fidzu : Ubuntu

I don't consider myself a programmer but a sort of power user, I'm in love with the cli linux interface and everytime I can automatizate repetive tasks I do it. That's how I ended writting 60~ scripts (most of them for fun, others for sysadmin work), while doing it I noticed a pattern, I used to cheat and copy some part of other scripts to finish faster so I started to write functions and put them in a lib file. After a while it has been increasing and I thought it would be a good idea to share it and see if it can be useful to someone else, so here it is.

• sh/lib

If you can improve current functions or add new ones your contribution is welcome (just branch and push back), beware that current code may hurt your eyes, you've been warned. Have fun n_n/

18 Jun 2013 11:23pm GMT

Previously, my (this) domain used Google Analytics to keep track of visitor (all of your) statistics and data, but I recently transitioned to a free & open source solution: Piwik -in which I control all the data.

Piwik: The Leading Self-Hosted, Decentralized, Open Source Web Analytics Platform

While not as pretty as the Google solution, it certainly makes up for it with an abundance of features -a lot of which I am still familiarizing myself with- a list of which you can find on their site.

Hailing itself as the "leading self-hosted, decentralized, open source web analytics platform", Piwik was conceived as an open web analytics platform (and an alternative to Google Analytics), priding itself on being open source and privacy centric.

Installation

Once I downloaded, extracted and scp-ied to my server the set-up was relatively simple.

wget http://builds.piwik.org/latest.zip

unzip latest.zip && cd latest/piwik

scp -r <directory/of/piwik> <username> @re.mote.ip.address:"</remote/directory/for/piwik/"

Deployment was essentially the same as spinning up a WordPress instance (configuring an SQL database, and following the provided setup wizard) which they must be aware of as they have a "5 minute installation" also.

Juju Charm?

I'm not that great a web wizard, but if any of you Juju folks read this, Piwik might be a viable charm, no? Given WordPress is one I assume it is possible to do.

Anyway, you can find more info on their site: piwik.org

The post Switching to Open Source Analytics appeared first on Sam Hewitt | Blog.

18 Jun 2013 10:59pm GMT

We are working on a powerful vision with Ubuntu; to build a convergent Operating System that runs on phones, tablets, desktops, and TVs. A core part of this vision is that this is a platform and ecosystem that you can influence, improve, and be a part of, significantly more-so than our competitors.

One consistent piece of feedback we have seen from carriers and handset manufacturers is a a greater desire for platform competition and participation on helping to shape and define the ecosystem. A key goal for Ubuntu is to satisfy these needs.

Today we launched the the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group (CAG) which includes Deutsche Telekom, Everything Everywhere, Telecom Italia, Korea Telecom, LG UPlus, Portugal Telecom, and SK Telecom as founding members. Wide industry participation in the group will help us to prioritize the delivery of new Ubuntu features, and grow an ecosystem of software, services and devices that meets that need.

The CAG provides regular meetings that take place regularly and typically include a briefing by Canonical or a partner company, followed by feedback from carriers. Members can bring domain specialists to calls for each relevant topic covered. Topics planned for discussion in the CAG forum include:

• Differentiation for OEMs and operators.
• Developer ecosystems and application portability.
• HTML5 standards, performance and compatibility.
• Marketplaces for apps, content and services.
• Revenue share models for publishers, operators, and OEMs.
• Payment mechanisms and standards.
• Platform fragmentation.
• Consumer and enterprise market segments and positioning.

CAG members can also launch Ubuntu devices before non-members in local markets. The first two launch partners will be selected from within the group, with the next wave following six months later; non-members will face a substantial wait to gain access to the platform. Members will have early knowledge of silicon, as well as OEM and ODM partners involved in the Ubuntu mobile initiative.

The Carrier Advisory Group is chaired independently of Canonical by David Wood, who has 25 years' experience in the mobile industry, including leadership roles at Psion, Symbian and Accenture. He has wide experience with collaborative advisory groups, and twice served on the board of directors of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).

David has this to say about the CAG:

"The mobile industry still needs an independent platform that enables innovation and differentiation. That platform is Ubuntu. The Carrier Advisory Group will have the opportunity to influence the Ubuntu roadmap, and take full advantage of the potential this emerging platform."

If you are a carrier interested in helping shape Ubuntu's mobile strategy and being part of the CAG, click here.

18 Jun 2013 6:20pm GMT

Last week we held the first meeting of the new Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group, which helps us figure out how best to shape Ubuntu to meet the needs of the mobile industry.

It was very exciting!

We mapped out our approach to the key question I've been asked by every carrier we've met so far: how can we accommodate differentiation, without fragmenting the platform for developers? We described the range of diversity we think we can support initially, received some initial feedback from carriers participating immediately, and I'm looking forward to the distilled feedback we'll get on the topic in the next call.

CAG members get a period of exclusivity in their markets. We'll close the CAG to new members shortly. We don't need a very large group; just a few clear-thinking and thoughtful partners who have experience introducing new platforms. And with this initial group of members, we are all set to get really good insight for a really great launch next year.

Next week I'll be in Shanghai for the GSMA's Mobile Asia Expo, and looking forward to a round of in-person meetings with our advisory group. Mostly we'll be meeting by telephone and video conference, given the very global nature of the CAG, but there are a few events which attract critical mass of attendees in the industry where we'll arrange a CAG face-to-face as well.

Thanks to everyone who is participating in the project - Ubuntu's touch experience is really coming along in leaps and bounds. I love hearing about the new devices to which it's been ported, or new apps getting started. This is the frontier for personal computing, and we want free software leading the way. You all make that possible.

18 Jun 2013 5:26pm GMT

Meeting Minutes

IRC Log of the meeting.

Meeting minutes.

Agenda

20130618 Meeting Agenda

ARM Status

Q/master: lp1176977 ("XFS instability on armhf under load") - passed all xfs
tests (tested both on arm and x86), but there's still one patch missing (and
waiting to enter linux-next for 3.11).
*/highbank: lp1182637("cpu_offlining fails to run on ARM") - indeed, it was a
firmware issue: updating the node to the last available firmware, made cpu
hotplugging work - lp1185669 ("CPU cores offline and can't be brought back up on
ARM Server card") is probably a dup.
R/master: lp1171582("hvc0 getty causes random hangs"), seems like i can detect
the presence of a jtag console (DBGAUTHSTATUS NSNE bit) and thus attach or not
the xen console to it, i'll give it a try.

Release Metrics and Incoming Bugs

Release metrics and incoming bug data can be reviewed at the following link:

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/reports/kt-meeting.txt

Milestone Targeted Work Items

Status: Saucy Development Kernel

Our Saucy unstable branch has been rebased to the latest v3.10-rc6
upstream kernel. We unfortunately have still not uploaded yet. We are
still awaiting fixups for a few DKMS packages. We hope to upload by EOW
or early next week. In the mean time we have gone ahead and rebased our
Saucy master branch to the recent v3.9.6 upstream stable kernel and
uploaded.
For our phablet kernels we have been investigating some kernel size
constraints and the modules which we have enabled and built in.
Important upcoming dates:
Thurs June 27 - Alpha 1 (opt in)

Status: CVE's

== 2013-06-18 (7 days) ==
Currently we have 62 CVEs on our radar, with 3 CVEs added and 2 CVEs retired in the last week.
See the CVE matrix for the current list:

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/cve/pkg/ALL-linux.html

  Overall the backlog has increased slightly this week:

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/status/cve-metrics.txt

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/cve/pkg/CVE-linux.txt

Status: Stable, Security, and Bugfix Kernel Updates - Raring/Quantal/Precise/Lucid/Hardy

Status for the main kernels, until today (Jun. 18):

• Lucid - Beginning prep;
• Precise - Beginning prep;
• Quantal - Beginning prep;
• Raring - Beginning prep;
  Current opened tracking bugs details:

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/reports/kernel-sru-workflow.html

  For SRUs, SRU report is a good source of information:

• http://people.canonical.com/~kernel/reports/sru-report.html

  Future stable cadence cycles:

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RaringRingtail/ReleaseInterlock

Open Discussion or Questions? Raise your hand to be recognized

No open discussions.

18 Jun 2013 5:12pm GMT

To those who own a PengPod1000, feels free to try KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux on your device.

KB1OIQ - Andy's Ham Radio Linux is a custom operating system based on Ubuntu. It's target is for amateur radio usage. For more info, visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/

Direct link download for PengPod100 image, http://sourceforge.net/projects/kb1oiq-andysham/files/pengpod_image_4GiB.dd.gz/download

The included amateur radio software is shown

• aa-analyzer.pl - command line program used with RigExpert AA-xxx analyzers
• chirp - used to program frequencies into HTs (chirpw)
• cqrlog - a full featured QSO logging program
• cwwav - command line program to convert text files to CW wav or mp3
• earthtrack - used with predict and xplanet to display satellites
• flamp - NBEMS program for Amateur Multicast Protocol (AMP)
• fldigi - digital modes such as PSK31 (NBEMS)
• flmsg - companion to fldigi, a simple forms management editor for standard message formats (NBEMS)
• fllog - to provide a common log across networked computers
• flrig - rig control
• flwkey - modem program for the K1EL Winkeyer series
• flwrap - companion to fldigi, file encapsulation / compression
• Fl Moxgen - Moxon Rectangle antenna design program
• gerbv - view Gerber files
• glfer - QRSS (slow CW) or DFCW (Dual Frequency CW) modes
• gpredict - satellite tracking
• gqrx - software defined radio receiver
• grig - rig control software
• gspiceui - GUI interface for spice
• gwave - analog waveform viewer (e.g. spice output)
• hamlib - radio control library
• ibp - HF beacons
• net - a net control logging program by W1HKJ
• owx - Open Wouxun, command line programs for Wouxun HTs
• pcb - interactive printed circuit board editor
• predict - predict orbits of satellites (used with earthtrack)
• qrq - CW callsign practice
• qsstv - SSTV (slow scan TV)
• qtel - Echolink client
• soundmodem - user mode driver for packet radio (useful with xastir)
• splat - command line HF propagation prediction
• sunclock - track day/night line on Earth
• svxlink - Echolink server
• TQSL - used with ARRL Logbook of the World
• TQSL Cert - used with ARRL Logbook of the World
• voacapl - VOACAP for Linux - propagation prediction
• wsjt - weak signal communication
• wspr - weak signal communication
• xastir - APRS mapping
• xcwcp - CW code practice
• xdx - DX cluster TCP/IP client
• xlog - simpler QSO logging program
• xnec2c - antenna modeling software
• xplanet - used by earthtrack and predict to track satellites
• xwxapt - display APT images from weather satellites

18 Jun 2013 1:37pm GMT

When seeking for help, it helps if you ask the right questions and know how to communicate about your problem. When helping others, it is at least as important to ask the right questions, know how to communicate with people who need help and ultimately, answer the right questions. In this article, I mostly cover IRC support since that's the method I know the best, but the following tips should be appropriate for any support method at least after some adapting.

For starters, the Ubuntu IRC channels are Ubuntu Code of Conduct -compliant. This serves as a good base along with the Ubuntu IRC channel guidelines for both those who assist and those who are assisted. In addition, there are several things that are good to acknowledge when helping. Some of these are direct implications of the guidelines, some are unwritten rules.

The knowledge level

When a user has asked a question and you've triaged out the issue, one of the first things to figure out is their level of knowledge. While users usually have some kind of experience with computers, they might be completely new to Linux. Another thing to keep in mind are that even if a user was familiar with Linux or computing in general, they might not be familiar with the interiors of Xubuntu, and might need or want a more thorough explanation for a detail.

To be helpful, it's important to make sure they understand what you're telling them to do and why - always adjust the level of detail and explanation based on the knowledge level of the user. Normally it isn't needed to specifically ask for users' experience level, but it never hurts to check if they have understood what you have explained so far.

The never ending debate: command line or GUI

One of the charasteristics of Linux support in general is that a high percentage of solutions are presented as series of command line commands.

Obviously, the biggest advantage of the command line method is it's speed. "Run this, and it's fixed." In many cases this works well, especially if the support question is about something that needs to be only once. Other advantages are the ease of copying and providing them on the web (compared to a set of images that explain how to achieve the same goal via GUI) and the only slight possibility that the command line arguments would be different depending on application or library versions. In addition, command line often provides important output when you need to debug.

On the contrary, there are a few disadvantages and pitfalls you should remember when helping people out.

First of all, many people you are helping are not naturally comfortable with the command line. If you don't want to understand the commands, you're not going to learn anything. However, doing the same thing with GUI will likely create connections and visual hints which might be useful for understanding Linux and ultimately, coping with future problems.

While we power users are willing to use the command line for pretty much any task, there is no reason to force other, less technically oriented people to use the command line, especially as we have the GUI alternatives! In my opinion, this is one of the features contributing to one of the points in the Xubuntu mission statement - ease of use.

Deadlocks, deadlocks…

Sometimes there are barriers that are too big; however, with help from the Ubuntu community and developers we can surpass some of these and start working on the rest to be able to surpass them someday.

The Xubuntu channels are English only but now and then we have people joining who do not wish to or can't speak English. Fortunately, the Ubuntu community has many active local communities. In their IRC channels they are helping people in their native language and Xubuntu support is included as well.

When you don't know the answer or there isn't a solution available, acknowledge the fact but also make sure the person seeking for help understands the situation as well. If you think there's a bug involved and one isn't filed, ask the user to file one and offer to help filing it. While the problem persists, filing a bug is the first step towards the solution.

If you don't know the area well enough, step down (or don't even start!). In the worst case, bad advice can only make the situation worse. Sometimes the best advice is to tell to ask elsewhere or wait for other people able to help. Also take into consideration that while you might know better than somebody else, it can be confusing and even harmful if several people suggest different ways to resolve a problem. In the majority of these cases, stepping down is the best thing you can do - at least until your colleague is out of ideas.

Be respectful

Whatever the situation, the most important thing to keep in mind is being respectful towards others. It is phrased out in various ways in the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, the Ubuntu IRC channel guidelines, in this article and in numerous of other places.

If you ever feel you're getting frustrated for any reason, take a breath and ask yourself if you can carry on calmly enough to be helpful. If you don't think you can, step down. When you see other people get frustrated or burnt out, remind them to take a break if they need it - be it five minutes or a week. There are always other people and support methods available.

And finally…

I hope this article can shed some more light into what giving support is and in what state of mind you should do it. It's definitely not an easy task and while it can sometimes require quite a bunch of patience, but it's something we need to do in order to keep up a healthy user community. Ultimately, it can help us improving our product by fixing things that weren't obvious to us but our users.

Support is an often underrated area of contribution where too many people do not ever get nearly as much recognition for their work. Thus I want to thank everybody who is doing Xubuntu support. Thank you! Keep on doing the good work and remember to take breaks when you need it!

This article is part of the article series Communication in the community.

18 Jun 2013 1:35pm GMT

During the recent week there has been a lot of amount of work put in the Numix-uTouch style icons. You can read more about theme here:

http://mechoslav.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/numix-ubuntu-touch-style-version-2-has-just-been-released/

So we are very happy to present you that you can install this icon pack on your desktop right now.
You can install it using the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix-icon-theme-dev/utouch && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install numix-utouch-icon-theme

Then apply it with the following command:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme "Numix-uTouch"

And here is how it looks:

CAUTION: This is in active state of development so changes will enter on daily basis.
Known big issues:

• Breaks Unity's inidcators icons
• Doesn't play well with theme with dark toolbars (like Ambiance for example)

To get the most out of it we recommend using it with Gnome-Shell with the and with with "Numix" preset applied

18 Jun 2013 12:26pm GMT

On our little Ubuntu Podcast we like to interview people. We've interviewed over 100 people in the last 5½ years and are always looking for more people to talk to about the interesting stuff they're doing. If you're working on something that our ~6000 listeners might want to hear then please do get in touch via any of the methods listed on our podcast site.

We don't limit ourselves to Ubuntu subject matter only. In the past we've interviewed people from ZorinOS, Crunchbang, Fedora, Centos and KDE. We also talk to people who aren't necessarily part of the "Free Software Community" (whatever that is) such as game & web developers, freedom advocates and event organisers.

Basically we like talking to interesting people. However we don't have our fingers on the pulse of everything cool and interesting (no matter how much we try) and we're always looking for new people to talk to. So let us know if you would like us to talk about you and your stuff, we don't bite.

18 Jun 2013 10:42am GMT

So Friday was my last day at Canonical, and yesterday I hopped on a plane from London to JFK, no rest for the wicked I say. Clearly my inability to sleep isn't set to one timezone, I'm currently running on diet coke and fumes! I saw sunrise this morning and it was very pretty!

I decided to go for a walk this morning and grab breakfast on the way to the office. It turns out New York truly never sleeps, it was 7am and it was rather hectic out there, taxi drivers don't believe in stopping, right on red still seems makes no sense to me. Steam coming from the road through grates still looks rather pretty although smells rather rank.

Walking down one of the streets and past the hustle and bustle, I find myself seeing a massive queue of people screaming and shouting and waving signs all over the place, turns out it was Brad Pitt himself giving an interview on his latest film, just one of those things you see on your way to work seemingly

Wandering around this morning was nice and then I had to find the office, turns out hanging a flag outside your office makes it very easy to see!

I've had a brilliant first day, jam packed full of meetings and getting to meet the rest of the team, plan and work out stuff that is happening this week, from MongoDB Masters to Open House and on Friday MongoDB NYC. It's a great way to get submersed in the role and find ones feet. Getting to grip with all the tools used, putting the faces to the names on emails and sorting out my inbox and calendar so I can be as productive this week while I have the opportunity to meet people in person and brainstorm the coming months!

With any new role or change in your life you're always going to have that exciting first day feeling, followed quickly with the OMG there is so much to learn and take in. But everyone has been lovely and welcoming offering advice and making themselves available to talk and plan. It's been reassuring knowing that together as a team we're going to be busy making the next few months jam packed with events taking place and shaping up the MUGs which I hope to attend and get to know and work with the organisers.

One the way home I got to pop into M&Ms World and saw Red and also Brad pitt again on the red carpet with the opening of his new movie, just an everyday walk home really!

Good Night NYC it has been a very busy day roll on the rest of the week.

18 Jun 2013 1:13am GMT

Bread, most people eat copious amounts of it but few bake it themselves. It may seem to be a daunting task -all that preparation and kneading- but this recipe requires very little effort (I'd wager the least of any bread recipe that I've come across) and should yield delicious bread every time.

No-Knead Bread Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes - wait time: 12-20 hours - Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt (kosher, if you have it)
• 1 1/2 cup cool water
• cornmeal, semolina or wheat bran -for coating
• olive oil or melted butter

Equipment:

• 1 deep enamelled cast-iron or glass pot, with lid

Directions for dough:

1. Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
2. Add the water.
3. Using your hands mix it together into a dough (about a minute or two).
4. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and let it ferment somewhere (at room temperature) for 12-20 hours.

After 12+ hours your dough should resemble this -full of bubbles and have those stringy protein-y strands- and be only slightly tacky.

That particular dough was fermenting for ~14 hours

The long ferment time develops -in place of kneading- the gluten in the flour which is crucial to a bread's structure.

Carefully remove the dough from the bowl onto a clean work surface, with as minimal manipulation of the dough as possible.

Preheat an oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, with your pot inside.

Pinch and fold the dough into it's centre a couple times to make a nice ball-shape* and coat liberally with the semolina, bran or cornmeal (I used the foremost in this instance).

Where these folds meet is where we'll get that nice split in the top crust of the bread.

When the oven-pot system is preheated, carefully place the dough inside with the side opposite the folds face-up.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.

After the 30 minutes, remove the lid and drizzle the loaf with oil or butter (if you're using either) and then continue to bake for 15 minutes without the lid.

When finished baking your loaf should have a nice crust, dark from all the caramelization.

Cutting it open reveals plenty of air pockets (where those bubbles used to be) and beautiful crumb structure.

This recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman, New York Times (who in turn adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery) and is one I really enjoy because of how simple (and delicious) it is.

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The post No Knead Bread Recipe appeared first on Sam Hewitt | Blog.

18 Jun 2013 12:29am GMT

Ubuntu Ohio held a business meeting on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. A few items were considered but due to a low turnout final actions were not necessarily taken. One item, finding a deputy to sign the Ohio Linux Fest table contract on behalf of the Leader, has been bound over to the mailing list for further consideration by the community at large.

The log of the meeting with slides interleaved can be found on the Ubuntu Wiki Infrastructure at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OhioTeam/IRC20130618 and the team can be found online at http://loco.ubuntu.com/teams/ubuntu-us-ohio/. Voicemail can be left for the LoCo Leader via SIP call at sip:1580@sdf.org.

18 Jun 2013 12:00am GMT

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #321 for the week June 10 - 16, 2013, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

• Ubuntu Stats
• UbuConLA 2013
• Ubuntu Forums - We're going social
• What Is Going on With Juju? June 12 Edition
• Matt Fischer: Being a MOTU
• Martin Pitt: Ubuntu Saucy translations are now open
• Dmitrijs Ledkovs: Now, less cryptic - Cryptsetup changes in Saucy
• Jonathan Riddell: nice e-mail
• Stephen M. Webb: Unity Maintenance for Ubuntu "Saucy Salamander"
• Stephen M. Webb: Ubuntu Desktop Convergence
• Jono Bacon: The Ubuntu App Developer Cookbook Announced
• Howard Chan: Multiple DEs for Ubuntu Studio (part 1)
• The Fridge: Certificates For Ubuntu Members
• Charles Profitt: Testing: On To Saucy Salamader!
• Top 10 Ubuntu App Downloads for May
• Taking the 'fun' out of OpenStack
• System76 Jumps on the Haswell Bandwagon with Two New Ubuntu Laptops
• Ubuntu up and running on Android min PCs with RK3188 chips
• In The Blogosphere
• Other Articles of Interest
• Featured Audio and Video
• Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
• Upcoming Meetings and Events
• Updates and Security for 10.04, 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04
• And much more!

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

• Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph
• Paul White
• Tiago Carrondo
• Jim Connett
• Matt Rudge
• And many others

If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

17 Jun 2013 10:51pm GMT

Last week I had a neat idea. Well, at least I think it is a neat idea. Let me share it with you folks to get your take.

We have been spending a lot of time refining every aspect of the application development process for writing Ubuntu phone/tablet/desktop applications. This has included:

• Building a simple, and powerful Ubuntu SDK.
• Building a comprehensive knowledge base on developer.ubuntu.com for getting started writing your first app, and performing common programming tasks.
• Integrating source control, bug tracking, and more from Launchpad into the SDK.
• Providing a safe and secure, sand-boxed environment to run apps in, and an automated process for reviewing how these apps come into Ubuntu and are exposed to Ubuntu users.

This is all part of an end-to-end process to make writing apps for Ubuntu fun, simple, and intuitive from the minute you load the SDK to the minute your app appears on a users phone, tablet, or desktop.

Project Websites

One piece we haven't looked into is how app developers can set up a website for their app.

App websites vary tremendously in size and complexity. Some people just want a single static web page with details of the app and how to get it. Some want a more complex site with integrated forums, bug tracking, and more.

As part of what we can offer with Ubuntu, we should be able to bundle all aspects of your infrastructure too. Need a website? Check. Need a forum? Check. Need a bug tracker? Check.

Fortunately we have a powerful cloud orchestration tool in Juju that can not only simplify the deployment, management, and scaling of the service, but could potentially take virtually all of the pain out of getting the site set up in the first place, and then scale up where needed.

The Idea

Let's assume I have just published my first version of my app in Ubuntu. I now need a simple website to get my app on the web and known to users. While I want to start simple, there is a possibility though that my project may become hugely popular making me a king among men and require a larger, more expansive web presence.

Let's start simple though. Ideally, I want to be able to specify some configuration detail like this in a file:

app:
   app-name: Read All About It
   download-archive-name: readallaboutit
   launchpad-project: readallaboutit
website:
   website-strapline: All the headlines in your hand.
   screenshots: ['http://www.myscreenshotonline.com/screen1.jpg',
     'http://www.myscreenshotonline.com/screen1.jpg']
   page-about: True
   page-developers: True
   page-screenshots: True
   page-contact: False

…and then do this:

juju deploy --config myconfig.yaml ubuntu-app-website

The charm would read in the configuration file and generate a set of static web pages based on that configuration.

As an example, it would pre-populate chunks of the page, and generate developer information on the Developer page with details of the main branch, bug tracking, a form to submit a bug, and more (we can pull this from the Launchpad project).

It could look simple like this:

This would mean an app developer could spin-up a super light-weight app website with just a configuration file and Juju on whichever cloud service they prefer. This would be light-weight both in terms of getting up and running and resource usage; you could set this up on a tiny cloud instance. As ever, if my project was to get slashdotted I could scale up the service, as with any other Juju charm.

Now let's assume I want to add more functionality to my website. This is where the real power of Juju could come in. Let's assume I want a forum. I should be able to run:

juju deploy ubuntu-app-website-forum
juju relate ubuntu-app-website ubuntu-app-website-forum

This would then spin up a forum (or Discourse site) but the charm would integrate it into the existing website with a navigation link and shared theming. It could then look like this:

We could then conceivably have any number of supported additions (e.g. mailing lists, video streams, event organization, tutorial content, API docs etc) for the website that app maintainers can use to easily expand their service as they see fit.

Next Steps

I shared this idea with Jorge who thought it was a neat idea. He then talked with Marco who has been putting together a first cut that we can experiment with. If anyone is interested in helping to build this, please let me know in the comments.

17 Jun 2013 10:45pm GMT

Before I start blogging about the progress of GNOME Music, I would like to announce my happiness (as well as the whole gnome music team) that we now have 3 students sponsored to hack on GNOME Music. Eslam Mostafa (SoC), Shivani Podar (OWP) and Sai Suman Prayaga (SoC) all three of them deserved they internships, showing dedication and patching like crazy before SoC, keeping Vadim, Guillaume and me very busy.

Also I would like to welcome Arnel Borja and Fabiano Fidêncio to the team with their immense contributions, and ofcourse the allmighty Giovanni Campagna (who hacks everything in GNOME by now)

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic here, nevertheless we triumphed over phase of one of developing GNOME Music:

• Set basic infrastructure
• Implement Grilo Querying
• Implement Albums View
• Implement Songs View
• Implement Artist View
• Implement Playback support
• Clean up and port to Glade

Now phase 2 is shaping up nicely:

• Implement Playlist View
• Implement Selection functionality on all views
• Implement Repeat/Shuffle
• Implement Actions
• Clean up

So if you are interested in joining us with the development please feel free to hang out with us on #gnome-music on irc.gnome.org

Currently its only usable via JHbuild. Anyhow for more info like code and bugzilla check out https://live.gnome.org/Music

Here are some screenshots for tempting

17 Jun 2013 7:52pm GMT

17 Jun 2013 6:05pm GMT