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Gentoo Portage (Again)

Another really nice feature in Gentoo Portage is called "overlay". PORTAGE_OVERLAY (in /etc/make.conf) lets you specify a directory for your own ebuilds.

Overlay is especially useful in two situations:

1. If you need a package that isn't in Portage, and don't mind writing a simple ebuild script. Instead of placing the file in your copy of the main Portage tree (/usr/portage), you can store your own ebuilds without losing them when you emerge sync. This can also be used to manually bump the version of a package when Gentoo's package maintainer is delaying.
2. If you want to try out a specific version of a package that is otherwise masked (by ACCEPT_KEYWORDS, for example), you can copy the ebuild (and related files) to your overlay and modify the KEYWORDS to match your ACCEPT_KEYWORDS. Obviously, packages are usually masked for a good reason, so use this with caution.

Gentoo Portage

If you ever decide to run Gentoo (if you like Linux, I'd recommend it), and you need to pull a package from the testing area (e.g. ~x86 - some people call this "unstable"), please don't do ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -pv category/package. I see this all too often in #gentoo and on the Gentoo Forums (including in the Forum FAQ).

The preferred method for doing this since Portage 2.0.50 is to add an entry to /etc/portage/package.keywords:

category/package ~x86

For example, here's my current /etc/portage/package.keywords:

# ALSA - Hasn't fixed minor sound problems with xmms-crossfade
#media-libs/alsa-lib ~x86
#media-sound/alsa-utils ~x86

# XMMS
#media-sound/xmms ~x86
#media-plugins/xmms-crossfade ~x86

# GKrellM
app-admin/gkrellm ~x86
x11-plugins/gkrellm-volume ~x86
x11-plugins/gkrellweather ~x86

# Bluecurve for latest KDE
x11-themes/redhat-artwork ~x86

net-im/gaim ~x86
net-www/galeon ~x86
net-p2p/nicotine ~x86

Passing ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" to emerge can lead to issues with calculating dependencies - since you are accepting the testing packages for that emerge session, you might pull other packages from ~x86 based on those dependencies. When you use emerge again without the ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86", you might be forced to remove some of those packages.

If you want to pull a package from testing (which you might need to do to get new features or to fix some bug), start by adding that package to the file. If you get an error in calculating dependencies, add that package to the file. It can be somewhat tedious, but it's safer than ACCEPT_KEYWORDS.

I highly recommend you read man portage and the Portage Manual on the Gentoo site. One of Gentoo's strongest points is the documentation of these features that make it so flexible.

Fast Food

The Way We Eat Now discusses a number of issues with eating habits in America.

Sick

I've been sick for almost a week now with a really bad head cold. It started out as a sore throat, then moved into my nose and sinus area. Even yesterday I was having pretty severe sinus pain. Today it finally feels like it's mostly gone.

Taking a break from work was nice, even though I was sick. I was letting the stress get to me again, mostly due to frustration over the projects I'm working on. We seem to have consistent problems with finalizing projects; we make great progress at the beginning, but lose focus quickly. I'm looking forward to sitting down with everyone on Friday to discuss these issues.

T-Mobile

My experience with T-Mobile has not been pleasant. First the number portability frustration (granted, not entirely their fault), and now billing problems. I tried paying my bill online from my checking account because it's simpler than writing a check, but it turns out the payment was returned due to an invalid routing number. I checked my printout of the payment approval - sure enough, the routing number and account number was the same as on my checks. I even verified the numbers with my bank. T-Mobile's customer service representatives can't tell me anything more than "invalid routing number", and there's apparently no one I can talk to who knows more. I actually pay most of my bills online these days, and this is the first time I remember having problems, so the problem seems fairly unique to T-Mobile.

I'm overall pretty disappointed with them. Reception isn't close to what I had with US Cellular a couple of years ago. They sort of dicked me over on porting my old number. Their Web site sucks. Their billing system has obvious problems. If things don't improve, it looks like I'll be looking for cell phone service again.

"All non-Free software is a dead end."

Interesting problems in the blogging community over Movable Type's license changes. I especially like Mark Pilgrim's argument against Movable Type in favor of free software.

On top of the need to change blogging software (I like WordPress and PyBloxsom), I need to find hosting. I would love to get colocation service, but I don't have that kind of money right now.

Running, Randomness, Cycles

Running: I've started again, and it feels good. On top of biking, it's helped relieve some stress. Which has gone down. Really. Work.

Randomness: Went to Gator Beverage with Alex to buy beer, ended up spending almost half an hour there. A girl's battery was dead, and she was looking for a jump. We stuck around outside for a while, probably one of the most random nights in a while. Lots of people offered their help, includng one of the cashiers.

Cycles: I've noticed that a distinct set of cycles. Happy, realizing I am happy, knowing that it will come, frustration, sadness. Still trying to learn how to deal with this.

Wave after wave

Java

Seven Low-Cost Ways to Improve Legacy Code - I agree with basically everything he says.

No More

As I mentioned before, my brother likes to take advantage of people. Family members are no exception. I put myself in the unfortunate position of paying my family's cell phone bills for a little over a year, costing almost $2000 over my regular usage. This month, I received the final bill. With any luck, it will be the last time I have to spend money on Ben that I would rather be spending elsewhere.

I'm angry about this bill for two reasons:

1. AT&T Wireless were total cocks about allowing me to cancel my service before the change from US Cellular. I would call US Cellular, asking to cancel, and they told me to call AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless told me that I would have to wait until the change was officially finished (March 16, if memory serves). When I called on Monday, they told me that I would receive one final bill because they already started service. There's some black magic there with contract law, which I will likely never understand.
2. Ben didn't have a phone of his own after the second or third outrageous bill. I called US Cellular to have his phone turned off. But my mother let him borrow her phone, and by "borrow" I mean "she gave it to him".

So this final bill has over 1000 minutes of usage which are ALL thanks to Ben. The bill is $100, which is coming out of my graduation presents.

So Ben, if you ever wonder why I don't like you, it's because of issues like this. One day, I hope you realize that taking advantage of people is wrong. Until you repay me for the cell phone bills, don't even THINK of asking me for money.

Articles by People Who Just Don't Get It

Via Slashdot: Kieren McCarthy of Techworld writes that Mac OS X is riddled with security holes. Select excepts:

• The five vulnerabilities "may allow hijacking, security bypass, data manipulation, privilege escalation, denial of service and system access". While we're dropping terms, Kieren, let's see if you can come up with a definition for each without Google.
• "In other words, it makes Microsoft's current Sasser problems look no more than a nasty nip." Right, when computers are randomly rebooting and causing capacity problems on corporate networks, we'll refer to it as a "nasty nip" from now on.
• "This strange habit of pretending a big problem is of no significance was also displayed last month" when the MP3 Trojan horse was released. And every time a company's products have security problems, especially one which has a long history of vulnerabilities. Hm.