Category: Apple

suExec fpr Apache under OS X

Apple confessions of a pixel pusher OSX technology

In order to get Apache running with suexec under OS X 10.4.11 and also have php you will need to do the following:

1) get the apache sources. (1.3.39)

2) get the php4 sources (php-4.4.8)

3) extract in the same directory and go into the php one to run:

./configure --prefix=/usr \
--sysconfdir=/etc \
--localstatedir=/var \
--mandir=/usr/share/man \
--with-xml \
--with-apache=../apache1.3.39

make
sudo make install

4) then go into the apache folder and

./configure --with-layout=Darwin \
--enable-module=most \
--enable-shared=max \
--enable-suexec \
--suexec-caller=www \
--suexec-docroot=/Library/WebServer/Documents \
--activate-module=src/modules/php4/libphp4.a \
--suexec-userdir=Sites

make -j2
sudo make install

5) I had to change /etc/httpd/htddp.conf like:

comment out modules in httpd.conf
#LoadModule userdir_module libexec/httpd/mod_userdir.so

#LoadModule php4_module libexec/httpd/libphp4.so
#LoadModule hfs_apple_module libexec/httpd/mod_hfs_apple.so
#LoadModule bonjour_module libexec/httpd/mod_bonjour.so

#AddModule mod_userdir.c

AddModule mod_php4.c
#AddModule mod_hfs_apple.c
#AddModule mod_bonjour.c

Please note that mod_php4 gets added but not loaded. Probably since it got compiled in.
My httpd rejected to start with hfs_apple or bonjour loaded and crashed with userdir.

install apple developer tools in the command line

Apple confessions of a pixel pusher linux OSX

Since years I work on a couple of computers via command line. Since they are real unix computers it all works remarkably well. For a specific solution I need to run osacompile. AppleScript needs to get compiled. I did not find a way to distribute it as text. So finally I got a hold of an OS X machine in the internet. More on that part later. osacompile really wants to run the application that it will talk to later. Also rather odd. But, hey, we talk Apple here. A sect in disguise of a technology company. So everything is possible. Or rather impossible. Like adding a development environment. The Box happened to have no Dev Tools installed. Usually that’s maybe a bit timely but overall straight forward. Installing development tools on a unix computer.
With Apple OS X 10.4.11 it turns out that doing so via ssh is not as trivial. You can download the source code. But first you need to create a developer account with ADC. It’s free. It’s annoying. They keep forgetting my password. Once you logged in,
you could download the dmg file to your local machine. I could have done that and waited only a couple of weeks for my DSL to upload the 900+ MB file to the final server I need it on. Downloading the dmg directly did not work. I had to fake a login. Which is easier as it seems. In the browser that is logged in (firefox I assume) you look for a cookie called ADCDownloadAuth. This you copy paste into the following command line:

curl -b "ADCDownloadAuth=SomeVeryLongCookieString" -O \
http://adcdownload.apple.com/Developer_Tools/xcode_2.5_developer_tools/xcode25_8m2558_developerdvd.dmg

At least that’s the valid file of today.
Once you have the file you attach (aka mount) it via:

hdiutil attach xcode25_8m2558_developerdvd.dmg

and navigate into

/Volumes/Xcode Tools/Packages

to then run:

sudo installer -verbose -pkg XcodeTools.mpkg -target /

Don’t run this against XcodeTools.mpkg in /Volumes/Xcode Tools directly. This results in the error message:

2008-01-09 03:47:43.889 installer[2843] IFPkg::_parseOldStyleForLanguage - can't find .info file (XcodeTools)

which does not google very sucessful.

The install seems to work, from what I can tell so far. I have gcc and make. And that’s all I cared for.

Fucking Apple

Apple misc

We have this Laptop that has a glitch. The backlight goes out if you hold it wrong. It’s an older maching (iBook 600Mhz) and it got replaced. But today I wanted to get it going as a server again. It’s a unix computer. And 600Mhz is plenty to serve a couple of web pages. It runs OS X 10.3.9, that’s as long it has not been updated. Now I try to get it on the Apple Airport. And, that is the problem: It does not. Beachball for a while, and then the error message:

There was an error joining the AirPort network "yournamehere"
Tray again // OK

What the fuck!
Frst: that “Try again” is bullshit. It has never worked. Never ever.

Secondly: What exactly was the error? I am sure the computer knows a little bit more than ‘error’.
The Airport works just fine, so it can talk to two computers right now. So why writes Apple code that is retarded in that it does not give you the slightest hint what the problem might be. I don’t expect a hex dump to be slapped into each users face. But somewhere, maybe in a log file (!) the machine could give me a hint what it would be upset about. It’s one thing that Apple stuff does not work with Apple stuff. But to be quiet about any causes or reasons is just plain stupid and ignorant. Fucking Apple Computers. There are other companies being equally crap. Just that Apple runs around with this attitude of being better and user friendly. Actually they are not. They are just better liars:

Ten years ago Apple introduced the iMac. Which is a great machine. And a great concept. Watch in the end of this 7 minute clip how that man calls a circular (!!) piece of plastic “the most wonderful mouse you have ever used”. It’s exactly this arrogant attitude that makes Apple so annoying.

applescript to run a command on each file dropped on to it

Apple technology

These lines will run /path/command with a first parameter of the file name that got
dropped on the Apple Script app:


on open (ItemList)
repeat with thisItem in ItemList
do shell script "/path/command " & POSIX path of thisItem
end repeat
end open

Simple. And unintuitive. AppleScript would rule the world if it would have JavaScript syntax for instance. Instead apple idiots made “Automator”. What a silly piece of shit. Only fanboys spend time to learn a buggy and totally non portable interface like AppleScript or Automator. I could have bothered with Windows if I would want that. Oh, the script above fails to work when there are spaces in the name. Thanks AppleScript.

Steve certainly takes no Pictures

Apple marketing technology

Steve Jobs certainly takes no pictures. At home, the task for the day: to get the pictures off the Samsung snapshot camera onto the iPook. So that my wife can take new ones. Not thinking much (always a bad start) I directed her to iPhoto to manage the digicam images. What a piece of junk. iPhoto.

If iPhoto would be an application that people were supposed to be money for, then it’s prices should be minus a couple of hundred dollars. Seriously. Nothing works as expected. It seems to have it’s own little logic. I seriously think it as big of a piece of junk as iBackup. Or whatever that pre Timemachine pretend-ware was called. The one with the red umbrella icon.

I heard (in horror) that iViewMedia got bought by Microsoft. If I have to deal with iPhoto for 2 more minutes then I am ready to buy my first Microsoft software.

apple and unix

Apple history OSX technology unix

In unix you tell the system via a file called /etc/fstab which drives should be mounted.
Simple. Works. Except for OS X. Some crazy new fancy database sheme was supposed to replace /etc/fstab. It was all so amazing. It is junk, that’s what it was. Didn’t stop Apple-Idiots to claim it would be amazing. And countless websites offered help. What was one line a file became pages and pages of instructions.

Finally with 10.5 /etc/fstab is also part of OS X. It took years. It’s good that it’s there. it’s not good that it did not become available in the updates to 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4. Apple is idiotically stubborn sometimes.

0.09% vs 0.22%

Apple interdubs internet technology

Computerworld looks at internet market share data for different devices / operating systems. The headline reads ‘iPhones closing in on 0.1%’. That does sound like laughable little. The author paints a different picture, but I have no interest repainting that here.

I looked at the iPhone user share on Interdubs, and found the following numbers:

November 0.22
October 0.54
September 0.35
August 0.74
July 0.45

Not surprisingly they are by small magnitudes bigger than the general ones found by Net Applications. I had thought that they would be even higher. The iPhone has a nice display. It’s fully supported by Interdubs. Was it a mistake to invest into the iPhone mode? Absolutely not. It is very interesting to see those numbers. With already having iPhone support there is no second guessing ‘what if there were a special iPhone browsing mode’. There is, and that’s what the numbers look like. Right now.

paid to blog

Apple communication internet marketing media

Matt Cutts , the google quality czsar, explains why they reduced the importance of weblogs participating in pay per post programs. I feel the same way and block them since May in BlogsNow.

Interestingly, and extremely simplified, I admit, it seems to be the business model of Google to sell the truth. Which makes it valuable. They steer most of the internet traffic. But if they would fail, people would notice. As long as Yahoo and MSN still exist and could in theory kinda half ass a hypothetical un-ethical google if it came to it, it’s good busyness for for Google to stick to the truth.

Which is not what usually is going on:

A question asked, and no answer:

Same pattern here:

So, my simple reaction is, if people like politicians and Apple-PR are not answering questions, then I will not listen to what they are trying to say. Why should I?

can not find that host?

Apple OSX technology

Once in while my OS 10.4.11 machine goes stupid, and has trouble resolving specific host names.

Opening a terminal window and entering:


sudo killall -HUP lookupd

fixes this. Lookupd is one of these more stupid Apple ideas. But since Cupertino has inherited the infallible attribute from the Roman Catholic Church it is pointless to tell them about it. Apple is so shiny and perfect to the outside. Inside it just looks like the Roman Catholic Church on the peak of it’s power.

OS X 10.4.11 and novatel sprint EVDO

Apple technology

Entering the country again I found that my Sprint / EVDO was not working anymore. Of course I had been stupid enough to upgrade to 10.4.11 while I was gone. Overall I am not even sure what actually caused the problem. Sprint was trying to be helpful, but had no clue. I spent fifty minutes on the phone with them. Actually only 5 minutes o those I was on hold. Somehow they changed their account system, their server kicks out a 500 error, their system assumes a cellphone to send a text message with a confirmation to. etc.

I got my EVDO going with the help of this helpful post. These were my steps:

1) System Preferences -> Network
2) Show: Network Port Configurations
3) deleted Novatel Wireless CDMA ( I had 2 !)
4) inserted Novatell U720 Modem and got “A new network port has been detected” message
5) Seleting this in “Show: Network Status” and in PPP tab enter phone number #777
6) in PPP Options … enable “Send PPP echo packets” and “use TCP header compression”
7) under Modem tab select “WWAN Support” as a Modem
8) enable ‘show modem status in menu bar’

This did do the trick. Reads longer and more complicated than it actually is.