blog/archives/2009/03zack's home pagehttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/archives/2009/03/zack's home pageikiwiki2013-02-17T09:59:30Zpost DPL campaignhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/post_DPL_campaign/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2009-03-28T11:05:07Z
<h1>DPL campaign woes</h1>
<p>DPL campaigning is going to <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00002.html">
end today</a>, and the <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2009/03/msg00306.html">draft
ballot</a> has apparead already. The latest bits of news I've to
offer are that <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/debian/dpl-2009/platform.html#sec:rebuttals">
my <strong>rebuttals</strong></a> have been published a couple of
days ago (also in the <a href=
"http://www.debian.org/vote/2009/platforms/zack">platform from
www.d.o</a>, of course, which is just lacking a direct anchor).</p>
<p>Also, I've summarized <strong>campaigning discussions</strong>
at my <a href="http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/debian/dpl-2009/">candidacy
page</a>. You can find there pointers to all topics raised on
<code>-vote</code>, as direct or indirect questions to the
candidates. Please let me know if I forgot something.</p>
<p>All in all I was expecting more discussions between the
candidates for a campaign, but I presume the volume is meant to
remain low having just two candidates. That notwithstanding, some
very inspiring and unexpected questions have been posed; it has
been intriguing to think about them.</p>
<p>As a campaign-concluding fun bit, I cannot resist posting a
screenshot of <a href="http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/zack_for_DPL/">my
candidacy post</a>, as it appeared to me about 10 minutes ago:</p>
<p><a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/post_DPL_campaign/screenshot-zack-for-DPL.png">
<img src=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/post_DPL_campaign/250x206-screenshot-zack-for-DPL.png"
width="250" height="206" alt="zack for DPL post screenshot" class=
"img" /></a></p>
<p>... I mean, having fellow DDs making fun of me for this DPL
thingy on IRC is fine, but ads stepping in is kind of too much ...
<img src="http://upsilon.cc/~zack/smileys/smile.png" alt=":-)" /></p>
delbono al poggeschihttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/delbono_al_poggeschi/2009-03-27T13:10:28Z2009-03-27T13:10:28Z
<h1>audio di Delbono al Poggeschi</h1>
<p>Da bolognese fuori sede sono sensibile a qualsiasi possibilità
di seguire la campagna elettorale per le elezioni amministrative di
Bologna (voto il prossimo 7 Giugno) a distanza.</p>
<p>Segnalo quindi con piacere la <a href=
"http://www.esnips.com/doc/6a249ef8-28ff-4f7b-9e9f-03092732019b/Delbono-al-Poggeschi">
registrazione di un intervento di Flavio Delbono</a> al <a href=
"http://www.centropoggeschi.org/">Poggeschi</a>, data 12/03/2009,
sui temi tipici del centro. Format: domanda-risposta.</p>
<p>Peccato solo per il formato <a href=
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Audio">WMA</a> ...</p>
enabling comments with stylehttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/enabling_comments_with_style/2013-02-17T09:59:30Z2009-03-26T17:36:43Z
<h1>Enabling <code>ikiwiki</code> comment with a bit of CSS</h1>
<p>I've finally spent some time to understand why the amazing
<a href="http://ikiwiki.info/plugins/comments/">comments ikiwiki
plugin</a> was not working for me. Obviously the reason were page
templates which I had customized and hence were missing the needed
template variables that expand to comments links and content.</p>
<p>That made me wonder about keeping my
<code>~/.ikiwiki/templates</code> directory as a Git repository
(which actually already is, even though for different reasons)
which tracks Joey's <a href=
"http://git.ikiwiki.info/?p=ikiwiki;a=tree;f=templates;hb=HEAD">ikiwiki
repo</a> for better merging future changes to upstream templates.
Looks like a good idea, but I didn't have the time to testdrive it
yet.</p>
<p>Still, I've updated my <a href=
"http://git.upsilon.cc/?p=homepage.git;a=blob_plain;f=local.css;hb=HEAD">
ikiwiki CSS</a> (also available from ikiwiki's <a href=
"http://ikiwiki.info/css_market/">CSS market</a>) for fancier
rendering of comments and I'm quite happy about the result.</p>
<p>So, to the nice guy who once wrote the following in the
discussion page of an old blog post of mine: <q>p.s. this is the
dumbest comment method I've ever used</q> You were totally right!,
the issue is fixed now, big up to Simon McVittie for the
plugin.</p>
<p>/me now only dreams of an automatic conversions of old
discussion pages to comment series, knowing that it is impossible
in the general case due to the lack of structure <img src=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/smileys/sad.png" alt=":-(" /> ...</p>
ocaml-http is looking for a new maintainerhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/ocaml-http_is_looking_for_a_new_maintainer/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2009-03-18T09:53:47Z
<h1>OCaml-HTTP is looking for a maintainer</h1>
<p>I've been maintainer the <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/software/ocaml-http/">OCaml-HTTP</a> library
for quite a while now. It is an OCaml library for implementing
simple HTTP servers and client. It is way simpler and way less
capable than the well-known <a href=
"http://projects.camlcity.org/projects/ocamlnet.html">ocamlnet</a>;
its simplicity is its main strength.</p>
<p>Given that I've lost enthusiasm in the project, and that my free
software activities are mainly elsewhere, I'm looking for a new
maintainer of the software. Patches have been accumulating in my
mailbox for months, which is bad. Also, the project can use being
moved to the <a href="http://forge.ocamlcore.org">OCaml forge</a>
and a bit of clean up would be needed to.</p>
<p>If you are interested in taking over maintenance, please
<a href="mailto:zack@upsilon.cc">mail me</a>. If nobody is
interested in taking over the maintenance I'll declare the project
as abandoned (which would be a pity, since I'm aware of several
users).</p>
topgit brain explosionhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/topgit_brain_explosion/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2009-03-12T09:24:14Z
<h1>Don't make mistakes with TopGit. Ever.</h1>
<p><a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/topgit">TopGit</a> is
super-cool. I really feel I've found <em>the</em> proper tool for
my Debian packaging work-flow.</p>
<p>But beware, the tool is young and rarely allows for
mistakes.<br />
If you do make them, it has been observed that <a href=
"http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/strip.aspx?id=feda1cad-fd96-4638-b49d-63bd81f11597">
undesired side effects</a> can happen to your brain.</p>
<p>Especially if your <em>git-fu</em> is not black belt.</p>
<hr />
<p><small>thanks to <a href="http://esaurito.net/blog">godog</a>
for linking topgit with today's strip</small></p>
zack for DPLhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2009/03/zack_for_DPL/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2009-03-08T17:40:03Z
<h1>/me for DPL</h1>
<p>Given that it is now <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/03/msg00002.html">
widespread news</a>, I guess it's time to blog about it: <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2009/03/msg00004.html">I'm
running for <acronym title=
"Debian Project Leader">DPL</acronym></a> in <a href=
"http://www.debian.org/vote/2009/vote_001">this year elections</a>,
i.e.: <strong><code>zack for DPL!</code></strong>.</p>
<p>Am I out of my mind?<br />
Possibly <img src="http://upsilon.cc/~zack/smileys/smile.png" alt=":-)" /></p>
<p>It started as a joke at last DebConf, with my (naked or dressed
...) room mates spreading that rumor. Then the idea grows into me
... and now here I am. (IOW: I'm pretending I'm not entirely guilty
of inflicting another platform to be read.)</p>
<p>Apparently we are just two candidates: me and the "ticket"
<a href="http://blog.einval.com/">Steve</a>-<a href=
"http://zomers.be/~luk/blog/index.html">Luk</a>.</p>
<p>For the moment I've to spare <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/debian/dpl-2009/">a page</a> where I will
collect material about the election, and a couple of feelings:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Sending the <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2009/03/msg00004.html">nomination
mail</a> is embarrassing: we are used to do only technical stuff in
Debian, declaring our will of taking care for a while of our
non-technical issues ain't easy.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Preparing a platform is an intriguing experience. Whining about
our problems is a thing. Trying to distill them in an organized
list, and think about long term solutions is a totally different
one. I suggest to try writing your own "platform" even if you are
not candidate, and even when there are no DPL elections around (as
<a href="http://kitenet.net/~joey/blog/">Joey</a> and <a href=
"http://gonzo.dicp.de/~he/blog/">HE</a> did a while ago, IIRC, in
the form of blog posts). It can be a rewarding exercise.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Version 1.0 of my platform has been submitted to the secretary,
and is now <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/hacking/debian/dpl-2009/platform.html">available from
my homepage</a>.</p>
<p>If you have questions, for me or the other candidates, just post
them on <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/"><code>-vote</code></a>:
campaigning has just started, I'm confident it will be fun!</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong> the platform is now available from the
<a href="http://www.debian.org/vote/2009/vote_001">vote
page</a></p>