct ways. Speaking only on my own behalf (specifically: MUUG does not currently have an official position on the matter), I encourage anyone who cares about our national ccTLD to review the information CIRA has made available, form an opinion, and voice your opinion promptly. IMHO, this is even more important than voting – if we choose poorly in an election, we have the opportunity to collectively change our minds in five years or less (usually four), whereas the CIRA IDN policy is likely to affect Canadians and Canada itself for decades to come. There’s no automatic reconsultation in four years, and there’s no built-in review process for decisions taken by NGOs like CIRA. In fact, once a decision like this is made, there may be no recourse at all if we collectively decide we don’t like the result. It’s obvious to me that CIRA is expecting to make a tidy sum of money by doing this (otherwise I believe they would be taking a different direction altogether), which I believe is OK as long as the internet-using-public’s interests are still served. I already have an opinion on the matter, and I’ll be making a submission. CIRA is effectively an NGO [I can’t tell what their legal status is right now], and they’re voluntarily doing the right thing by consulting the public – they’re not obligated to do so – but that consultation process is only effective if CIRA members express their opinions. Please express your opinion. -Adam Thompson <mailto:athompso@athompso.net> athompso(a)athompso.net From: CIRA / ACEI [mailto:communications.ca@cira.ca] Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2011 10:29 To: athompso(a)athompso.net Subject: CIRA consultation on accented domain names <http://sm01.ott.cira.ca:80/track?mailingid=4906&messageid=3713&databaseid=2…> Consultation on accented doman names <http://www.cira.ca/assets/Images/mass-mail/CA-logo.jpg> Have your say: Join CIRA’s consultation on accented domain names _____ Dear Adam Thompson, As part of our effort to continually enhance the .CA domain, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is considering the implementation of French character Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) at the second level (to the left of the dot). An Internationalized Domain Name is simply a domain name that contains characters other than a-z, 0-9 or hyphens. CIRA is planning the addition of the following accented characters to .CA domain names: * é, ë, ê, è * à, â * ô * ù, û, ü * ç * î, ï This means you could soon see domain names like préside.ca, grâce.ca, etc. Before we can implement IDNs, CIRA is preparing a framework that will help us create a policy for launching accented domain names. As a Registrant, we are seeking your input on our proposed framework. On September 20, 2011, CIRA opened a public consultation concerning our planned launch of IDNs. The feedback received from .CA holders like you, as well as our Members, Registrars and other stakeholders, will help us shape the final IDN launch policy. Learn more about the proposed policy and share your views at <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en> www.idnconsultation.ca. About CIRA The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the Member-driven organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally. <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en/learn-about-it> LEARN MORE ABOUT IDNs CIRA has developed a great interactive tool to map out all the basics about IDNs. <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en/learn-about-it> View our great new IDN road map. <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en/have-your-say> HAVE YOUR SAY! Tell us what you think about our proposed IDN launch process. You can <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en/have-your-say/make-a-submission> make a submission or <http://www.idnconsultation.ca/community/en/have-your-say/discussions> join the discussion. <http://www.cira.ca/assets/Images/mass-mail/member/bubble-left.jpg> Connect with CIRA <http://www.cira.ca/assets/Images/mass-mail/member/bubble-right.jpg> <http://twitter.com/ciranews> <http://www.facebook.com/cira.ca?ref=ts> <http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2456714> <http://www.youtube.com/ciranews> <http://www.slideshare.net/ciranews> _____ Email Information Please do not reply directly to this email. This email was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email. Inquiries regarding your .CA domain name should be directed to CIRA's Registration Support Department: Email: <mailto:info@cira.ca> info(a)cira.ca Telephone: 1-877-860-1411 Unsubscribe If you prefer not to receive future non-mandatory emails from CIRA, you may unsubscribe by sending an email to <mailto:unsubscribe@cira.ca> unsubscribe(a)cira.ca. Please allow 10 business days for processing. If you unsubscribe, CIRA will continue to send mandatory transactional messages related to your .CA domain name registration. If you are a .CA Member, you will also continue to receive mandatory messages related to your membership. Please note that if you are currently using the privacy services of your Registrar, or have your Registrar listed as your Administrative Contact, you will not be able to unsubscribe through CIRA. View CIRA's <http://www.cira.ca/privacy/policy.html> Privacy Policy. © 2011 Canadian Internet Registration Authority. All rights reserved.

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Revision control
by Trevor Cordes 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Following up to last month's meeting topic, I'm wondering if anyone can help me choose a revision control system for my purposes. It'll be 2 developers (possibly more later, but always a small number). We'll share access into 1 box, but I'm thinking we'd prefer a system that lets us check out the complete source tree to our own dev boxes where we can code, and then merge back up changes. Also, it would be great if we could have a way to check out the current project into a dir that would then serve directly to the web (it's a php project). For example, I'd want a copy to dev on, the other guy would have a copy, and a 3rd copy (possibly older) would be the live web site. When commits are shown to be good, we'd check out into the live site. Hope that makes sense. I'm thinking CVS or subversion. I'm not sure this small project (maybe 30k lines of code) warrants the strangeness of git. Anything else I'm missing? I'd love to hear the pros/cons.

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[Fwd: Re: Revision control]
by Jeff 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

Turnkey linux gives you a quick way to try 4 differnet revision control systems http://www.turnkeylinux.org/revision-control >From there you should be able to figure out which one will work best for you. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: [RndTbl] Revision control From: "Adam Thompson" <athompso(a)athompso.net> Date: Fri, September 30, 2011 1:20 pm To: "'Continuation of Round Table discussion'" <roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -----Original Message----- > Following up to last month's meeting topic, I'm wondering if anyone > can help me choose a revision control system for my purposes. > It'll be 2 developers (possibly more later, but always a small > number). > We'll share access into 1 box, but I'm thinking we'd prefer a > system that lets us check out the complete source tree to our own > dev boxes where we can code, and then merge back up changes. That screams "git". > Also, it would be great if we could have a way to check out the > current project into a dir that would then serve directly to the > web (it's a php project). For example, I'd want a copy to dev on, > the other guy would have a copy, and a 3rd copy (possibly older) > would be the live web site. When commits are shown to be good, > we'd check out into the live site. Hope that makes sense. Yup. Any decent RCS can do this. > I'm thinking CVS or subversion. I'm not sure this small project > (maybe 30k lines of code) warrants the strangeness of git. > Anything else I'm missing? I'd love to hear the pros/cons. Although I'm a CVS die-hard, for any new deployments I can't see why I would want to use anything other than git. (Commercial/contractual requirements notwithstanding, of course.) SVN has too many corner cases that don't quite work "right", and I've been bitten by some of them while doing fairly ordinary things. There is definitely a learning curve involved with git, or rather, there's an UNlearning curve - if you try to apply RCS/CVS/SVN concepts to git you will fail, or at best will constantly be fighting the system. Check out the LJ article on git from a couple of months ago, http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/git-revision-control-perfected. When I read that, git "clicked" for me mentally for the first time. I agree with one of the other comments - git is only as strange as you make it. Trying to use it as a drop-in replacement for CVS or SVN will make it strange. FYI - IMHO, SVN has a bigger learning curve than git, coming from CVS. -Adam _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable(a)muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable

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MUUG Board Elections - Call for Nominations
by Gilbert E. Detillieux 28 Sep '11

28 Sep '11

Hear ye, hear ye! This is a preliminary call for nominees to participate in the election for the MUUG board. Those elected will serve from November 2011 until October 2012. The deadline to nominate yourself, or someone else, is October 25, 2011. Instructions follow. The MUUG board is charged with coordinating the meetings and other events by the group. It's fun, and you get a role in guiding the group. All are encouraged to apply. ------------------------ MUUG Board Elections - Call for Nominations Every year, in the fall, the Manitoba Unix User Group holds its Annual Meeting, the main goals of which are to elect a new Board of Directors and to pass any special resolutions. (Aside from that, it is a regular meeting.) Any MUUG member in good standing can be nominated to run for a position on the Board. As of this writing, the following MUUG members have let their names stand for election or re-election: Sean Cody Consultant TinFoilHat Trevor Cordes Owner/Operator Tecnopolis Enterprises Gilbert Detillieux Systems Analyst University of Manitoba Michael Doob Professor University of Manitoba Robert Keizer System Administrator Thinkbox Software Inc. Katherine Scrupa Info Systems Desk Tech St. John's Ravenscourt Doug Shewfelt Systems Specialist City of Winnipeg Adam Thompson Consultant athompso.net Brad Vokey Owner Fortress Software Inc. Of course, this list is just a starting point. Any member in good standing of the group can be nominated simply by getting the support of one other member. If you feel you would like to contribute to the group by running for a board position, please don't hesitate to do so. (In fact, we'd like to see the number of board members increase to 10.) If you want to be nominated, or to nominate someone else, send a letter to the group's postal box or deliver it in person to a current board member. The letter must contain the name, title, and employer of the nominee, along with a short (100 word or so) biography, and must contain the signatures of the nominee and one other member. The letter must be received no later than October 25, 2011, which is 14 days prior to the November 8 meeting. Although the by-laws require that the nominations be done in writing, with signatures, you can speed up the process by sending e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca>, with the above information, and sending the signed paper copy later. In this case, please include the e-mail address of both the nominee and the supporter on the CC: list of the message, so that all parties concerned have a record of the communication. Nominees should familiarize themselves with the MUUG bylaws, found here: http://www.muug.mb.ca/pub/bylaws/ If you have any questions about the election or the nomination process, please contact Gilbert Detillieux, either by phone (474-8161) during business hours, or by e-mail to <election(a)muug.mb.ca> anytime. Gilbert Detillieux Election Committee Chair ------------------------ -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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VT-d
by Trevor Cordes 15 Sep '11

15 Sep '11

Further to the meeting discussion, here's more of my thoughts on lack of VT-d support. Many of the myriad Intel CPU SKUs lack various misc features (without much rhyme or reason IMHO). Many CPUs specifically lack VT-d support. Notably, in the i7 line, the "K" suffix CPUs lack VT-d. See: http://ark.intel.com/products/52214/Intel-Core-i7-2600K-Processor-%288M-Cac… look under "advanced technologies" and you'll see VT-d is "No". I'd check once again on both your invoice and in the BIOS to see if your CPU # ends in a K and/or if your CPU # when looked up on Intel's site has "No" for VT-d.

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MUUG Meeting, Sept 13, 7:30pm -- Revision Control for System Administrators
by gedetil＠cs.umanitoba.ca 06 Sep '11

06 Sep '11

The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 13. The meeting topic for this month is as follows: Revision Control for System Administrators If you've ever wished you could undo that change you made to httpd.conf, or wanted to know the difference between the sendmail config you're running today and what you had last month (back when it all worked properly, right?) then you need to learn about revision control software. Almost every *NIX install has a revision control package either installed or easily available; come find out how you can get better control over your files with almost no extra effort. We'll try to discussed the entire gamut, from ancient SCCS, simple & easy RCS, the better-but-not-quite CVS, to slightly odd Subversion and even the gamechanging latecomer to the party, git. Adam Thompson will be presenting this topic, possibly from a remote location. Before the break, as this month's RTFM topic, Gilbert Detillieux will be talking about job control commands in the shell. The group holds its general meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend. ********************************************************************** Please note our meeting location: The IBM offices, at 400 Ellice Ave. (between Edmonton and Kennedy). When you arrive, you will have to sign in at the reception desk, and then wait for someone to take you (in groups) to the meeting room. Please try to arrive by about 7:15pm, so the meeting can start promptly at 7:30pm. Don't be late, or you may not get in. (But don't come too early either, since security may not be there to let you in before 7:15 or so.) Non-members may be required to show photo ID at the security desk. Limited parking is available for free on the street, either on Ellice Ave. or on some of the intersecting streets. Indoor parking is also available nearby, at Portage Place, for $5.00 for the evening. Bicycle parking is available in a bike rack under video surveillance located behind the building on Webb Place. ********************************************************************** For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their Web server: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board: http://www.muug.mb.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil(a)muug.mb.ca> Manitoba UNIX User Group Web: http://www.muug.mb.ca/ PO Box 130 St-Boniface Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R2H 3B4 Fax: (204)474-7609

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