Subversion problem with case insensitive filesystems

If you are using SVN with Linux/Mac and Windows XP you may run into this problem sooner or later. The cause of the problem is the case-sensitive characteristic of Linux/Mac systems not getting along with the insensitive Windows XP, which results in an error message like this:

 svn: In directory '.'  
 svn: Can't open file '.svn\tmp\text-base\qt_temp.N19845.svn-base': The system ca  
 nnot find the file specified.  

Fortunately the solution is quite simple, first access the working copy through Linux/Mac and remove from the repository the file that is causing the problem with the following command:

 svn delete --keep-local the_file  

Then commit your changes:

 svn ci  

Now go to your Windows XP system and everything should be working.

How to synchronize FTP files using Notepad++

Lately I have been working on the migration of a website to a new platform, which required me to modify many files through FTP or remote desktop, most of the times I do this on my Linux computer using Kate which already updates the file on the FTP folder without any issues.

This time I'm working on a Windows XP machine and Notepad++ doesn't include this feature out of the box. Fortunately there are many plugins for Notepad++ and FTP_synchronize can solve this problem for me, here goes basic info on how to install it and use it;

1.- Download FTP_synchronize here
2.- Unzip it and depending on your system copy the file "FTP_synchronizeA.dll" (Win9x/WinME) or "FTP_synchronize.dll" (Windows NT) to "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins"
3.- Restart Notepad++
4.- Click on the new button in the toolbar that says "Show FTP folders"
5.- Click on the "Settings" button
6.- Add a new profile using your info (user, password, server, initial folder, etc) and click on "OK"
7.- Click on the "Connect" button and choose the profile you just created.

Now you have access to your FTP folder from within Notepad++ and every time you  click on "Ctrl + S" the changes will be updated in the server.

Windows Task Manager through command prompt

Today I was playing my CSI role as a software developer, also known as: fixing a possible bug, that ended up being a configuration problem. It took a couple of remote desktop sessions to reach the the right environment and finally there I couldn't open Windows Task Manager with the normal shortcut "CTRL + SHIFT + ESC",  so I had to do it through MS-DOS command prompt, this is quite easy but still everyone forgets about it or maybe just don't know it, honestly I will be the first one to forget it, so I decided to share it with the world and at the same time keep the knowledge in a safe place.

Remove svn folders recursively

Today I was about to zip and send some code folders to a co-worker, at that point what I needed was a simple feature to remove all svn related things from this folder and recursively through all subfolders, I still don't know isn't this included as a feature by kdesvn, eSvn, QSvn or RapidSVN.

I'm a Linux user so this will do the trick:

find . -name ".svn" -exec rm -rf {} \;
 

In case you are using Windows and probably Tortoise you can go this way:

Export the current copy and choose a different folder, it will copy the code there and it will remove all svn things. Beware that if you choose the same folder Tortoise will just remove things without copying anything.

Well I hope this helps ;)

Got a problem with a Windows process?

I am not a Windows fan, as a matter fact I only use it at the office,  at home I am a (Kubuntu) Linux user since around two years ago, and I totally love it.

But after running into a problem with Eclipse hanging every now and then (check previous post), I ended up trying the Process Monitor v2.7 tool by Microsoft. Quite useful if you need details about an application that is causing you problems.