This is just a quick aide memoir, for how to find the current Joomla version in use if you do not have direct access to the admin panel. The version information can be found in
libraries/joomla/version.php
Rowan :: Sep.05.2008 :: Quick Solutions, Web Apps :: No Comments »
This post is an aide memoir more than anything else, but hopefully might come in handy to someone.
Settings.php
Database
There are several instances within the settings table where the local file system path is stored within the database. Whether you pick find and replace (if restoring via a .sql file), the forum backend or PHPMyAdmin lots of things such as post icons and avatars will look screwy until you do. The theme path is also stored within the database in some instances. Make sure you get them all 
Rowan :: Jan.22.2008 :: Quick Solutions, Web Apps :: No Comments »
Learning to use the command line is one of the hardest things about moving to Linux, however once you’re used to it, doing things becomes second nature and you actually miss being able to use the terminal in those cases where you have FTP access but no shell account. For some things using a GUI is laborious, upgrading web apps is a major case in point.
One way of getting around this is the curlftpfs package. The software allows you to mount your FTP account and access it as you would any other part of your Linux File System.
After installing the package, you may have to modprobe fuse and may have to add your user to the fuse group. The former was necessary on Suse 10.2 and the latter on Kubuntu Feisty. After that simply create the folder you wish to use as a mount point and issue the command.
curlftpfs -v ftp://user:pass@ftp.somewhere.net/ MountPoint/
Once everything is working you can do away with the -v which enables verbose output. This is great if you need to do work on a web app where there is no shell access.
Caution
It is easy to forget this is not shell access, commands like unzip, unrar etc will use the binary on your machine with the resulting backwards forwards data transfer. Use such commands at your peril if working on an unstable connection, with large files or if you don’t have a backup.
Whilst this can be used with the rails command (again not recommended), bear in mind that you’ll need to copy the contents of the vendor directory to the server manually, as this is normally symlinked when working on the shell.
References
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_FTP_Mount
Rowan :: Sep.02.2007 :: Linux, Quick Solutions, Web Apps, Web Hosting :: No Comments »
Alex Rabe’s gallery plugin for Wordpress “NextGEN Gallery” is becoming almost as popular as the integration with Gallery2 and with good reason. I run the gallery 2 integration on this blog and it means keeping both systems as well as the integration up to date. IF for whatever reason you want / need all the functionality of gallery2 this is great, but otherwise NextGEN Gallery which is still in beta (i.e. pre version 1) is quickly shaping up as a good alternative.
The best thing about WPMU (for those that don’t know) is that themes and plugins written for Wordpress often require little modification to function - so without further ado…
1. Set the default file path for the plugin so that all images are stored per blog. This function is run on activation when the tables for the plugin are created.
ngginstall.php
function ngg_default_options()
Add
global $blog_id;
Edit options line as follows
$ngg_options['gallerypath'] = “wp-content/blogs.dir/” . $blog_id . “/files/”; // set default path to the gallery
2. Remove ability for user to update the above in the blog backend
settings.php
Remove “gallerypath” from the list of fields submitted to the form - or remove the input box entirely.
3. Modify the version check
nggallery.php
Simply set if (version_compare($wp_version, ‘wordpress-mu-1.2.4′, ‘>=’)) or remove the check entirely
Note
Other changes are required
Why are you not simply releasing a version of the plugin that works with MU?
Because “works” is relative to how you intend your MU site to function and what other custom code you have installed. The above hacks are the necessary to get the plugin to work on a default MU install. Alex is planning MU support for version one of the plugin - but how best to do this is debatable especially with the addition of things like a role manager and tagging system.
The current discussion on NGGallery for WPMU is here
Rowan :: Aug.24.2007 :: Quick Solutions, Wordpress MU :: 11 Comments »
After adding a PCI soundcard to my machine for the purposes of having a gameport my Kubuntu 7.04 install wasn’t always choosing to use the on-board Intel chip for sound meaning I could near nothing. The solution seems to be the following
sudo asoundconf list
Names of available sound cards:
au8830
Intelsudo asoundconf set-default-card Intel
sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart
* Shutting down ALSA… [ OK ]
* Setting up ALSA … [ OK ]
You’ll also need to restart any apps to get sound, there is no need to reboot to get Amarok working
Rowan :: May.02.2007 :: Linux, Quick Solutions :: No Comments »