set :application, "myapplication"
set :repository, "user@example.com:git/#{application}.git"
set :server_name, "www.example.com"
set :scm, "git"
set :checkout, "export"
set :deploy_via, :remote_cache
set :branch, "master"
set :base_path, "/path/to/www"
set :deploy_to, "/path/to/www/#{application}"
set :apache_site_folder, "/etc/apache2/sites-enabled"
set :user, 'deploy'
set :runner, 'deploy'
set :use_sudo, true
set :keep_releases, 3 

role :web, server_name
role :app, server_name
role :db,  server_name, :primary => true

ssh_options[:paranoid] = false
default_run_options[:pty] = true

after “deploy:setup”, “init:set_permissions”
after “deploy:setup”, “init:database_yml”
after “deploy:update_code”, “config:copy_shared_configurations”

# Overrides for Phusion Passenger
namespace :deploy do
  desc “Restarting mod_rails with restart.txt”
  task :restart, :roles => :app, :except => { :no_release => true } do
    run “touch #{current_path}/tmp/restart.txt”
  end

  [:start, :stop].each do |t|
    desc “#{t} task is a no-op with mod_rails”
    task t, :roles => :app do ; end
  end
end

# Configuration Tasks
namespace :config do
  desc “copy shared configurations to current”
  task :copy_shared_configurations, :roles => [:app] do
    %w[database.yml].each do |f|
      run “ln -nsf #{shared_path}/config/#{f} #{release_path}/config/#{f}”
    end
  end
end

namespace :init do

  desc “setting proper permissions for deploy user”
  task :set_permissions do
    sudo “chown -R deploy #{base_path}/#{application}”
  end

  desc “create mysql db”
  task :create_database do
    #create the database on setup
    set :db_user, Capistrano::CLI.ui.ask(”database user: “) unless defined?(:db_user)
    set :db_pass, Capistrano::CLI.password_prompt(”database password: “) unless defined?(:db_pass)
    run “echo \”CREATE DATABASE #{application}_production\” | mysql -u #{db_user} –password=#{db_pass}”
  end

  desc “enable site”
  task :enable_site do
    sudo “ln -nsf #{shared_path}/config/apache_site.conf #{apache_site_folder}/#{application}”

  end

  desc “create database.yml”
  task :database_yml do
    set :db_user, Capistrano::CLI.ui.ask(”database user: “)
    set :db_pass, Capistrano::CLI.password_prompt(”database password: “)
    database_configuration = %(
—
login: &login
  adapter: mysql
  encoding: utf8
  database: #{application}_production
  host: localhost
  username: #{db_user}
  password: #{db_pass}
  socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

production:
  <<: *login
)
    run “mkdir -p #{shared_path}/config”
    put database_configuration, “#{shared_path}/config/database.yml”
  end

  desc “create vhost file”
  task :create_vhost do

    vhost_configuration = %(

  ServerName #{server_name}
  DocumentRoot #{base_path}/#{application}/current/public

)

    put vhost_configuration, “#{shared_path}/config/apache_site.conf”

  end

end

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type=”text/xsl” href=”something.xsl”?>

How do we get to_xml to render the XSL processing instruction? Put this in your controller:

proc = Proc.new { |options| options[:builder].instruct!(:xml-stylesheet,
                    :type=>”text/xsl”, :href=>”something.xsl”) }
@foo.to_xml :procs => [proc]

WSO2 Web Services Framework for Ruby (WSO2 WSF/Ruby), is an open source, enterprise grade, Ruby extension for providing and consuming Web Services in Ruby.

WSO2 WSF/Ruby is a complete solution for building and deploying Web services, and is the only Ruby extension with the widest range of WS-* specification implementations. Key features include, secure services and clients with WS-Security support, binary attachments with MTOM, works with Ruby on Rails and interoperability with .NET and J2EE.

I’m switching all my personal projects to git from Subversion. To that end, I’ve set up a remote git repository on my Linode.com VPS running Ubuntu. Here’s how to do it:

First, install git on the remote server:

sudo apt-get install git-core

Then, following instructions on scie.nti.st, we grab the gitosis code (still remote):

cd ~/src
git clone git://eagain.net/gitosis.git

Then:

cd gitosis
sudo apt-get install python-setuptools
sudo python setup.py install           # I had to do sudo here
sudo apt-get install python-setuptools # I also needed these tools

Next, create a git user to own the repositories:

sudo adduser \
    --system \
    --shell /bin/sh \
    --gecos 'git version control' \
    --group \
    --disabled-password \
    --home /home/git \
    git

I copied my public ssh key from my workstation to the remote server at /tmp/id_rsa.pub, (tmp avoids perms issues with git) then run

sudo -H -u git gitosis-init < /tmp/id_rsa.pub
sudo chmod 755 /home/git/repositories/gitosis-admin.git/hooks/post-update

And that’s the end of the server-side setup! On the local machine, we check out the files that are needed to control the server.

If you run SSH on a nonstandard port: edit ~/.ssh/config and put this inside:

Host www.example.com
    Port 32767

Then you can do:

git clone git@YOUR_SERVER_HOSTNAME:gitosis-admin.git
cd gitosis-admin

The gitosis-admin is the directory where you administer gitosis. From this point on, you don’t need to be on your server. All configuration takes place locally and you push the changes to your server when you’re ready for them to take effect.

You might also know Carlos Brando from the Ruby on Rails Podcast Brazil he does with Fabio Akita. If you’re a Rails developer and you speak Portuguese, definitely check out their podcast.

RailsConf 2008 David Heinemeier Hansson Keynote from daniel wanja on Vimeo.

LINQ to SQL compiler error CS1519: Invalid token ‘void’ in class, struct, or interface member declaration

After a few minutes of cursing Microsoft, I figured it out…looks like the compiler version wasn’t updated in the solution
file…the C# 2.0 compiler was still being used and choked on the
partial methods. I went into project properties, downgraded from
framework 3.5 to 2.0, clicked ok, then went back and set it to 3.5 and
clicked ok. After re-adding the reference to System.Data.Linq, the
compile succeeded.

To me, this is a bug in Visual Studio
2008…the scenario where you “upgrade” a Visual Studio 2005 website to
2008 for use with LINQ seems like a common thing, no?

Dave Yancey confirms this behavior for XMLSerializer bugs as well…thanks Dave!

Update (May 23, 2008): I was told the following would also be helpful, though I have not tested it yet:

<system.codedom>
<compilers>
<compiler language=“c#;cs;csharp” extension=“.cs” warningLevel=“4″
  type=“Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089″>
<providerOption name=“CompilerVersion” value=“v3.5″/>
<providerOption name=“WarnAsError” value=“false”/>
</compiler>
<compiler language=“vb;vbs;visualbasic;vbscript” extension=“.vb” warningLevel=“4″
  type=“Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089″>
<providerOption name=“CompilerVersion” value=“v3.5″/>
<providerOption name=“OptionInfer” value=“true”/>
<providerOption name=“WarnAsError” value=“false”/>
</compiler>
</compilers>
</system.codedom>

Which one of the following will kill SOA projects faster this year?

Lack of money, or

Lack of skills?

Two separate articles out this week talk about double-trouble for SOA in 2008.

Anne Thomas Manes, analyst with Burton Group, is warning that a potential downturn in the economy could pull the rug out from under many SOA projects. According to a report in SearchSOA, Anne warned that “You’re going to see budgets shrink. You’re going to be asked to do more with less. One of the most dangerous things is we’re going to see funding for major initiatives evaporate.” In addition to corporate budget cuts, there will be other pressures on IT, such as as globalization, outsourcing and auditing required by new federal government regulations. (Which will usurp talent away from SOA efforts.)

Economists are divided as to whether an actual recession is coming, or if we’re in for a period of slower growth. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, IT budgets have been mean and lean for years, so IT managers already how to get around further tightening.

IBM’s Sandy Carter sees a different kind of threat — there aren’t enough people with the right skills to see SOA projects through. IBM recently released the results of its survey of Fortune 1000 executives conducted at last year’s Impact event, and found skills to be wanting. “We’ve definitely found from our customers there is a shortage of SOA skills across the board, not just in IT,” she is quoted as saying. “The SOA skills shortage is really across the entire SOA lifecycle, and includes architects, business, risk management and other professionals that can help companies apply SOA to transforming their business.”

If there is a downturn in IT budgets, at least these SOA professionals will have high value to the business, and thus some job security.

So when you put these two worries — budget cuts and skills shortages — together, you get some very busy and overstressed IT shops. We may find that IT and SOA professionals will continue to be asked to do more and more with less and less, without additional staff resources. (To greatly paraphrase Winston Churchill, never before have so few been asked to do so much.)

As a result, we will see an ongoing juggling act (with more knives and torches thrown in), and some projects will get dropped to the floor. Some SOA projects — even those that don’t cost too much — may simply be relegated to the bottom of the priority list because of lack of time, and lack of perceived urgency. But this inability to adequately staff and fund SOA projects is something we’d see even in a booming economy.

Whether you’re facing the budget axe, or you can’t find people who know SOA, the solution is the same. Anne recommends downshifting SOA to small, incremental steps — “think big, take small steps” is Burton’s mantra.

IBM’s approach to managing SOA with small staffs is almost identical: “You don’t start to try with a huge project. You start with a small project,” Sandy says. “But we also tell them, ‘Start with a big vision. Set a vision that is larger and broader than the scope of the project you chose.’”