FreeBSD - The ps command output is truncated from the terminal width

There are a few commands that can list current process activity, "top" & "ps" are the most common one in use. The command "top" give an interactive view of the list of process running currently. But the command "ps" gives a more friendly output for scripting or text parsing. It also gives a lot of parameters to filter the output. One of the common parameters that I've always use is "ps aux". It list all the current process running with headers and information. By the way, "ps" stands for process status.

Usually, the process status output is pass to "less", a pager for ease of reading. Often, the "COMMAND" column of "ps aux" output, is truncated at the end of the terminal width. This behavior prevents the full process name from displaying. One thing good about this is, the output are not wrap so it won't mess up the output display. But most of the time, we'll want to view the full output.

There are 2 things to try in order to get the full output. First, try telling the pager (in this case, "less") don't chop the long lines after the terminal width, using parameter "-S".

Blackberry - Really Simple Syndication (RSS) reader

Having RSS (Really Simple Syndication) on the blackberry is a good way to kill time while waiting, especially during traffic jam or on the train. RSS reader applications generally needs to purchase. A good one might cost a extra few bucks.

But luckily there's Viigo, a RSS content delivery application that runs on blackberry. Viigo has all the feature I need, being a RSS reader that is light & free. It also comes with some other features that can get you more addictive to blackberry.

To name a few :

FreeBSD - A great way to track changes of FreeBSD

Before every FreeBSD port upgrade, checking the /usr/ports/UPDATING is a must. It list out known problems with solutions when upgrading ports. Cutting down less hiccups during upgrade of system. Skimming the changes using bare eyes can be quite tiring some times.

This is another fun way of monitoring the changes is, reading the changes in /usr/ports/UPDATING like a web feed, using RSS. Thanks to Alex of versia.com, he created a RSS feed that keep track changes of /usr/ports/UPDATING and publish it through RSS feeds. This is the post that he talks about it and the RSS feed is over here.

By the way, this RSS feed is created using Perl and hosted on github over here. Perl rocks !!!

Macports - After installing git-core, all packages depends on libssl breaks

Git is popular. Is like LinkedIn to working professionals and GitHub to programmers.




Before I'm able to play around git on my mac, "git-core" need to be installed first, through macports. As usual, installing port from macports is as easy as :

port -v selfupdate
port -v install git-core

After the installation, time to try git. When issue the command "git", it return an error message :

dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libssl.0.9.8.dylib
Referenced from: /opt/local/bin/git
Reason: image not found
Trace/BPT trap

In fact, all my other programs that installed through macports are having problem.
e.g.
Executing "svn" also return the same error :

dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libssl.0.9.8.dylib
Referenced from: /opt/local/bin/svn
Reason: image not found
Trace/BPT trap

Looking at the error message, my guts tells me that libssl has problem working with these programs. After messing around with the OpenSSL port, here's the solution :

FreeBSD - Committers around the world

I've stumble (can't remember which blog or post lead me to it) on this map that shows the FreeBSD ftp servers & committers around the world using google map service. A very nice presentation indeed.

Another note on a similar subject, Murray Stokely of FreeBSD Release Engineering Team has a script that generates heat map base on FreeBSD committers around the world. The post is over here.


Some links :

• List of FreeBSD Core Team members
• List of FreeBSD Developers
• An article on Contributors to FreeBSD
• FreeBSD mirror servers

Farvel !!!

FreeBSD Foundation - It doesn't cost as much as you think

I haven't been updating this blog for a while. Have been busy with some stuff in perl, time management & my job. Even so, I refuse to forget about donating to FreeBSD Foundation. The FreeBSD OS is part of my daily activities, from desktop to server. Even my future job is going to deal with FreeBSD, daily & heavily (happily).

Donations to the FreeBSD Foundation ensures that the foundation can have more resource to fund projects around FreeBSD. With funding, features & upgrades can be speed up. One of the project that the foundation have funded, "Resource Containers Project", is to enable FreeBSD Jail to implement resource containers and a simple per-jail resource limits mechanism.

The foundation also give out grants to hold BSD Conferences (BSDCan, AsiaBSD, MeetBSD, EuroBSD & others). These conferences gathers FreeBSD developers & users around the world to meet & discuss the current & future of BSD. IMHO, this cultures the community to continue develop & invites more participation into the FreeBSD project.

The FreeBSD Foundation also holds & acts on behave of any legal issue regarding FreeBSD, making FreeBSD out of the reach from evil hands. Though the mascot is Beastie :p

The foundation also make sure that proper infrastructure are in place to facilitate development & distribution of FreeBSD. Servers hardware & internet bandwidth aren't free and certainly, they aren't cheap.

If you think donation is expensive or a large sum of money, try visiting the donors list. The donation starts from $1, very minimal. Anyone can donate. By skipping something (food, gadgets, cloths or anything) in your life, you can easily contribute to FreeBSD. This minor skipping in your life can be significant in FreeBSD development, your favorite OS. I've not even started the "good feeling" after the donation.

This forum post shows how important to donate to the FreeBSD Foundation. Donation doesn't only emphasize on the amount but also the participation. This is another way to save some money if you're thinking of donating.

In short, FreeBSD is a great OS. If you want to see this great OS grow healthily & happily, donate. It doesn't cost as much as you think.

I've donated(this year), have you?