John Goerzen: If Programming Languages Were Christmas Carols

Now that the holiday season is upon us John posted an article that I saw on Planet Debian rewriting Chrismukkuh carols for programming languages. You should definitely print them out for your holiday caroling, especially when you fellow IT staffers are included.

(I got this last Saturday but I held it back for publishing until after turkey day.)

[UPDATED] Get the GlobalMenu without all of the hassle

[We have a change in the URI for the GlobalMenu Team PPA. See below. And I've (finally) updated the package name. -Peng]

One of the things users of Mac4Lin (as well as others) love is the GlobalMenu, which used to be known as the MacMenu. The one pain in the rump is trying to get the damned thing installed, because it invariably involves compiling it from source and the very large possibility for spending a bit of time in dependency hell.

But not anymore. I found a link to a part of the Google Code site for the GlobalMenu code. They have packages for several distros as well, and while they have packages for Ubuntu Gutsy they have installation instructions that include using a PPA for Ubuntu Intrepid. But rather send you over there and risk your getting a side trip through Dependency Hell I’ll give you some nice easy steps to follow for users on Ubuntu Intrepid. There’s a new URI for the GlobalMenu Team PPA. I’ve updated the data to put into your sources.list below.

Dependencies are a bugger

NOTE: Vala, a dependency for GlobalMenu, is available in a Launchpad PPA. If you want to skip the section on compiling Vala read this post and then jump down to the heading “Not so fast…“ I was following this tutorial to try to get GlobalMenu working before I found the PPA so I already had Vala installed. There are some dependencies that you need to have met before installing Vala so fire up your favorite command line app and run this:

sudo apt-get install build-essential flex bison gnome-common libglib2.0-dev gtk-doc-tools autoconf2.13 automake1.9 libgtk2.0-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libwnck-dev libpanel-applet2-dev

Before you close your terminal let’s get Vala installed so let’s follow ayoli’s instructions for installing it. (The dependencies you just met are also from ayoli’s site.)

cd ~/
wget -c http://download.gnome.org/sources/vala/0.5/vala-0.5.1.tar.bz2
tar xjvf vala-0.5.1.tar.bz2
cd vala-0.5.1/
./configure
make
sudo make install # (for some reason, checkinstall doesn't work here)
sudo ldconfig

Not so fast…

You need to make sure the libgnomenu GTK module is loaded, but there’s an easy way to do it. Create a file in your root folder called ~/.gnomerc, and open it in your preferred text editor and paste the following into the file.

# Uncomment to load the GTK module

# export GTK_MODULES=globalmenu-gnome

# Uncomment to tell the GTK module to open a Gtk

# TreeView for all menus in the application you start.

# export GNOMENU_FUN=1

# Uncomment to disable global menu.

# export GNOMENU_DISABLED=1

# Uncomment to print a lot of debugging messages

# export GNOMENU_VERBOSE=1

# Uncomment to save the debugging messages to the given file.

# export GNOMENU_LOG_FILE=/tmp/gnomenu.log

# uncomment to disable the plugin for specific programs.

# export GTK_MENUBAR_NO_MAC="fast-user-switch-applet"

You’ll need to uncomment the particular lines you want to use. To use the GlobalMenu you’ll need to disable uncomment the line to export the GTK module, but the rest are up to you.Updated 13 February 2009 8:05am: You no longer have to uncomment the first line for GlobalMenu to work. Now you can comment/uncomment that and all other lines via the new settings window, which is just a right click away.

I tried using the option to use the GTK TreeView but it opened a new window and I had absolutely no clue what it did so I disabled it. I do, however, save the debugging messages, and I had them saved to a file in my /home folder just so I can find it more easily.

Now to install GlobalMenu

You need to add a pair of entries to your apt sources.lst file. Updated URI for the GlobalMenu Team’s PPA, posted 3 December 7:30 am, pointed out by Ali Servet Dönmez.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/globalmenu-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/globalmenu-team/ubuntu intrepid main

Save the file and close it, and you’re just about ready to install GlobalMenu. I forgot to post it because I do it automatically, but first you need to run

sudo apt-get update

and then you can run

sudo apt-get install gnome2-globalmenu
sudo apt-get install gnome-globalmenu

Updated 13 February 2009 8:05 am: The package name has been updated to reflect the current name of the package. Sorry about that, and thanks to nicad for reminding me that I hadn’t changed it yet.

Now restart your system log out* and and when you log back in there will be one detail left to take care of. If you have a panel menu on your upper panel remove it and right click on your panel, select Add to panel… and add the GlobelMenu Panel Applet. Now you’ll find the menu for whatever window you’re using showing on your panel. There is a list of compatible applications, but it’s easier to say what won’t work with it. Any applications that don’t use GTK will keep their menus inside their windows. Namely that means any KDE app you use (such as Amarok), OpenOffice.org and Mozilla’s Firefox and Thunderbird. Any applications you run with sudo permissions (like Synaptic) won’t use GlobalMenu either, but that’s a safety precaution.

Here are a couple of screenshots of my system after I installed GlobalMenu.

My desktop with some details in the AWN Terminal

My desktop with Firefox 3 and Nautilus running. You can hide your menu in Firefox with the Hide Menubar add-on, but I have to warn you not to disable it without first using View > Toolbars > Mainmenu Toolbar. Otherwise you’ll find that your menus are hidden when you’ve restarted Firefox with no way to bring them back.

If you use Mac4Lin…

The normal themes for Mac4Lin are missing some components that make a difference for using GlobalMenu. You should either install the MacMenu version of the Mac4Lin GTK themes, or if you’re using Mac4Lin ver.1.0 RC1 simply use System > Preferences > Appearances > Customize to select the Mac4Lin_MacMenuv1.0RC control set, then save the modified theme. Now you’ll be able to enjoy even more OSX-like goodness.

*-Thanks to BobCFC for letting me know in his comment that you only need to log out, not reboot, to get it working. I thought it was just logging out but I did a reboot to clear up other things and I didn’t want to risk telling you the wrong thing.

Peng’s links for Tuesday, 25 November

• Launchpad News: Launchpad 2.1.11: OpenID support and now easier to contact other people. I love it when a software updates provide an extra goodie. If you were trying to find a good OpenID source (my blog isn’t so great since I share it with Nanci and I keep getting ID’d as my little sister) and you have a membership on Launchpad you may have found a great resource. Too bad I was at one site that didn’t accept the ID, but I’m not sure if that’s a Launchpad issue or an issue with the other site.
• Anirudh Acharya: Mac4Lin featured in Linux Magazine. Mac4Lin 1.0 is working toward a second release candidate but that’s not keeping the folks at Linux Magazine from giving it a nice article in the January issue. Ani’s got a PDF of the article you can download, as well as an updated pack with the new versions of the GTK scripts and a new uninstall script that one of our users was kind enough to contribute.
• Scott Ritchie: Redesigning WineHQ.org. The WINE team is working on a redesign of their website and is asking for feedback on the new design.
• E-LINUX.it: No more Microsoft Internet Explorer for the 2010 soccer world cup. When I first saw the headline on Google News I thought it would be a report of Microsoft loosing a contract, but it’s actually a great look at the hazards of doing web design to fit a single browser. I especially love this statement: “Must work on all browsers – If you don’t you get to lose 1/3 of your audience.” That goes for designing for any browser, whether it’s IE, Opera or Firefox. You should always design to standards, not to a browser. And don’t worry, the article is in English so you won’t have to worry about finding your Babel fish.
• Ceci Connolly/Washington Post: Doctors Are Slow to Start Writing Prescriptions Online. My doctor’s started sending my prescriptions straight to my pharmacy, which is really nice. No longer will have have to drop off my script, then go do some shopping to kill enough time until my new meds are ready.
• The Media Equation/NYTimes.com: Google Seduces With Utility. David Carr admits to using a ton of Google services, and he’s getting a little worried about it.

Thanksgiving Meme

Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States, a day marked not only with lots of good food and hopefully good football, but also spending time with good friends and family (sometimes they’re even the same  people!) celebrating the good things in your life.

In celebration of this holiday I’m going to start a meme in hopes that it will be carried over to some of the other planets across the blogosphere.

– INSTRUCTIONS –

1. Make a list of five things you’re thankful for (stating your reasons is optional).
2. If you’re thankful for a project or organization with a website please include a link so we can possibly discover new things.
3. Post your list and these instructions on your blog for your reader’s enjoyment.

–MY LIST–

1. The open source community, because I’ve been able to give, as well as receive, so much help
2. The Mac4Lin Project, which has given me some nice digital eye candy and has let me develop new skills at a doc writer and as a (assistant) themer
3. Good real life friends who give me a place to stay even with my disability
4. Free and Open Source Software, for not only freeing me from the hassles and legal restrictions of proprietary (not to mention dammed expensive) software but for showing me that it’s ok to want to do things on my computer in ways contrary to how the devs choose
5. The Obama revolution, for finally giving me a candidate to get excited about rather than the lesser of who cares or setting the bar low that it pisses me off

Peng’s links for Monday, 24 November

I just have a few links this morning, but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that I updated my post about the documentation for Mac4Lin to include a link to the updated GTK themes. If you’re running the Mac4Lin 1.0 RC you’re probably seeing an error about a missing theme engine. It’s been fixed and I uploaded them to the Mac4Lin support thread on the Ubuntu Forums.

• Pavel Rojtberg: OpenOffice.org is on the right track. OpenOffice has a longstanding issue about the UI, one which Pavel shows you how to uncover, and the OOo devs have finally been made aware of it and are on the case.
• Pavel Rojtberg: Gnome Online Desktop. Pavel looks at how GNOME could better embrace online services.
• Luis de Bethencourt: is ubuntu for you? Luis has a great decision tree for helping you see if Ubuntu may be a good operating system for you.

I have one more link to share, although it’s from much earlier this month. Although I don’t use the GlobalMenu hack (formerly known as MacMenu) which moves most of the application menus from the application windows to the upper panel I’ve kept my subscription to the Ubuntu Forums thread about it so I can try to keep up with the developments. There was a post this morning by ayoli that included a link to a great tutorial on his site for installing it. Thanks to the hard work of the devs you no longer need to patch GTK to use the GlobalMenu, although Firefox (bug report) and OpenOffice.org still don’t use the GlobalMenu. Hopefully they’ll do what they need to in order to let us penguin lovers enjoy the OSX way of accessing application menus.

And now for something completely…

… different.

Thanks to Luis de Bethencourt for letting me know about this.

Peng’s links for Thursday, 20 November

• John Goerzen: Web Design Companies That Understand Technology. How many sites have you seen with lists of what you should use in order to see the site as designed? Note to web designers: If I have to have a specific web browser, fonts, etc. to see a site you designed, you did a crappy job and should have to pay us.
• MJ Ray: How to Check Web Shops for Basic Security. With all the stories of identity theft coming after someone bought something on, or provided personal information to, a web site, MJ has a list of things you should do to make sure your information will be secure. This article should be required reading for anyone using a web browser, regardless of which web browser they use or why.
• Jono Bacon: On Feedback. Most tech developers love getting feedback from the user community. It’s not always pretty, but it is vital if you want to create a program users will want to keep using.
• DesktopLinux: “Moonlight” ready to shine. Are you ready to try the Linux port of Microsoft’s hopeful Flash killer? Not only is it getting close (devs say it will be here “very, very soon”), the devs are already working on Moonlight 2.0. Personally I’ll check it out, but I still hate sites that make me add a new plugin just to enjoy their content, especially since Flash has been around for so long and is already embracing the Linux community. Microsoft’s Silverlight? Only thanks to third party programmers, which is not the same.
• Jono Bacon: Announcing the Ubuntu Hall Of Fame. We’ve got some rock stars in the Ubuntu community. To find out who you have to read Jono’s post.
• Mackenzie Morgan: Tis Better to Dup Than to Convolute. I’ve gone to report some bugs and found some very similar bugs already reported. Should I report the bug again or not? Mackenzie gives some most excellent guidance on the matter. And yes, if you’re using software and find a bug please don’t assume someone’s already reported it. It’s better to end up with a duplicate bug than to leave an issue unreported. Never filed a bug before? It’s not so hard.

Paul Mummer posted a quote that I had to mark to post, even if it wasn’t so germane to that last link.

With shallow users, everything is a bug.

Cambride to lose Out of Town News?

I just looked at my morning news email from WBZ and I saw a story and video that depresses me. It turns out that the company that runs the Out of Town News in Harvard Square has been given a 60-day lease extension, probably marking the end of what has been an institution in Cambridge since 1984.

The Harvard Crimson has a story about the possible closing that looks into the history of the location. Either way it’s a sad affair. Harvard Square won’t be the same to non-students if Out of Town News closes.

Firefox 3.1 brings new features and forces yet another Remove-on

No sooner had the Mozilla devs released Firefox 3 that they had already begun work on Firefox 3.1. I’m not helping test it this time, but I’m hearing that they’ve redone the JavaScript engine and they’re adding a nice tab preview feature that reminds me of the Shift Switcher in Compiz-Fusion, but I’m also hearing that they’re changing yet another default behavior: They’re pulling the New Tab button off the toolbar and putting it to the right of the tab bar itself. It turns out part of the problem was that some people didn’t know tabbed browsing was available, possibly due in part to the fact that the default behavior was to hide the tab bar unless more than one tab was open.

Before anyone tells me how nice that feature is, especially in other browsers, let me point out the fact that this is yet another feature that’s currently available in an extension. As was the case when they rolled out the Smart Location Bar this change has prompted quite a bit of discussion, and the moderators of the MozillaZine Forums have had to work pretty hard to keep the topic constructive.

Luckily our friend Cat Thief has once again come to the rescue with her New Tab Button remove-on. The Mozilla support crew is already telling people about it, despite the fact that Cat Thief flat out refuses to have her extensions on AMO.

This begs a question: If an existing feature is available via an extension, why the hell do the Firefox devs have to add them to the base package? I know they get a lot of requests to do this type of thing, but Firefox has always been a quick little browser that can be customized with the use of extensions. Now they’re adding so many extensions to the default browser that it may not be all that small anymore. I also know that this particular feature is a popular feature of IE7, but I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: Firefox is not IE, Opera, or Safari. Firefox is Firefox, and people love it because it’s different from the other browsers. If we wanted to use IE or Opera we’d use them, but we don’t (and yes, I can run IE on Linux, but why would I want to?). We use Firefox, although some of us are less happy than we used to be.

If someone wants to put out a web browser that has the speed of Firefox 3 but with the default behaviors of Firefox 2, I’d love to help test it. I bet there are some others who would kill to be part of the testing team for it, if not helping code it. Otherwise we need easier ability to add extensions like Firefox has in Epiphany or Opera. I’d use Epiphany myself except I can’t see how to add some third-party add-ons or change behaviors like being able to select new tabs as they’re opened.

Please, will somebody come to the rescue of all of us users who hate what has happened to our beloved red panda?

Peng’s links for Tuesday, 18 November

Sorry about not posting the last few days. I meant to post yesterday but I was chasing down a few things for Mac4Lin. Anirudh (infra_red_guy) has gotten a very recent development copy of the PDF documentation (possibly more recent than the version I posed here) for Mac4Lin 1.0 available for downloading. You can grab it from the download page for the version 1.0 RC. I’ve got a few more edits to make even now, but as we get things closer to release I’ll try to make sure that we get an updated version available on the Mac4Lin SourceForge site.

• TualatriX: Bugfixed release: Ubuntu Tweak. It turns out that when TualatriX released version of Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.2 last week there was a bug that kept Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.2 from running without Compiz installed. He tracked down the bug and pushed out a quick bugfix.
• Mtuxland/Ubuntu Forums: Howto: Get Google Gadgets easily! Google has released an version 0.10.3 of Google Gadgets. Mtuxland has packages built for GTK and for QT, or you can get the updated file from GetDeb like I did. You can see what got updated in the changelog.
• Tom Dryer: A Guide to System Backup and Restore in Ubuntu. If you don’t have a regular backup routine for your computer don’t feel bad, a lot of us don’t, like me. I do backups when I’m about to do a major install/upgrade and I know it’s just a matter of time until that bites me in the arse. The guest article by Vivek Kumar will help you see how easy it is to schedule regular backups of your important files. Now I just need to make sure I have space and/or media to store the backups.

I really hate how much advertising I’m seeing about Chrismukkuh already (even my own reference to it while talking about Mac4Lin 1.0 last week), but there’s something I have to mention. Amazon.com is now taking orders for the One Laptop Per Child Buy One Get One program. For a mere $399 not only do your get an OLPC laptop computer sent to a child in a devloping country but you also get one for to give to a child that you know. Not only is that a double win it’s also damned good karma. Big thanks to Mike Rushton of the  Ubuntu Massachusetts LoCo Team for the reminder and the link.