Author Archives: drm

PHPUnit: Closures as dataProviders help with repetitive code

Since PHP5.3 we have closures. The concept behind closures is unbelievably powerful, and even though PHP has struggled with the concept of typing, callables and whatnot, the main concept of closures remains: passing logic in stead of data, or even: as if it were data. In my previous post I argued that functional and declarative [...]

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Declarative is the new black.

The paradigm shift in the purest sense of the expression. The old paradigm makes way for new ones. And declarative is the new one. Well…, not new new …

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Symfony2 + PHPCR + Doctrine2 + Jackalope recipe

Lately I’ve followed some developments in the Symfony2 corner of the PHP community with great interest. One of the most enticing developments is the usage of a Content Repository as a backend for your CMS. There is some work being done on the Symfony CMF, combining Symfony2, Doctrine2, PHPCR and Jackalope into a set of [...]

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Failure in a bash script usually means failure of the script

So, when you write a bash script that does a certain amount of tasks for you, but you don’t want the script to keep running after some command inside the script failed, simply add a line to the script.

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Apply low priority to low priority processes

My transmission client was hogging my machine. Then I realized I never really use process priorities for CPU and/or IO, which is actually a pretty bad thing, considering some processes just are there to get some job done, but don’t need priority at all. Then I realized I also never use it for backup and [...]

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Automate sudo nano; something I should’ve done a loooong time ago

Remember those countless times you’ve edited a file with nano, didn’t notice that you weren’t root at the time, and carefully made your configuration changes and saved the file, only to find out that you weren’t root and you have no rights to modify the file?

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Password-less authentication SSH

I use this a lot, and you should too. It saves lots of time, but you should also be aware that password-less authentication (and it’s ease) imposes a security risk on your behalf. You should be very cautious when you’re connecting to the remote machines (whether they are testing, staging or production environments, in ascending [...]

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Bash control structures have redirection too

I found out a useful thing today. You can redirect output of bash control structures as well. Typically useful for for loops, which would need a buffer of some kind otherwise to have it’s output sorted, for example.

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Binding keyboard volume buttons to mixer control

Here’s how to bind your specific buttons (such as + and – controls for volume and the mute button) to controlling your mixer in openbox. Open your ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml in your favorite editor. Also open a terminal window. In the terminal window start xev to find out what keys you are pressing:

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Raising windows in stead of opening new ones

This is a pretty useful utility script for EWMH-compliant window managers, such as openbox. Since I use my terminal a lot, I don’t want to get stuck with 500 terminal windows at the end of the day because of all the terminal shortcuts (W+T) I used. So, let’s add a modifier to the shortcut to [...]

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