If you upgrade to MacOSX Yosemite and get this

Robs-iMac:~ rl$ brew install

/usr/local/bin/brew: /usr/local/Library/brew.rb: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

/usr/local/bin/brew: line 26: /usr/local/Library/brew.rb: Undefined error: 0

you need to do this

cd /usr/local/Library

git pull origin master

Then you’re good again.

Hmmmzzz..

Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    /Users/rl/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/bin/ruby extconf.rb 
creating Makefile

make "DESTDIR=" clean


Agreeing to the Xcode/iOS license requires admin privileges, please re-run as root via sudo.



make "DESTDIR="


Agreeing to the Xcode/iOS license requires admin privileges, please re-run as root via sudo.



make failed, exit code 69

Gem files will remain installed in /Users/rl/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@upgrade-ruby/gems/byebug-3.5.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /Users/rl/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2@upgrade-ruby/extensions/x86_64-darwin-13/2.1.0-static/byebug-3.5.1/gem_make.out
An error occurred while installing byebug (3.5.1), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install byebug -v '3.5.1'` succeeds before bundling.

You need to do sudo xcrun cc

..blah blah blah...

By typing 'agree' you are agreeing to the terms of the software license agreements. Type 'print' to print them or anything else to cancel, [agree, print, cancel] agree

If you’re used to rendering your JSON response via call to_json on a collection on an object then it really is as simple as adding the callback option to render. You must ensure the callback parameter on the client end is the correct parameter than you feed to the callback option in your controller. This allows your JSON to be server without or without wrapping the response with a callback function depending on whether you include the callback parameter.

class Api
  
  def index
    respond_to do |format|
        format.json do
          render :json => Thing.all.to_json, :callback => params[:callback]
        end
    end
  end

end

However, if you use JBuilder or any other JSON template engine then you’ll need to do things slightly differently. Here There is no need to change your controller method at but instead you can wrap the json repsonse in an after_filter which is a little cleaner.

class Api < ApplicationController

  after_filter :wrap_response_with_callback

  def index
    respond_to do |format|
        format.json
    end
  end

  private

  def wrap_response_with_callback
    if request.get? && params[:callback] && params[:format].to_s == 'json'
      response['Content-Type'] = 'application/javascript'
      response.body = "%s(%s)" % [params[:callback], response.body]
    end
  end

end

This seemed pretty straight forward to me.

module Something
  def api
   @api ||= Api.new
  end
  class Api
    def do_something
      :doing_something
    end
  end
end

class Thing
  include Something
  class Api
    def do_thing
      :doing_thing
    end
  end
end

Seems legitimate, just extend the class that I’ve included in my module.

2.1.2 :021 > Thing.new.api.do_thing
NoMethodError: undefined method `do_thing' for #<Something::Api:0x007f946546afe0>
	from (irb):21
	from /Users/rl/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/bin/irb:11:in `<main>'

Wrong! Hmmzz…. I guess the class that the module is instantiating from is the one in the module not the one included in my Thing class I need to ensure that I instantiate from the right one.

module Something
  def api
   @api ||= self.class::Api.new
  end
  class Api
    def do_something
      :doing_something
    end
  end
end

class Thing
  include Something
  class Api
    def do_thing
      :doing_thing
    end
  end
end
</pre></code>

Works, but hang on.

<pre><code>
2.1.2 :019 > Thing.new.api.do_thing
 => :doing_thing 
2.1.2 :020 > Thing.new.api.do_something
NoMethodError: undefined method `do_something' for #<Thing::Api:0x007fa60a4c1fc8>
	from (irb):20
	from /Users/rl/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/bin/irb:11:in `<main>'

The class is not using the class I’ve defined in my module at all.

module Something
  def api
   @api ||= self.class::Api.new
  end
  class Api
    def do_something
      :doing_something
    end
  end
end

class Thing
  include Something
  class Api < Something::Api
    def do_thing
      :doing_thing
    end
  end
end

Better,

You can create a transparent PNG with Imagemagick fairly easily.

Robs-MacBook-Pro:lcf roblacey$ convert -size 200x100 xc:none transparent.png

Suppose you wanted to base64 the output to embed it in HTML

Robs-MacBook-Pro:lcf roblacey$ convert -size 200x100 xc:none png:fd:1 | base64 -i - -o -
iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMgAAABkAQAAAADr/UKmAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAACYktHRAAB3YoTpAAAABlJREFUSMftwYEAAAAAw6D5Ux/gClUBAMAbCigAAUr66mAAAAAldEVYdGRhdGU6Y3JlYXRlADIwMTQtMTEtMDdUMDI6MDE6NDcrMDA6MDCn12GlAAAAJXRFWHRkYXRlOm1vZGlmeQAyMDE0LTExLTA3VDAyOjAxOjQ3KzAwOjAw1orZGQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==

Of course when I do this in HTML…..

<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMgAAABkAQAAAADr/UKmAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAACYktHRAAB3YoTpAAAABlJREFUSMftwYEAAAAAw6D5Ux/gClUBAMAbCigAAUr66mAAAAAldEVYdGRhdGU6Y3JlYXRlADIwMTQtMTEtMDdUMDI6MDE6NDcrMDA6MDCn12GlAAAAJXRFWHRkYXRlOm1vZGlmeQAyMDE0LTExLTA3VDAyOjAxOjQ3KzAwOjAw1orZGQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==">

The image is transparent and therefore you can’t see it.

This one is mildly more interesting, maybe.

Robs-MacBook-Pro:lcf roblacey$ convert -size 200x100 xc:"#000000" png:fd:1 | base64 -i - -o -
iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMgAAABkAQAAAADr/UKmAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAAAnRSTlMAAHaTzTgAAAACYktHRAAB3YoTpAAAABlJREFUSMftwYEAAAAAw6D5Ux/gClUBAMAbCigAAUr66mAAAAAldEVYdGRhdGU6Y3JlYXRlADIwMTQtMTEtMDdUMDI6MDE6NDcrMDA6MDCn12GlAAAAJXRFWHRkYXRlOm1vZGlmeQAyMDE0LTExLTA3VDAyOjAxOjQ3KzAwOjAw1orZGQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==

Wait for it…….

<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMgAAABkAQAAAADr/UKmAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAAAmJLR0QAAd2KE6QAAAAZSURBVEjH7cGBAAAAAMOg+VMf4ApVAQDAGwooAAFK+upgAAAAJXRFWHRkYXRlOmNyZWF0ZQAyMDE0LTExLTA3VDAyOjEwOjM1KzAwOjAwFMHNawAAACV0RVh0ZGF0ZTptb2RpZnkAMjAxNC0xMS0wN1QwMjoxMDozNSswMDowMGWcddcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=">

…worth waiting for.

TextileEditorHelper even though I had to then hack the helper to not overwrite the textarea class.

module ActionView::Helpers

  module FormHelper

    def textile_editor(object_name, method, options = {})
      output = []
      name = "#{object_name}[#{method}]"
      output << text_area_tag(name, nil, options.merge(class: [options[:class], 'textile_editor'].reject(&:blank?).join(' ')))
      output.join("\n").html_safe
    end
  
  end

end

Trying to work out why compressing jQuery in Rails 4 breaks IE8. Then realising.

jQuery 2.x has the same API as jQuery 1.x, but does not support Internet Explorer 6, 7, or 8.

and the BitMapCatNap

Waking up to an unexpected encoding error. Turns out the client has posted bullet points in their form data. It appears this isn’t working because the database is actually encoded in Latin1. Whereas it should be UTF-8.

An ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid occurred in jobs#create:

  Mysql2::Error: Incorrect string value: '\xE2\x80\xA8\x0D\x0A\x0D...' for column 'description' at row 1: INSERT INTO `stuffs`

Converted the character set to UTF-8 easily. However, through checking is probably prudent given that mixed encodings and converting them can have unexpected results

mysql> ALTER TABLE stuffs CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8;
Query OK, 2350 rows affected (1.25 sec)
Records: 2350  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

Different kind of Programming this time Drum Programming Guide $15. Bargain.

First deploy of a new app shows an Apache Internal Server Error and the following errors appear in the VirtualHost’s log. Not particularly helpful.

/var/log/apache/app-error.log

[Wed Oct 29 07:02:17 2014] [error] [client 81.111.42.20] Premature end of script headers: 
[Wed Oct 29 07:36:06 2014] [error] [client 81.111.42.20] Premature end of script headers: 
[Wed Oct 29 07:37:56 2014] [error] [client 81.111.42.20] Premature end of script headers:

The default Apache error log shows more information. Seems I haven’t set up the Production secret key.

/var/log/apache/error.log

App 12630 stdout: 
App 12424 stderr: [ 2014-10-29 07:37:56.3925 12630/0x0000000157c988(Worker 1) utils.rb:68 ]: *** Exception RuntimeError in Rack application object (Missing `secret_key_base` for 'production' environment, set this value in `config/secrets.yml`) (process 12630, thread 0x0000000157c988(Worker 1)):
App 12424 stderr: 	from /var/www/app/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/railties-4.2.0.beta1/lib/rails/application.rb:510:in `validate_secret_key_config!'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /var/www/app/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/railties-4.2.0.beta1/lib/rails/application.rb:243:in `env_config'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /var/www/app/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/railties-4.2.0.beta1/lib/rails/engine.rb:510:in `call'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /var/www/app/shared/bundle/ruby/2.1.0/gems/railties-4.2.0.beta1/lib/rails/application.rb:161:in `call'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /home/deployer/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p448/gems/passenger-4.0.41/lib/phusion_passenger/rack/thread_handler_extension.rb:74:in `process_request'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /home/deployer/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p448/gems/passenger-4.0.41/lib/phusion_passenger/request_handler/thread_handler.rb:141:in `accept_and_process_next_request'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /home/deployer/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p448/gems/passenger-4.0.41/lib/phusion_passenger/request_handler/thread_handler.rb:109:in `main_loop'
App 12424 stderr: 	from /home/deployer/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p448/gems/passenger-4.0.41/lib/phusion_passenger/request_handler.rb:448:in `block (3 levels) in start_threads'

Which is true.

Robs-iMac:matotu rl$ cat config/secrets.yml 
# Be sure to restart your server when you modify this file.

# Your secret key is used for verifying the integrity of signed cookies.
# If you change this key, all old signed cookies will become invalid!

# Make sure the secret is at least 30 characters and all random,
# no regular words or you'll be exposed to dictionary attacks.
# You can use `rake secret` to generate a secure secret key.

# Make sure the secrets in this file are kept private
# if you're sharing your code publicly.

development:
  secret_key_base: somekey
test:
  secret_key_base: somekey

# Do not keep production secrets in the repository,
# instead read values from the environment.
production:
  secret_key_base: <%= ENV["SECRET_KEY_BASE"] %>

I need to generate a new key, not the one I just posted though because that would be silly. I could place this in the repo replacing the ERB segment above but that’s not very secure.

Robs-iMac:app rl$ bundle exec rake secret
daf28cd197710437091a7bb8fef64b8fe0ccafc164f1c1a74f7b237e6a4b35cb9f6929259b41527035100c7a7a020b7bb1c2d6f6e4ce07df8a14a176ef50e40b
</pre></code>

Instead I shall place it in */etc/apache/envvars*

<pre><code>
bash-4.3# cat /etc/apache2/envvars 
# envvars - default environment variables for apache2ctl

# Since there is no sane way to get the parsed apache2 config in scripts, some
# settings are defined via environment variables and then used in apache2ctl,
# /etc/init.d/apache2, /etc/logrotate.d/apache2, etc.
export APACHE_RUN_USER=www-data
export APACHE_RUN_GROUP=www-data
export APACHE_PID_FILE=/var/run/apache2.pid

## The locale used by some modules like mod_dav
export LANG=C
## Uncomment the following line to use the system default locale instead:
#. /etc/default/locale

export LANG

## The command to get the status for 'apache2ctl status'.
## Some packages providing 'www-browser' need '--dump' instead of '-dump'.
#export APACHE_LYNX='www-browser -dump'
export SECRET_KEY_BASE=somesecretkey

You’ll need to restart Apache, rather than just reload to get this to work. Obviously this is a environment variable for the entire Apache process, so if you wanted to host multiple applications on one server you could have to make the names of each secret unique.

And working…

It appears that FFmpeg has been removed from Ubuntu 14.04 and replaced with libav which is not actually very helpful if we use Semaphore for continuous integration tesing. However, there is a solution https://launchpad.net/~jon-severinsson/+archive/ubuntu/ffmpeg now we can just add the PPA and install. Phew.

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:jon-severinsson/ffmpeg
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ffmpeg libavcodec-extra-54