Friday, September 24, 2010

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.

    Monday, September 13, 2010

    Joomla Basics: How to customize the style of a module

    So you need to customize the look of a Joomla module? This is quite simple, just follow these steps:

    1) Go to the backend -> Extensions -> Module Manager -> Find your module and set the name of the custom css that you will add




    2) Refresh the page and check the source code. You will find the element using the new class name as shown below


    3) Modify the css file and include the specific propreties you want for this module and use the name set previously


    That's it, now you can make your modules look the way you want!

    Saturday, September 11, 2010

    Removing MySQL from the Linux boot sequence

    Do you want to speed up your boot time? maybe you are a software developer that doesn't require MySQL server to be up and running eveytime you turn on your laptop, and if you are running Kubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.4) like me, you probably already noticed that configuring the startup scripts via sysvrc conf doesn't work anymore.


    You can read more about the change in this link, but the important thing right now is how to stop MySQL from loading next time you boot the computer:

    • cd /etc/init directory
    • sudo editor mysql.conf
    • At the beginning of the file add a comment to the "start on" line (actually two lines)
    In the same folder you will find other services that may be stop in a similar way.