Natulte::Blog

Apache configuration with mod_macro

After my brief brush with Lighttpd, I found that it couldn't handle group authentication. So, instead, I decided to rewrite my Apache configuration, using mod_macro to obtain a more compact configuration. In the process, I discovered that I actually wanted that from the start, and only went to Lighttpd because it appeared to offer a simpler way to that. After a little poking around with it, its templating capabilities turned out to be quite weak compared to that of a properly equipped Apache.

The short version: My configuration is now 50% smaller, even with the addition of an extra virtual host or two. mod_macro is really kinda cool.

Lighttpd

I've just wasted^Wspent a day trying to convert my web setup from Apache to Lighttpd. On the surface, Lighty looks like a very high performance web server, with a rather slick configuration format that looks quite enjoyable. I therefore spent a day or so getting up to speed on it, and converting my websites to use lighttpd. And I failed.

It's okay, we use AES!

I've been looking at password safe applications recently, to keep track of my growing number of accounts, both online and offline. And I've noticed something quite striking in all of them: none seems to find it necessary to explain exactly how they go about protecting my passwords. They all resort to what I'd call the crypto-defense: "The database uses AES for encryption, it's safe!"

Everyone and their dog uses AES, why is it safe?

Today's fun fact

When you connect to an IRC server, you get spammed with a lot of messages reporting various information. Some of it is purely informational, such as the MOTD, for the eyes of the user. Others are of use to the IRC client itself.

A simple templating static website engine

I'm looking for a website "engine" with a few very specific features. Actually, calling it a website engine is misleading, what I want is more a website generator.

I want something where I edit files containing HTML fragments, or something like restructured text. When I want to publish, I run a script that puts all these files through a templating engine that would work somewhat like Django's inheritance mechanism, which injects the fragments in a given base template. Then, I can publish these pages as static content, with ubercaching configured to have good performance.

I don't care much for any cool dynamic features. Making the timestamp at which the script runs available in the template engine might be cool, but that's about it.

It's simple enough for me to write this in Python, but before I start, does anyone know of a project that does this?

Edit: Found it! It's webgen.

Getting translucent terminals on Openbox

People have asked me how to do this, so here's a quick manual on setting up transparent terminals in Openbox, using xcompmgr and transset-df.

New life, new desktop

With my studies coming to a close and an internship (hopefully leading to permanent employment!) coming up, the times are changing. Some things come to an end, others begin. And to mark the change (and because I was fed up with Xfce), I moved back to an old sweetheart of mine, Openbox. A few bugs that annoyed me have been fixed, it's ultralight, my terminals have no window decorations, and a little scripting gives my dear xterms the slight translucency that is characteristic of all cool, Composite-powered desktops.

And this is what that looks like.