Archive for category Tools 'n' Tips
Fences and Ambulances
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Plain Old Blog, Process, Tools 'n' Tips on February 17, 2010
Suppose you are in charge of a cliff edge. Your task is to maintain the views from the cliff, but keep visitors safe. You can construct a fences along the top of the cliff, to stop people falling over, or you can place ambulances at the foot of the cliff, to clear up once someone [...]
Common Interface
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, PERL, SCM Tool on January 31, 2010
After much deliberation and soul searching I’ve finally decided it’s time to address one of my all time bugbears. I am going to develop a set of transferable libraries for analysing and operating a CMS. And because I am most familiar with Perl (and, as explained in my earlier post Glue Software, I find it [...]
Glue Software
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Glue Software, PERL, Plain Old Blog, Tools 'n' Tips on January 25, 2010
As someone who inevitably becomes involved in the technical implementation of configuration management systems (CMS) I am often called upon to create what I choose to call ‘glue software’. Glue software is not a full integration between two products (often there is simply no way to fully integrate products) but rather it is a more [...]
Subversion’s Ignore List
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Subversion, Tools 'n' Tips on January 8, 2010
The idea behind the Subversion ignore list is very simple: when adding (using svn add or svn import) files into a Subversion repository, any file that matches a pattern on the ignore list is skipped. The ignore list is constructed from two sources: the client specific global-ignores list; any svn:ignore property associated with the directory [...]
Creating Tags in Subversion
Posted by Mark in CMCrossroads, Subversion, Tools 'n' Tips on December 4, 2009
Subversion does not support labels as many version control tools do. Instead Subversion uses the svn copy command to create ‘tags’. By convention a Subversion repository is often divided into three sub-directories; trunk, where the main development is often (though not necessarily) done; branches, where (unsurprisingly) we maintain branches that may be used for any [...]
Analysis Paralysis
Posted by Mark in General, Plain Old Blog on July 27, 2009
This is something to which I have been a victim in the past (and, if I am honest, occasionally I still fall prey to now); analysis paralysis, the inability to do because we feel uncertain about which of several alternative courses of action to take.
Tool selection: beware the ideal case
When selecting tools, for any purpose, beware the ideal case. When a product is demonstrated, online or directly, the presentation has, generally, been carefully worked out in advance to present to tool in the most favourable light possible. The tool will perform optimally and the use case will appear flawless. Sadly, real life is never [...]
Writing documents that people will read
One common complaint, and one to which I have fallen prey in the past, is that “no one reads the documentation”. This seems to be a particular problem for documents recording process and procedure. In this series we will look at how you can write documents that people will actually read. We will look at [...]
Allowing users to change their own password using svnserve and passwd
Posted by Mark in Subversion on July 7, 2009
One recurring issue users bring up when using Subversion’s own svnserve server and its own internal authentication system (password-db) is that users cannot easily change their own passwords. The problem is that, when using svnserve and the internal password-db, usernames and passwords are held in a plain text file, usually within the conf directory of [...]
Subversion Repository Quick Start
Posted by Mark in Subversion, Subversion on June 23, 2009
A very quick introduction to setting up a Subversion repository and protecting it with Subversion’s own server and built in authentication system. You’ll want to watch this full screen and in HD to get the best view. This video is part of the upcoming Subversion Guru training course.
