crashingdaily

Missing RPM package conflicts when installing updates

crashingdaily — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:41:06 +0000

While making some custom RPMs and then remaking them with altered build steps, I stumbled across the behaviour that rpm will let you install updated packages even when an older package is already installed, provided that none of the files in the new package have changed.

Here’s a demonstration using a simple spec file (Listing 1) for an RPM package that installs a README file in /tmp/rpmtest/. Note the %install process creates the README file with some text in it.

Build the RPM package from the spec file:

$ rpmbuild -bb rpmtest.spec

and install it:

$ sudo rpm -i /scratch/RPM/RPMS/x86_64/rpmtest-1-1.x86_64.rpm

Now, the single README file is installed:

$ ls -l /tmp/rpmtest/README
-rw-r--r-- 1 cdaily cdaily 10 Nov 14 16:39 /tmp/rpmtest/README

Now we’ll update the rpmtest.spec file to build Version 1, Release 2. Then we change the rpm’s install process but not the README contents. For example, in the rpmtest.spec change the defattr, line 22, from

%defattr(-, %(%{__id_u} -n), %(%{__id_u} -n), -)

%defattr(-, root, root)

and change the spec file’s Release to

Release: 2

(line 4).

The generated README file will be the same, only the file ownership changes between releases.

Build as before and try to install.

$ sudo rpm -ivh /scratch/RPM/RPMS/x86_64/rpmtest-1-2.x86_64.rpm

That worked. I’m able to install Version 1, Release 2 and it does not conflict with Release 1.
The README is now owned by root.

$ ls -l /tmp/rpmtest/README
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10 Nov 14 16:47 /tmp/rpmtest/README

I have both packages installed:

$ rpm -qa rpmtest
rpmtest-1-1
rpmtest-1-2

And the README is owned by both packages:

$ rpm -qf /tmp/rpmtest/README
rpmtest-1-1
rpmtest-1-2

The same happens if you increment the Version. As long as the checksums for all the package files are unchanged, the rpm install will proceed.

Remove them both:

$ sudo rpm -e rpmtest-1-1 rpmtest-1-2

Let’s see what happens when the change a package file. In the rpmtest.spec file, change line 16

echo "This is a readme" > $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/tmp/rpmtest/README

echo VERSION %{version} RELEASE %{release} > $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/tmp/rpmtest/README

That is, the README contents will now have the version and release numbers and so will change with each release.

After building and installing Release 1, then building Release 2, I am unable to install Release 2.

$ sudo rpm -i /scratch/RPM/RPMS/x86_64/rpmtest-1-2.x86_64.rpm
	file /tmp/rpmtest/README from install of rpmtest-1-2.x86_64 conflicts with file from package rpmtest-1-1.x86_64

This time because the README has changed between releases, rpm reports a conflict.

In contrast to installing, upgrading a package release (rpm -U rpmtest-1-2.x86_64.rpm ) will replace Release 1 with Release 2 even when no files have changed. The upgrade option will also install the rpm if an earlier version/release is not already installed, so if you routinely use the upgrade command instead of the install, you don’t have to be concerned with ending up with multiple package release installations.

In summary, rpm only reports install conflicts if files change, it doesn’t make any comparisons of Version or Release numbers.

This seemed odd to me at first but the flexibility it provides does make sense after I thought about it more. So what if multiple packages own the same file? It happens. One common case is with packages for multiple architectures. Consider the neon library as a random example. I have versions installed for both the i386 and x86_64 architectures. The documentation is the same between the two, only the libneon.so shared objects differ and these are installed in different directories so there’s no conflict.

On the other hand, the observation that a second package installation can change file ownership and permissions of the first package could conceivably be a problem.

Maximum RPM
Listing 1. rpmtest.spec, a simple RPM spec file.

Summary: Simple RPM
Name: rpmtest
Version: 1
Release: 1
License: GPL
Group: Utilities/System

BuildRoot: %{_tmppath}/%{name}-%{version}-%{release}

%description
Simple RPM installation of one README file in /tmp/rpmtest

%install
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT
mkdir -p $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/tmp/rpmtest
echo "This is a readme" > $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/tmp/rpmtest/README

%clean
rm -rf $RPM_BUILD_ROOT

%files
%defattr(-, %(%{__id_u} -n), %(%{__id_u} -n), -)
/tmp/rpmtest

Fixing the mmr.pl script for SSL

crashingdaily — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 02:24:43 +0000

The Howto:MultiMasterReplication wiki page for the 389 Directory Server documents use of the mmr.pl script for setting up replication.

The mmr.pl --with-ssl option is used to setup SSL for replication. I have seen a couple of postings on various forums that the script hangs when using --with-ssl option. That happened to me as well at first. I haven’t seen any answers on how to resolve this so I posting my patch to the script. (~~Maybe someone will submit it to the script’s maintainer, I’m too lazy.~~ Update 1/14/2011: the maintainer, Rich Megginson, accepted the patch so refer to his repository for the latest version.)

The problem is that in the current version of the script the --with-ssl option also sets the port used for connections – port 636 by default. Just setting the port to 636 is not sufficient to inform the script’s underlying Net::LDAP perl library that SSL communication is expected. Specifying a ldaps scheme with the host name triggers the required SSL support in Net::LDAP.

So, I prepended ldaps:// to the server in each occurrence of Net::LDAP->new(). For example,

my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new(“ldaps://$server”, port => $prt) || die “$@”;

(full source is provided below)

Note that the --with-ssl servers two purposes. One is to tell the script to configure the directory to use SSL for all future replication transactions. That is, the communication between the two directory servers will be encrypted. The other action of --with-ssl is to encrypt the communications the script makes to each directory server during the setup and querying (the Net::LDAP business we just resolved). So, you will also want to use both the --with-ssl option for the script’s other subcommands, such as --display and --remove so those communications are consistently held over secure channels.

Another MMR setup script. I’ve not used it.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
# mmr.pl - configure multimaster replication between two 389 servers
#
# Mike Jackson <mj@sci.fi> 19.11.2005
# Federico Roman added the --port option. 10-08-2007
# Marc Sauton changed --port into --port1 and --port2 options. 15-10-2010
#
# Professional LDAP consulting for large and small projects
#
#       http://www.netauth.com
#
# GPLv2 License
#
#
#
use strict;
use Getopt::Long;
use Net::LDAP qw(LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS LDAP_TYPE_OR_VALUE_EXISTS);
use Pod::Usage;

my %o;
GetOptions(
    \%o,
    'base=s',       # optional, default to get_base()
    'binddn=s',     # optional, default to "cn=directory manager"
    'bindpw=s',
    'repmanpw=s',
    'host1=s',
    'host2=s',
    'host1_id=i',
    'host2_id=i',
    'port1=i',
    'port2=i',
    'create',
    'display',
    'remove',
    'with-ssl',
    'help',
    'man',
);

pod2usage(-verbose => 1) if ($o{help});
pod2usage(-verbose => 2) if ($o{man} );

pod2usage(-verbose => 1) if (! ($o{create} || $o{display} || $o{remove}) );

# mandatory in all cases
my $host1     = $o{host1};
my $host2     = $o{host2};
my $bindpw    = $o{bindpw};

# mandatory in create case
my $create    = $o{create};
my $host1_id  = $o{host1_id};
my $host2_id  = $o{host2_id};
my $repmanpw  = $o{repmanpw};

# mandatory in display case
my $display   = $o{display};

# mandatory in remove case
my $remove    = $o{remove};

# optional in create case
my $with_ssl  = $o{'with-ssl'};

my $scheme = ($with_ssl && "ldaps") || "ldap";

# optional in all cases
my $port1     = $o{port1}    || ($with_ssl && "636") || "389";
my $port2     = $o{port2}    || ($with_ssl && "636") || "389";
my $base      = $o{base}    || get_base($host1, $port1);
my $binddn    = $o{binddn}  || "cn=directory manager";

# all cases check
if (!($host1 && $host2 && $bindpw))
{
    pod2usage(-verbose => 1);
    exit(1);
}



###############################################
# create
###############################################
if ($create)
{
    if (!($host1_id && $host2_id && $repmanpw))
    {
        pod2usage(-verbose => 1);
        exit(1);
    }
    else
    {
        # configure suppliers
        config_supplier($host1, $port1, $host1_id, $repmanpw);
        config_supplier($host2, $port2, $host2_id, $repmanpw);

        # add replication agreements
        add_rep_agreement($host1, $port1, $host2, $port2, $repmanpw);
        add_rep_agreement($host2, $port2, $host1, $port1, $repmanpw);

        # initialize host2 from host1
        initialize($host1, $port1, $host2, $port2);
    }
}

###############################################
# remove
###############################################
if ($remove)
{
    if (!($host1 && $host2))
    {
        pod2usage(-verbose => 1);
        exit(1);
    }
    else
    {
        # remove agreements
        remove_agreement($host1, $port1, $host2);
        remove_agreement($host2, $port2, $host1);
    }
}

###############################################
# display
###############################################
if ($display)
{
    if (!($host1 && $host2))
    {
        pod2usage(-verbose => 1);
        exit(1);
    }
    else
    {
        # display agreements
        print "\n";
        display_agreement($host1, $port1);
        print "\n";
        display_agreement($host2, $port2);
        print "\n";
    }
}



###############################################
# subs
###############################################
sub display_agreement
{
    my ($server, $prt) = @_;

    my $msg;
    my $res;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$server", port => $prt) || die "$@";

    $msg     = $ldap->bind($binddn, password => $bindpw, version => 3);
    $msg->code && die $msg->error;

    print "replication agreements from $server port $prt\n";
    $res = $ldap->search(
                         base    => "cn=config",
                         filter  => "(objectClass=nsDS5ReplicationAgreement)",
                        );
    $res->code && die $res->error;

    if ($res->count)
    {
        for ($res->entries)
        {
            print "\t -> to host " . $_->get_value("nsDS5ReplicaHost");
            print " port " . $_->get_value("nsDS5ReplicaPort");
            print " suffix " . $_->get_value("nsDS5ReplicaRoot") . "\n";
        }
    }
    else
    {
        print "\t -> none found\n";
    }

    $ldap->unbind;
}


sub remove_agreement
{
    my ($from, $prt, $to) = @_;

    my $msg;
    my $res;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$from", port => $prt) || die "$@";

    $msg     = $ldap->bind($binddn, password => $bindpw, version => 3);
    $msg->code && die $msg->error;

    print "removing replication agreement from $from (port $prt) -> $to\n";
    $res = $ldap->search(
                         base    => "cn=config",
                         filter  => "(&(objectClass=nsDS5ReplicationAgreement)(nsDS5ReplicaHost=$to))",
                        );
    $res->code && die $res->error;

    my $dn  = $res->entry(0)->dn;

    $res    = $ldap->delete($dn);
    $res->code && warn "failed to remove replication agreement: " . $res->error;

    $ldap->unbind;
}


sub config_supplier
{
    my ($server, $prt, $replicaid, $repmanpw) = @_;

    my $msg;
    my $res;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$server", port => $prt) || die "$@";

    $msg     = $ldap->bind($binddn, password => $bindpw, version => 3);
    $msg->code && die $msg->error;


    ##############################
    # find the instance-dir
    ##############################
    $res = $ldap->search (
                          base    => "cn=config",
                          scope   => "base",
                          filter  => "(objectClass=*)",
                         );

    my $instance_dir = $res->entry(0)->get_value("nsslapd-instancedir");
    my $hadd = $server;
    # $hadd = "newserver" if $server eq "some_exception";
    $instance_dir ||= "/etc/dirsrv/slapd-$hadd";
    ##############################

    ##############################
    # add changelog
    ##############################
    print "adding to $server port $prt -> cn=changelog5,cn=config\n";
    $res = $ldap->add(
          "cn=changelog5,cn=config",
          attr => [
            objectclass                  => [qw (top extensibleObject)],
            cn                           => "changelog5",
            "nsslapd-changelogdir"       => "$instance_dir/changelogdb",
          ]
    );

    if ($res->code == LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS)
    {
        print "\t -> already exists\n\n";
    }
    else
    {
        $res->code && die "failed to add changelog entry: " . $res->error;
    }
    ##############################

    ##############################
    # add replication user
    ##############################
    print "adding to $server port $prt -> cn=repman,cn=config\n";
    $res = $ldap->add(
          "cn=repman,cn=config",
          attr => [
            objectclass    => [qw (top person)],
            cn             => "repman",
            sn             => "repman",
            userPassword   => $repmanpw,
          ]
    );

    if ($res->code == LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS)
    {
        print "\t -> already exists\n\n";
    }
    else
    {
        $res->code && die "failed to add repman entry: " . $res->error;
    }
    ##############################

    ##############################
    # add replica object
    ##############################
    print "adding to $server port $prt -> cn=replica,cn=\"$base\",cn=mapping tree,cn=config\n";
    $res = $ldap->add(
          "cn=replica,cn=\"$base\",cn=mapping tree,cn=config",
          attr => [
            objectclass                  => [qw (top nsDS5Replica)],
            cn                           => "replica",
            nsDS5ReplicaId               => $replicaid,
            nsDS5ReplicaRoot             => $base,
            nsDS5Flags                   => 1,
            nsDS5ReplicaBindDN           => "cn=repman,cn=config",
            nsds5ReplicaPurgeDelay       => 604800,
            nsds5ReplicaLegacyConsumer   => "off",
            nsDS5ReplicaType             => 3,
          ]
    );

    if ($res->code == LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS)
    {
        print "\t -> already exists\n\n";
    }
    else
    {
        $res->code && die "failed to add replica entry: " . $res->error;
    }
    ##############################

    $ldap->unbind;
}


sub add_rep_agreement
{
    my ($from, $prt1, $to, $prt2, $repmanpw) = @_;

    my $msg;
    my $res;
    
    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$from", port => $prt1) || die "$@";

    $msg     = $ldap->bind($binddn, password => $bindpw, version => 3);
    $msg->code && die $msg->error;

    if ($with_ssl)
    {
        print "adding to $from port $prt1 -> SSL replication $from port $prt1 -> $to port $prt2\n";
        $res = $ldap->add(
              "cn=\"Replication from $from port $prt1 to $to port $prt2\",cn=replica,cn=\"$base\",cn=mapping tree,cn=config",
              attr => [
                objectclass                  => [qw (top nsDS5ReplicationAgreement)],
                cn                           => "\"Replication from $from port $prt1 to $to port $prt2\"",
                nsDS5ReplicaHost             => $to,
                nsDS5ReplicaRoot             => "$base",
                nsDS5ReplicaPort             => $prt2,
                nsDS5ReplicaTransportInfo    => "SSL",
                nsDS5ReplicaBindDN           => "cn=repman,cn=config",
                nsDS5ReplicaBindMethod       => "simple",
                nsDS5ReplicaCredentials      => $repmanpw,
                nsDS5ReplicaTimeOut          => 120,
              ]
        );

        if ($res->code == LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS)
        {
            print "\t -> already exists\n\n";
        }
        else
        {
            $res->code && die "failed to add replication agreement entry: " . $res->error;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        print "adding to $from port $prt1 -> plaintext replication $from port $prt1 -> $to port $prt2\n";
        $res = $ldap->add(
              "cn=\"Replication from $from port $prt1 to $to port $prt2\",cn=replica,cn=\"$base\",cn=mapping tree,cn=config",
              attr => [
                objectclass                  => [qw (top nsDS5ReplicationAgreement)],
                cn                           => "\"Replication from $from port $prt1 to $to port $prt2\"",
                nsDS5ReplicaHost             => $to,
                nsDS5ReplicaRoot             => "$base",
                nsDS5ReplicaPort             => $prt2,
                nsDS5ReplicaBindDN           => "cn=repman,cn=config",
                nsDS5ReplicaBindMethod       => "simple",
                nsDS5ReplicaCredentials      => $repmanpw,
                nsDS5ReplicaTimeOut          => 120,
              ]
        );

        if ($res->code == LDAP_ALREADY_EXISTS)
        {
            print "\t -> already exists\n\n";
        }
        else
        {
            $res->code && die "failed to add replication agreement entry: " . $res->error;
        }
    }

    $ldap->unbind;
}


sub initialize
{
    my ($from, $prt1, $to, $prt2) = @_;

    my $msg;
    my $res;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$from", port => $prt1) || die "$@";

    $msg     = $ldap->bind($binddn, password => $bindpw, version => 3);
    $msg->code && die $msg->error;

    print "initializing replication $from (port $prt1) -> $to (port $prt2)\n";

    my $dn = "cn=\"Replication from $from port $prt1 to $to port $prt2\",cn=replica,cn=\"$base\",cn=mapping tree,cn=config";

    $res = $ldap->modify($dn, add => { nsDS5BeginReplicaRefresh => 'start' });
    $res->code && die "failed to add initialization attribute: " . $res->error;

    $ldap->unbind;
}


sub get_base
{
    my ($server, $prt) = @_;

    my $base;
    my $res;

    my $ldap = Net::LDAP->new("$scheme://$server", port => $prt) || die "$@";
    $ldap->bind;

    $res = $ldap->search(
                         base    => "",
                         scope   => "base",
                         filter  => "(objectClass=*)",
                        );
    $res->code && die $res->error;

    my @contexts = $res->entry(0)->get_value("namingContexts");

    for (@contexts)
    {
        if (! /o=NetscapeRoot/)
        {
            $base = $_;
        }
    }

    $ldap->unbind;

    return $base;
}


__END__

=head1 NAME

mmr.pl - Configure multi-master replication between two 389 Directory Servers

=head1 SYNOPSIS

Usage: mmr.pl [options]

 Mandatory in all cases:
    --host1       FQDN of host 1
    --host2       FQDN of host 2
    --bindpw      Password for Directory Manager

 Optional in all cases:
    --base        LDAP naming context
    --binddn      Alternative distinguished name for Directory Manager
    --port1       LDAP port (default=389) for host 1
    --port2       LDAP port (default=389) for host 2

 Mandatory for creating a 2-way agreement:
    --host1_id    Replication ID number of host 1
    --host2_id    Replication ID number of host 2
    --repmanpw    Password for Replication Manager
    --create

 Optional when creating a 2-way agreement:
    --with-ssl    Use SSL for Replication (requires CA and server certs on both machines)

 Mandatory for removing a 2-way agreement:
    --remove

 Mandatory for displaying agreements
    --display

 Examples:

 # create a 2-way replication agreement
 % mmr.pl \
    --host1 a.bigcorp.com \
    --host2 b.bigcorp.com \
    --host1_id 1 \
    --host2_id 2 \
    --bindpw secret \
    --repmanpw repsecret \
    --create

 # create a 2-way replication agreement with SSL
 % mmr.pl \
    --host1 a.bigcorp.com \
    --host2 b.bigcorp.com \
    --host1_id 1 \
    --host2_id 2 \
    --bindpw secret \
    --repmanpw repsecret \
    --create \
    --with-ssl

 # remove a 2-way replication agreement
 % mmr.pl \
    --host1 a.bigcorp.com \
    --host2 b.bigcorp.com \
    --bindpw secret \
    --remove

 # display replication agreements
 % mmr.pl \
    --host1 a.bigcorp.com \
    --host2 b.bigcorp.com \
    --port1 3890
    --bindpw secret \
    --display


=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<mmr.pl> will configure multi-master replication between two 389 or
Red Hat Directory Servers.

The listen port must be the same on both machines. By default port 389
is assumed (636 if --with-ssl) , but it can be overriden with the --port option.

The "cn=Directory Manager" user's password must be the same on both
machines. As well, the "cn=Directory Manager" user which was created
during installation must exist on both machines, or if this username
was changed to something else then it can be provided with the --binddn
option.

The LDAP naming context must be the same on both machines. If there
is only one naming context configured on the machines, then it is not
necessary to provide the --base option as the naming context will be
discovered automatically.

=cut

Using groups with TestNG

crashingdaily — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:39:20 +0000

This post demonstrates a simple example of using groups with TestNG.

For this exercise I’m using a very simple file layout. The jar file was copied directly from the TestNG package. SampleTest.java and testng.xml are my test and configuration files, respectively.

[23:31 20090914 crashing@desktop ~/simpletestng]
$ ls
SampleTest.java testng-5.10-jdk15.jar testng.xml

SampleTest.java has two test methods, annotated with @Test, and with an assigned group name.

import org.testng.annotations.*;
public class SampleTest {
@Test(groups = { “groupA” })
public void methodA() {
System.out.println(“groupA”);
assert true;
}

@Test(groups = { “groupB” })
public void methodB() {
System.out.println(“groupB”);
assert true;
}
}

testng.xml defines these two groups as belonging to a test set.

I compile the SampleTest class,

$ javac -classpath testng-5.10-jdk15.jar SampleTest.java

and then run all the test methods as configured in testng.xml

$ java -classpath .:testng-5.10-jdk15.jar org.testng.TestNG testng.xml

[Parser] Running:
/Users/crashing/simpletestng/testng.xml

groupA
groupB

===============================================
TrialTest
Total tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

Both test methods ran.

Alternatively I can specify specific groups to run. For this I use the -groups and -testclass option. I do not use the testng.xml file.

java -classpath .:testng-5.10-jdk15.jar org.testng.TestNG -groups groupB -testclass SampleTest

[Parser] Running:
Command line suite

groupB

===============================================
Command line suite
Total tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

Specifying both the testng.xml and a -groups option will cause both configurations to be processed.

[22:58 20090914 crashing@desktop ~/simpletestng]
$ java -classpath .:testng-5.10-jdk15.jar org.testng.TestNG testng.xml -groups groupA -testclass SampleTest
[Parser] Running:
/Users/crashing/simpletestng/testng.xml
Command line suite

groupA
groupB

===============================================
TrialTest
Total tests run: 2, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

groupA

===============================================
Command line suite
Total tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

This is probably not what you want. So, use either the testng.xml or the -groups and -testclass option, not both.

Defining test descriptions in testng reports

crashingdaily — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:48:07 +0000

The output html of testng‘s reporter has the columns “Test method” and “Instance” that document each test run.

“Test method” can be customized by defining public String getTestName() method in the class providing the test method.

“Instance” can be customized by defining public String toString() method in the class providing the test method.

Extending Selenium server with custom commands

crashingdaily — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:35:46 +0000

In this posting I document extending Selenium server with a custom javascript method, getAllRadios(), to return all radio button elements in a page. It’s based on the getAllButtons() that is stock in Selenium.

I will demonstrate two ways to add this custom method. The first strategy is to add the custom method to the native javascript files that ship with Selenium server. This is not the recommended way to extend Selenium but it is an almost guaranteed way to be sure the server picks up my new method and that frees me to focus on getting my client syntax right for calling the new method using the client’s doCommand() method.

Method 1 – selenium-browserbot.js + selenium-api.js

Unpack the server jar into a temporary directory to get access to the selenium-browserbot.js and selenium-api.js files.

[20:54 20090906 crashing@server /selenium-server-1.0.1/temp]
$ jar xf ../selenium-server.jar

The new custom method is added to core/scripts/selenium-browserbot.js. It is a slightly modified version of getAllButtons() which is defined in the same file.

BrowserBot.prototype.getAllRadios = function() {
var elements = this.getDocument().getElementsByTagName('input');
var result = [];
for (var i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
if (elements[i].type == 'radio') {
result.push(elements[i].id);
}
}
return result;
};

and then the new method is exposed to the Selenium API in core/scripts/selenium-api.js, again modeling after getAllButtons() in selenium-api.js.

Selenium.prototype.getAllRadios = function() {
return this.browserbot.getAllButtons();
};

Now rebundle the updated javascript into a new server jar, replacing the original.

[21:01 20090906 crashing@server /selenium-server-1.0.1/temp]
$ jar cmf META-INF/MANIFEST.MF ../selenium-server.jar .

Method 2 – user-extension.js

The better way to extend Selenium is to add methods to the user-extensions.js file. This avoids screwing around with the native server jar. I initiall had some trouble getting this working, hence the Method 1 approach, but after a bit of futzing I finally got this to work.

Selenium.prototype.getAllRadios = function() {
var elements = this.browserbot.getDocument().getElementsByTagName('input');
var result = [];
for (var i = 0; i < elements.length; i++) {
if (elements[i].type == 'radio') {
result.push(elements[i].id);
}
}
return result;
};

This is basically the same method used in selenium-browserbot.js. The important changed bits are (1) the method is attached to the Selenium object instead of the BrowserBot (Selenium.prototype rather than BrowserBot.prototype) and (2) calling getDocument() on the browserbot instance.

I start the Selenium server with the -userExtensions option pointing to the user-extensions.js file.

java -jar \
/selenium-server-1.0.1/selenium-server.jar \
-userExtensions /user-extensions.js

Client Coding

For either of the above methods of extending the Selenium server, I call this new method in my client code with the doCommand().

/** incomplete code **/

proc = new HttpCommandProcessor(seleniumServerHost,
seleniumServerPort, brower, seleniumServerStartUrl);
selenium = new DefaultSelenium(proc);

selenium.open(url);

// radio buttons returned as comma-delimited strings
String allRadios = proc.doCommand("getAllRadios", null);

// alternatively, get radio buttons as a String array
String[] radios = proc.getStringArray("getAllRadios", null);
for (String radio : radios) {
System.out.println(radio);
}

To call custom doCommand()‘s, it’s necessary to instantiate with DefaultSelenium(proc) to inject the HttpCommandProcessor into the DefaultSelenium object.

Select the ids of radio buttons in a page using selenium
User-Extensions

Downsizing Google’s search input box

crashingdaily — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:16:39 +0000

Google has made its search input box bigger and its font size larger. Excuse me, they S-U-P-E-R-sized! it. It’s not a mistake, indeed Google actually seems proud of it.

Fortunately, Safari and Firefox empowers mere-mortal users to fix this eyesore with a custom stylesheet. Simply add the following to your userContent.css and restart the web browser. Additional general information on userContent.css, and all the spiffy things you can do with it, is available from the links below.

/* Google input text box */
.lst {
font-size:13px ! important;
}
/* Google search type-ahead drop down */
.gac_m td {
font-size:13px ! important;
line-height:120% ! important;
}
/* Google Search/I'm Feeling Lucky buttons */
.lsb {
font-size:11px ! important;
height:auto ! important;
}
/* Google Search/I'm Feeling Lucky buttons in type-ahead drop down*/
.gac_sb {
font-size:11px ! important;
height:auto ! important;
}

With the aforementioned CSS, the submit buttons will still appear in the type-ahead drop down menu. Add the following style to remove them all together.

/* Turn off Google Search/I’m Feeling Lucky buttons in type-ahead drop down*/
.gac_sb {
display:none;
}

Power to the people.

Initing a new remote git repository with existing files

crashingdaily — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:58:50 +0000

This how I took an existing directory of files on my desktop and put it into a new git repository on a remote server. I found a number of how-tos online but none worked for me – certainly this was because I’m such a newbie with git that I wasn’t sufficiently understanding what I was being told to do. The following works for me; clearly this isn’t the only way or the best way to accomplish the task. This is mostly a note to self.

Create an empty directory on the remote server to hold the repository

[11:44 20090902 crashing@server ~]
$ mkdir -p /var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting

Intialize the empty repository

[11:44 20090902 crashing@server /var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting]
$ git --bare init
Initialized empty Git repository in /var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting/

Now I have the necessary repository components.

[11:44 20090902 crashing@server /var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting]
$ ls
branches config description HEAD hooks info objects refs

On my desktop, in the existing directory of files, init the directory

[11:30 20090902 crashing@desktop ~/Desktop/testws]
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/crashing/Desktop/testws/.git/

This created a .git directory with git control files.

Next, I tell my local desktop repository about the remote repo. The remote repo is given the short name origin.

[11:46 20090902 crashing@desktop ~/Desktop/testws]
$ git remote add origin ssh://server.crashingdaily.com/var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting

Then, I place my local files under version control.

[11:42 20090902 crashing@desktop ~/Desktop/testws]
$ git add .

Now I can commit the local files to the local repository.

[11:45 20090902 crashing@desktop ~/Desktop/testws]
$ git commit -a -m 'initialize repo'
[master (root-commit) 7871087] initialize repo
23 files changed, 500 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100755 build.properties
create mode 100755 build.xml

Finally, push the master branch to the remote repository named origin.

[11:46 20090902 crashing@desktop ~/Desktop/testws]
$ git push origin master
Counting objects: 44, done.
Delta compression using up to 2 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (31/31), done.
Writing objects: 100% (44/44), 1.65 MiB, done.
Total 44 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To ssh://server.crashingdaily.com/var/local/git/repos/CrashTesting
* [new branch] master -> master

Compiling mysql on Fedora 8

crashingdaily — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:09:30 +0000

I spent the evening compiling mysql 5.1.37 on Fedora 8. I had no trouble compiling on RHEL4 but on Fedora 8 I ran configure

CFLAGS="-O3" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors \
-fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure \
--enable-assembler \
--with-mysqld-ldflags="-all-static" \
--with-client-ldflags="-all-static"

followed by make and was getting compile errors

/bin/sh ../libtool --preserve-dup-deps --tag=CXX --mode=link gcc -O3 -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-implicit-templates -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -rdynamic -o mysql mysql.o readline.o sql_string.o completion_hash.o ../cmd-line-utils/libedit/libedit.a -lncursesw -all-static -lpthread ../libmysql/libmysqlclient.la -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -lz
libtool: link: gcc -O3 -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-implicit-templates -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -rdynamic -o mysql mysql.o readline.o sql_string.o completion_hash.o -static ../cmd-line-utils/libedit/libedit.a -lncursesw -lpthread ../libmysql/.libs/libmysqlclient.a -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -lz
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lncursesw
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [mysql] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/crashingdaily/mysql-5.1.37/client'
make: *** [all] Error 2

This was resolved by installing the static ncurses libs via the ncurses-static package.

$ sudo yum install ncurses-static

That then left me with the compile failure (showing only part of the error)

../cmd-line-utils/libedit/libedit.a(term.o): In function `term_echotc':
term.c:(.text+0×1557): undefined reference to `tputs'
term.c:(.text+0×1580): undefined reference to `tgetstr'
term.c:(.text+0×1676): undefined reference to `tgoto'
term.c:(.text+0x169a): undefined reference to `tputs'
term.c:(.text+0×1761): undefined reference to `tgoto'
term.c:(.text+0×1781): undefined reference to `tputs'

This was resolved by adding -ltinfo to the client ldflags in the configure options

CFLAGS="-O3" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors \
-fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure \
--enable-assembler \
--with-mysqld-ldflags="-all-static" \
--with-client-ldflags="-all-static -ltinfo"

Now make completed successfully. Lovely.

Running BLAST on Windows XP

crashingdaily — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:44:39 +0000

Today I installed NCBI BLAST on Windows XP SP2 but was unable to run the executables – I was confronted with “the system cannot execute the specified program”.

The fix was to install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package

Persisting ssh connections while changing networks

crashingdaily — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:49:03 +0000

I recently re-discovered autossh. I’ve been using it to persist mounted sshfs volumes but am only just now realizing it’s the scratch for some of my other itches.

With it I can
autossh -M50000 -t -D1080 -Nf crashingdaily.com
to keep a seemingly persistent SOCKS proxy running.

Or
autossh -M50000 -t crashingdaily.com 'screen -aAdR autossh'
to maintain an interactive session.

The value that I missed earlier is that the connections are maintained (re-established, actually) even if I change networks – which my laptop and I often do.

Jon’s View has a nice posting on using autossh for SOCKS proxying.

And Dread Pirate PJ has a good instruction for combining autossh and screen for persistent interactive sessions.

autossh is available for OS X via Darwin Ports and Fink and for Linux as source code or as binary packages from repositories for most modern Linux distributions.

crashingdaily

Missing RPM package conflicts when installing updates

Related:

Fixing the mmr.pl script for SSL

Related:

Using groups with TestNG

Defining test descriptions in testng reports

Extending Selenium server with custom commands

Method 1 – selenium-browserbot.js + selenium-api.js

Method 2 – user-extension.js

Client Coding

Related:

Downsizing Google’s search input box

Related Sites

Initing a new remote git repository with existing files

Compiling mysql on Fedora 8

Running BLAST on Windows XP

Persisting ssh connections while changing networks