November 2005 Archives

Problem:
Use ssh tunnelling to access a Subversion repository using SSH tunneling (i.e. with a subversion repository url of svn+ssh://myservername/myrepo) using the Subclipse subversion integration with Eclipse. I tried various things and used each of the three interfaces for configuring Subclipse (Window, Preferences..., Team, SVN).

When I used JavaHL (JNI) I got the following error, "svn: Can't create tunnel: The system cannot find the file specified." SVN Command Line gave me a similar error. Finally the JavaSVN interface (1.0) just did not want to authenticate with my server at all. Did various searches on Google and couldn't find an answer that worked, just lots of people with a similar problem. Anyway, the following works for me...

Solution:
You need to create an environment variable called "SVN_SSH" that points to an executable file that accepts the same command line arguments as ssh on unix. I did this by doing the following:-

1. Set up ssh keys. Not going to cover that here as you can easily Google for that. You need to end up with your public key on the SVN server and your private key loaded into Paegent locally.


2. Download and installed the excellent TortoiseSVN client for Windows.


3. Set the following environment variable (by right-clicking on My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Environment Variables, New):-

   Variable name: SVN_SSH
   Variable value: C:\\Program Files\\TortoiseSVN\\bin\\TortoisePlink.exe

   (The "\\" is very important, otherwise it won't work. Equally, you cannot use the plink.exe that comes with putty as that fires up a command shell window which is really annoying. The TortoisePlink.exe is a windows implementation of plink that doesn't bring up any UI)
   



4. Configure the Subclipse plugin to use JavaHL (JNI)


5. Restart Eclipse


6. Do a little victory jig (optional)

Well, despite the massive load that Google Analytics took, they have done me proud and are now happily tracking the data from 3 of the sites I look after that I'm most interested in. This blog, VSTSPlugins and VSTSEclipse.

First surprise was that my blog actually gets quite a few hits - significantly more than the other two sites. While we are only talking 100's in a day, it is still a lot more than I thought - and that doesn't include those people who read all my content using RSS. I only really write stuff here of interest to myself or when I don't find something in Google and have to work it out. Anyway, it's nice to have you. I might pay more attention to my spelling and grammar now that I know people are reading.

The next surprise was how distributed around the world people where (see a screenshot of the very nice GeoMap overlay feature). Previously I'd assumed that most of the traffic was folks I've worked with before. While I recognised many of the connecting domains, there are a good few I don't which is nice.

Finally, it was good to see a large firefox population for this blog (just over 30% with the rest of the lion's share going to IE). I also have a nice spread of OS's including Windows Vista, Mac, Linux, SunOS and the odd splattering of mobile devices.

Anyway, hopefully Google Analytics will open it's doors again soon for new users so others can benefit from the fantastic data and great UI that it provides. All for free as well - amazing.

If you had the mis-fortune of hearing me speak at the Belfast launch event for SQL 2005 / Visual Studio 2005 / Biztalk 2006 this morning then the following links may be of interest:-

• Rob Caron's Blog - Best place for VSTS related information


• Visual Studio Team System - Official Microsoft pages


• VSTSPlugins - Open source integrations with VSTS, including the CruiseControl.NET integration demonstrated


• CruiseControl.NET - The Continuous Integration build server


• Teamprise - Access VSTS from inside Eclipse running on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux

Update: If you are after the times I quoted for VSS vs VSTS then see this post.

Ok, so I'm probably not the first or the last person to use that sentance. Anyway, Google Base is responding to requests. See the Google Blog post for more details. This could develop into a massive tagged, searchable repository or it could just be another Web 2.0 idea that won't stick, filling up with out of date classified adverts, spam and pictures you probably shouldn't look at from work.

I can see where this fits into the Google master vision of making the worlds information searchable, but I don't quite get it yet. I didn't get the point of del.icio.us for a while and now I use it everyday so I'm no pointer for internet trends. Anyway, time will tell.

Google has recently announced it's new Analytics service. I've just added the tracker to this site so we'll see what the data looks like in a few hours. From all the screen shots it looks pretty nice, will post an update when I see what it thinks to my small site traffic...

Rather than being a 20% time project, this appears to be the result of Google buying Web Analytics firm Urchin back in March. Looks like they've done a Keyhole and are now giving away the basic service for free. In this case to massively bolster Google's AdSense scheme.

UPDATE: As of 20:09 on the 15th November (24 hours after adding the tracking code), still not got any reports to look at in Google Analytics. I guess that a lot of people signed up for the service yesterday...

Via Joe, the new Team System VPC is now available for download at the MSDN Download Center. Installing Team System is an education in itself and one of the best ways to learn how all the moving parts hang together. However it does take a while to install (especially into a VPC). My record so far is a whole working day for the installation into a shiny new Virtual PC (including Windows 2003 Standard Edition).

If you are wanting a VPC image to have a play with - to do a quick demo, or just try out Team Foundation Server features of Team System then this is for you.

I colleague of mine, Mike Cooper, just pointed me towards the "Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming". Hopefully not because he thinks I need to heed the advice - but it is always good to think about your own behaviour when revewing and pairing. Reading the article made me think back to the first code review sessions I've held with people where they often need to take things less personally, but also to some great pairing sessions I've had with people that really adhere to these rules whether they knew they did or not. I can't help it, I'm in a retrospective mood just lately.

I've been a keen user of Konfabulator for a while now. I even paid for a couple of licenses in the pre-Yahoo days. It's really easy to hack up your own widgets, and I have a strange self-distructive streak that means I enjoy writing in javascript every now and then.

Today, I've just noticed a load of familiar looking exe files in:-

C:\Program Files\Pixoria\Konfabulator\UnixUtils\usr\local\wbin

With names like ls.exe, grep.exe, less.exe, curl.exe. Fire up a command shell and they are (you guessed it) ports of handy little unix utils. I now feel inspired to write a pretty version of tail for windows...