ies4linux on Ubuntu Jaunty

Installing ies4linux on Jaunty is not so straight forward. I have only managed to install IE6 and flash so far (IE1 - IE7 would be available in the same package).

First of all, wine and cabextract are needed:
$ sudo apt-get install -y wine cabextract

then download the ies4 linux package:

cd /tmp
wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
cd ies4linux-*

The version check of wine is looking for re/0\.9\.*/ but wine hited version 1.* some weeks ago, this version check doesn't work, I have disabled it since we are using defenately a newer version. Edit «lib/functions.sh» and comment out the line with wine version check (~ line 36):

--- lib/functions.sh-dist 2009-07-17 17:39:55.283279400 +0200
+++ lib/functions.sh 2009-07-17 17:39:59.917574880 +0200
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 # Find where wine is
 function find_wine {
  which wine &> /dev/null || error $MSG_ERROR_INSTALL_WINE
- wine --version 2>&1  | grep -q "0.9." || warning $MSG_WARNING_OLDWINE
+ # wine --version 2>&1  | grep -q "0.9." || warning $MSG_WARNING_OLDWINE
 }
 
 # check for cabextract

Now the installer should work and you can install ies4linux (ie6 + flash + msfonts) to your $HOME directory:

./ies4linux  \
            --basedir ~/ies4linux --bindir ~/bin \
            --no-desktop-icon --install-corefonts --no-gui

The «--help» and «--full-help» command line arguments do not expose all commandline parameters. All options can be found in the ./ies4linux shell script:

# Get command-line options
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
 case "$1" in
 --install-ie6 | --install-flash)   shift;;
 --install-ie55)     export INSTALLIE55=1;   shift ;;
 --install-ie5)      export INSTALLIE5=1;    shift ;;
 --install-ie2)      export INSTALLIE2=1;    shift ;;
 --install-ie15)     export INSTALLIE15=1;    shift ;;
 --install-ie1)      export INSTALLIE1=1;    shift ;;

 --install-ie7|--beta-install-ie7) export INSTALLIE7=1;    shift ;;
 --hack-ie7-proxy-settings)        export HACK_IE7_PROXY=1; shift ;;

 --no-ie6)           export INSTALLIE6=0;   shift ;;
 --no-flash)         export INSTALLFLASH=0;  shift ;;
 --no-desktop-icon)  export CREATE_DESKTOP_ICON=0;   shift ;;
 --no-menu-icon)     export CREATE_MENU_ICON=0;   shift ;;
 --install-corefonts) export INSTALLCOREFONTS=1; shift ;;
 
 --basedir)          export BASEDIR="$2";     shift 2 ;;
 --bindir)           export BINDIR="$2";      shift 2 ;;
 --downloaddir)     export DOWNLOADDIR="$2"; changeddownloaddir=1; shift 2 ;;
 --wget-flags)       export WGETFLAGS="$2";   shift 2 ;;
 
 --no-gui)           export IES4LINUX_MODE="automatic"; shift ;;
 --no-color)     export NOCOLOR=1;        shift 1 ;;
 --gui)              export PREFERRED_GUI=$2; shift 2 ;;
 --no-localization)
  eval $(load_variables_file "$IES4LINUX/lang/enUS.sh")
  shift
  ;;
 
 --uninstall)
  uninstall
  exit 0
  ;;
 --locale)
  export CHOOSED_IE6_LOCALE=$(echo "$2" | tr a-z A-Z)
  shift 2
  ;;
 --list-locales)
  echo $IE6_LOCALES | fmt -w 40
  exit 0
  ;;
 --debug)
  export DEBUG=true
  shift
  ;;
 --help | -h)
  sh lib/help.sh
  exit 0
  ;;
 --full-help)
  sh lib/help.sh full
  exit 0
  ;; 
 *)
  echo "Error: unknown option \"$1\""
  if echo "$1" | grep '=' >/dev/null; then
   echo "Options are not GNU-style"
   echo "  i.e. don't use: --option=value"
   echo "     use instead: --option value"
  fi
  echo "run \"./ies4linux --help\" for more info"
  exit 1
  ;;
 esac
done

Ubuntu Jaunty and LSB (Linux Standard Base)

I can't believe it but it's true, LSB is not part of the Jaunty default installation *sigh*

the following command works so nicely if one wants to detect the linux version a script is running on:
$ echo $(lsb_release -rcsi)

but without LSB the command won't work. I am a little bit surprised that it is not common among all linux releases to include LSB (except for the ones going for small footprint like DSL).

Install LSB on jaunty with:

$ sudo apt-get install -y lsb

simplified deb package management

pkg shell script to the rescue. typing often used commands for software management on a debian based (deb) system can be boring an error prone. Some commands might be used often, such as «apt-get install», «apt-cache search» and «dpkg -l», etc. This script exposes the most used commands as easy to remebr commands (pkg* for package *i = install, *s = search, *u = update, etc.).

Modes:
  pkgi [parameters] >name<  Install package with >name<
  pkgs [parameters] >name<  Search for package >name<
  pkgu                      Upgrade all packages
  pkgl >name<               List installed Packages filtered by >name<
  pkgr [parameters] >name<  Remove installed package
  pkgp [parameters] >name<  Purge installed package
  pkgc                      Cleanup
  pkg  setup                Setup symlinks
  pkg  remove|uninstall     Remove symlinks

pkg (bash script):

#!/bin/bash

# shortcuts to frequently used package management tools like  apt-get, 
# dpkg and apt-cache
#
# NOTE: this script does not work if you havb spaces in your path.
#
# $Id$

# usage
function usage {
cat << EOT
usage: (pkgi|pkgs|pkgr|pkgp|pkgl|pkgu) [parameters] [name]

Modes:
  pkgi [parameters] <name>  Install package with <name>
  pkgs [parameters] <name>  Search for package <name>
  pkgu                      Upgrade all packages
  pkgl <name>               List installed Packages filtered by <name>
  pkgr [parameters] <name>  Remove installed package
  pkgp [parameters] <name>  Purge installed package
  pkgc                      Cleanup
  pkg  setup                Setup symlinks
  pkg  remove|uninstall     Remove symlinks
Mappings:
  pkgi [parameters] <name>  sudo apt-get install [parameters] <name>
  pkgs [parameters] <name>  apt-cache search [parameters] <name>
  pkgu                      sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade 
  pkgl <name>               dpkg -l | grep <name>
  pkgr [parameters] <name>  sudo apt-get remove [parameters] <name>
  pkgr [parameters] <name>  sudo apt-get remove --purge [parameters] <name>
  pkgc                      sudo apt-get autoremove
Exit Codes
  0: success
  1: unknown command (install, remove, autoclean, etc.)
  2: parameter missing
  3: no write permission (needed by setup)
EOT
}

function fn_help {
 fn=$(basename $1)
 echo -en "usage: $fn "

 case $fn in
  "pkgi")
   echo "[parameters] <name> - Install package with <name>" ;;
  "pkgu" )
   echo "- Update repository" ;;
  "pkgs" )
   echo "[parameters] <name> - Search for package <name>" ;;
  "pkgl" )
   echo "<name> - List installed Packages filtered by <name>" ;;
  "pkgr" )
   echo "[parameters] <name> - Remove installed package " ;;
  "pkgp" )
   echo "[parameters] <name> - Purge installed package " ;;
  "pkgc" )
   echo "- Cleanup" ;;
  * )
   echo "Unknown program!" 
   exit 2
   ;;
 esac
}

function remove {
 for l in $@; do
  p=$(basename $l)
  if [[ "$p" == "pkg" ]]; then
   continue
  fi
  rm $l
 done
 
 exit 0;
}

# parameters
filename=$(basename "$0");
command=""

if [[ "$filename" == "pkgi" ]]; then command="install";    fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgu" ]]; then command="upgrade";    fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgs" ]]; then command="search";     fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgl" ]]; then command="list";       fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgr" ]]; then command="remove";     fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgp" ]]; then command="purge";      fi
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgc" ]]; then command="autoremove"; fi

# setup ?
if [[ "$filename" == "pkg" ]]; then 
 basedir=$(dirname $0)
 escaped=$(echo "$basedir" | sed -e 's/\//\\\//g')
 pkgs=$(echo $basedir/pkg* | sed -e 's/'$escaped"\/pkg "'//')
 
 if [[ "$1" == "remove" || "$1" == "uninstall" ]]; then
#  if [[ $(basename $0) == "pkg" ]]; then
#   exit 0;
#  fi 
# 
  echo "Removing ..."
  remove $pkgs
 fi

 if [[ "$1" == "setup" ]]; then
  
  # check if we can write to the directory to reate the symlinks
  if [[ ! -w "$basedir" ]]; then 
   echo "No write permission to create symlinks in $basedir";
   exit 2;
  fi
  
  echo "Installed links"
  ls -la $pkgs;
  
  echo
  echo "Purging links"
  if [[ $(basename $0) != "pkg" ]]; then
   exit 0;
  fi 
#  for l in $pkgs; do
#   echo $l
#   rm $l
#  done
  
  echo
  echo "creating links"
  for l in pkgc pkgi pkgl pkgr pkgp pkgs pkgu; do
   echo $basedir/pkg "->" $basedir/$l
   ln -s $basedir/pkg $basedir/$l
  done
  exit 0;  
 fi
 
 if [[ -z "$1" || "$1" == "-h" || "$1" == "--help" ]]; then
  usage;
  exit 0;
 fi
fi

# show help text ?
if [[ "$1" == "-h" || "$1" == "--help" ]]; then
 fn_help "$0"
 exit 0
fi

# show help if parameters are missing
if [[ "$filename" == "pkgi" || "$filename" == "pkgs" || 
      "$filename" == "pkgr" || "$filename" == "pkg" || 
      "$filename" == "pkgs" || "$filename" == "pkgp" ]]; then
 if [[ -z "$1" ]]; then
  fn_help "$0"
  exit 2
 fi
fi

# unknown command
if [[ -z "$command" ]]; then
 fn_help "$0"
 exit 1
fi

# execute 
if [[ "$command" == "list" ]]; then 
 /usr/bin/dpkg -l | grep -v "^r" | \
 sed -e 's/\(..\)[ \t]\+\([^ ]\+\)[ \t]\+\([^ ]\+\)[ \t]\+\(.*\)$/\2 - \4/'|\
 grep "$1"
elif [[ "$command" == "search" ]]; then 
 /usr/bin/apt-cache search $@
elif [[ "$command" == "purge" ]]; then 
 sudo /usr/bin/apt-get remove --purge $@
elif [[ "$command" == "update" ]]; then 
 sudo /usr/bin/apt-get update $@ && sudo /usr/bin/apt-get upgrade $@
else
 sudo /usr/bin/apt-get $command $@
fi

exit 0

fsv 0.9 deb for Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid (x86)

This package will be built according to these values:

0 -  Maintainer: [ root@splatter ]
1 -  Summary: [ fsv (pronounced eff-ess-vee) is a file system visualizer in cyberspace. It lays out files and directories in three dimensions, geometrically representing the file system hierarchy to allow visual overview and analysis. fsv can visualize a modest home directory, a workstation's hard drive, or any arbitrarily large collection of files, limited only by the host computer's memory and graphics hardware. ]
2 -  Name:    [ fsv ]
3 -  Version: [ 0.9 ]
4 -  Release: [ 1 ]
5 -  License: [ GPL ]
6 -  Group:   [ checkinstall ]
7 -  Architecture: [ i386 ]
8 -  Source location: [ fsv-0.9 ]
9 -  Alternate source location: [  ]
10 - Requires: [  ]
11 - Provides: [ fsv ]

Make sure to install the following packages first:
$ sudo apt-get install -y gtkglarea5-dev libgtkgl2.0-dev libgtk1.2-dev

Download fsv 0.9 deb for Ubuntu x86 8.10 Interpid

Django Project creation check list

1) (Optional) Create new Project: django-admin.py startproject projectname
2a) Add to Apache config (replace evreything within <>):

<Location "/<location>/">
  SetHandler python-program
  PythonHandler django.core.handlers.modpython
  SetEnv DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE ikariam.settings
 
  PythonDebug On # disable this on a production site!

  PythonPath "['<path to project root>'] + sys.path"
</Location>
# media files
Alias /media "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/django/contrib/admin/media"

2b) Optionally run the python webserver: python manage.py runserver 8080
3) settings.py: Set TIME_ZONE = 'Europe/Zurich' and LANGUAGE_CODE = 'de-CH'
4) settings.py: Set Database config
5) settings.py: Add project

INSTALLED_APPS = (
  'mysite.books', # or
  'mysite'
)

6) example Model:

# $Id$
#
# if not specified, primarykeys will be generated automatically. A field
# with the name `id` is added as auto increment field. So do not specifically
# declare primarykeys manually unless needed.
# http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/db/models/#automatic-primary-key-fields
from django.db import models

class Schedule(models.Model):
 # id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
 start = models.TimeField()
 end = models.TimeField()
 lastmod = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
 inserted = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

 def __unicode__(self):
  return self.start + " - " + self.end

class Price(models.Model):
 # id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
 name = models.CharField(max_length=10)
 description = models.CharField(max_length=250)
 lastmod = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
 inserted = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

 def __unicode__(self):
  return self.name

class Event(models.Model):
 # id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
 name = models.CharField(max_length=30)
 start = models.DateField()
 end = models.DateField()

 schedule = models.ForeignKey(Schedule)
 price = models.ForeignKey(Price)

 lastmod = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
 inserted = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

 def __unicode__(self):
  return self.name

 class Meta:
  # db_table = u'ana_event'
  ordering = ["name"]
  verbose_name = "Event"
  verbose_name_plural = "Events"
 
 class Admin:
  pass
#  list_display = ("name", "start", "end")
#  search_fields = ('name',)
#  list_filter = ('name')
#  ordering = ('x', 'y')

7) Check db creation and create Database:

python manage.py validate # validate db structure
python manage.py sqlall projectname # show creation SQL
python manage.py syncdb # create Database

8) Install the admin application. Do this by adding "django.contrib.admin" to your INSTALLED_APPS setting.

INSTALLED_APPS = (
  'django.contrib.auth',
  'django.contrib.contenttypes',
  'django.contrib.sessions',
  'django.contrib.sites',
  'django.contrib.admin',
  'ana'
)

9) Install url redirector

from django.conf.urls.defaults import *

# Uncomment the next two lines to enable the admin:
from django.contrib import admin
admin.autodiscover()

urlpatterns = patterns('',
  # Example:
  # (r'^ana/', include('ana.foo.urls')),
  
  # Uncomment the admin/doc line below and add 'django.contrib.admindocs'
  # to INSTALLED_APPS to enable admin documentation:
  # (r'^admin/doc/', include('django.contrib.admindocs.urls')),
  
  # Uncomment the next line to enable the admin:
  # (r'admin/$', include('django.contrib.admin.urls')),
  (r'^ana/admin/(.*)$', admin.site.root),
)

10) Write an aemin definition for the objects

from ana.models import Event
from django.contrib import admin

class EventAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
# fieldsets = [
#  (None,               {'fields': ['question']}),
#  ('Date information', {'fields': ['pub_date'], 'classes': ['collapse']}),
# ]

 # display these fields in the listing
 list_display = ("name", "start", "end")

 # add filter to the right of a listing
 #list_filter = ['name']

 # Let's add some search capability:
 search_fields = ['name']

 # Finally, because Poll objects have dates, it'd be convenient
 # to be able to drill down by date. Add this line:
 # date_hierarchy = 'pub_date'

 # liste verkleinern
 # def queryset(self, request):
 # return self.model._default_manager.filter(ocean=0)

admin.site.register(Event, EventAdmin)

Django

As everyone I became infected by Python lately. Django seems to be a nice web development framework which eases the pain of everyday tasks quiet nicely.

Luckily «The Django Book» is freely available in HTML. However, I hate going through the TOC over and over again, an RSS Feed in Firefox's Bookmark toolbar saves me 1-2 clicks for every lookup.



Here ist the TOC RSS.

Ikariam, IkaTrader

i have written some greasemonkey scripts for ikariam.de. These help to get a better overview for trading: listing incoming ships, linsting all your ships (in-/outbound).

These scripts are written for firefox 2 utilizing the greasemonkey etxtension.

More about the features and downloads for IkaTrader.

Ikariam grease monkey scripts

Autologin grease monkey script for Ikariam:

// ==UserScript==
// @name           IkariamAutologin2
// @namespace      Ikariam
// @include        http://ikariam.de/
// ==/UserScript==

var SERVER = "s5.ikariam.de"; //Nur die Zahl verändern s1 = alpha, s2 = beta
var USERNAME = "username";        //Hier deinen Username eintragen
var PASSWORD = "password";    //Hier dein Passwort eintragen


document.getElementById("universe").value = SERVER;
document.getElementById("login").value = USERNAME;
document.getElementById("pwd").value = PASSWORD;

var url = "http://" + document.getElementById("universe").value + "/index.php?action=loginAvatar&function=login";
            
document.getElementById('loginForm').action = url;
document.getElementById("loginForm").submit();     

php5 beauty, reflection api

the php4 way

beside very usefull features like try/catch php5 has many little nifty features. i had to fetch all methods of a class, regardless of visibility. get_class_methods(mixed $class_name) has been introduced in php4 and is only able to get public methods. I needed a way to list protected/private methods of a class (without the need of executing them).

Reflection API
The reflection api (intreduced in php5) is a much more flexible way to find out information about a class, object, methods, properties, etc.

PHP5 Reflection API Documentation

List all methods of a class (public, private, protected, final, static):

<?php
$r = new ReflectionClass('Exception'); 
print_r($r->getMethods());
?>

ivtv scanner and tuner

with my new pvr-150 from hauppauge i was wondering how to scan for channels.

it seems quiet simple:

echo "" > channels; 
c=0; 
while [[ $c -lt 255 ]]; do 
 ivtv-tune -c $c | grep "Detected" | awk '{print $2"\t"'$c'}'; 
 c=`expr $c + 1`; 
done >> channels & \
tail -f channels

The above scanner scans by channel, this is not optimal if you are living in a not-so-well-known region and you have a brain dead tv provider which doesn't make the frequency table available online (like eblcom.ch a subsidary of cablecom).

the example below will scan by frequency rather than by channel:

#!/bin/bash

## begin config
start="170.000"; # float, must provide 3 decimal digits 
end="1000.000";  # float, must provide 3 decimal digits 
step="250";      # int, seps by thousands
file="channel.txt";
## end config

c=`echo $start \* 1000 | bc | sed -e 's/\.000//'`;
end=`echo $end \* 1000 | bc | sed -e 's/\.000//'`;
detected=0;
fstart=0;
fend=0;
last=0;

channel=0;

while [ $c -lt $end ]; do
 freq=`echo "$c" | sed -e 's/\([0-9]\{3\}\)$/.\1/'`;
 # echo "$c | $freq";
 r=`ivtv-tune -f $freq | grep Detected`;
 c=`echo "$c + 250" | bc`;
 
 if [[ $detected == 0 ]]; then
  if [[ -n "$r" ]]; then
   fstart=$freq;
   detected=1;
  fi
 else
  if [[ -z "$r" ]]; then
   fend=$last;
   detected=0;
   
   #echo "scale=3; ($fend - $fstart) / 2 + $fstart";
   med=`echo "scale=3; ($fend - $fstart) / 2 + $fstart" | bc`;
   
   echo "$channel $med";
   echo "$channel $med" >> $file;
   
   channel=`expr $channel + 1`;
  fi
 fi
 
 last=$freq;
 
done

and here is a simple bash tuner

#!/bin/bash

# config
device=/dev/video0;
channels=~/.channels
lastchannel=~/.lastchannel
channel=1;
frequency=0;

if [[ -f "$lastchannel" ]]; then
 channel=`cat $lastchannel`;
fi

# start mplayer
mplayer -vo xv /dev/video0 -ao sdl $device 2>&1 >/dev/null &
mplayerpid=$!;
echo "pid of mplayer: $mplayerpid";

# tun into other channel
function tune {
 frequency=`cat $channels | awk '/^'$1'\t/ {print $2}'`;
 
 if [[ -z "$frequency" ]]; then
  echo "unknown channel $1" > /dev/stderr;
  return 1;
 fi
 
 echo $1 > $lastchannel
 channel=$1; 
 ivtv-tune -d $device -f $frequency 2>&1 >/dev/null&
 
 return 0;
}

# tune default channel
tune $channel;

# main loop
while true; do

 # read input
 echo -en "Channel $channel/$frequency [or +/-] "; read c;
 
 # validate input
 c=`echo "$c" | sed -e 's/[^q0-9\+\-]//g '`;
 
 # +/- change channel ?
 if [[ "$c" == "+" ]]; then 
  tune `expr $channel + 1`;
  continue;
 fi

 if [[ "$c" == "-" ]]; then 
  tune `expr $channel - 1`;
  continue;
 fi
 
 # quit ?
 if [[ "$c" == "q" ]]; then 
  kill -TERM $mplayerpid 2>/dev/null; 
  break;
 fi
 
 # numeric channel
 if [[ -n "$c" ]]; then 
  tune $c;
  continue;
 fi
 
 echo $c;
done

exit 0;

Ubuntu Gutsy & Zattoo

works, but after some glitches. Zattoo (like many other commercial applications udner linux) uses OSS instead of ALSA. Why? Is OSS more *nix compatible ?

Anyway, as suggested, if you are using ALSA you need some glue to OSS to make many strange adio/video apps working (like flash player). This is true for zattoo too.

# sudo apt-get install alsa-oss

Then start Zattoo with

$ /usr/bin/zattoo_player

Metropolis - Open SimCity

SimCity was was released as opensource project with the code name Metropolis by Don Hopkins. There is not a lot of information available yet, i have skimmed the wiki so far.

Unfortunately, it does not work on Ubuntu Gutsy, this is what I get after installing the x86 build on my 32bit ubuntu install (i had to install yacc and libxpm-dev manually).

$ sudo apt-get install -y yacc libxpm-dev

I can only get to the main menu, it looks like this:



When I run the game the game starts but does not react to any user input:

spliffy@splatter:~/Desktop/micropolis-activity$ sh ./Micropolis -S
Starting Micropolis in /home/spliffy/Desktop/micropolis-activity ...
Welcome to X11 Multi Player Micropolis version 4.0 by Will Wright, Don Hopkins.
Copyright (C) 2002 by Electronic Arts, Maxis. All rights reserved.
sh: Syntax error: Bad fd number
sh: Syntax error: Bad fd number
Adding a player on :0.0 ...
Cool, I found the shared memory extension!

Micropolis has been terminated by a signal.
Pick a window -- you're leaving!


spliffy@splatter:~/Desktop/micropolis-activity$ sh ./Micropolis
Starting Micropolis in /home/spliffy/Desktop/micropolis-activity ...
Welcome to X11 Multi Player Micropolis version 4.0 by Will Wright, Don Hopkins.
Copyright (C) 2002 by Electronic Arts, Maxis. All rights reserved.
sh: Syntax error: Bad fd number
sh: Syntax error: Bad fd number
Adding a player on :0.0 ...
Cool, I found the shared memory extension!

Micropolis has been terminated by a signal.
Pick a window -- you're leaving!

Does someboy know how to fix this? i am really looking forward to play SimCity :)

Screenshot:

continous read from bash pipe

Pipes are great, I love pipes. This is the reason I love the unix way of live, thousands of small utilities (if you know them) which usually read from /dev/stdin and output to /dev/stdout. So simple and powerfull that it is often overseen (by gui users). Tese examples are for bash:

Creating a pipe

mkfifo /tmp/pipe

Continously reading from a pipe:

while true; do
 if [[ ! -p /tmp/pipe ]]; then break; fi
 l="`cat /tmp/pipe`";
 echo "$l";
done &

Writing to the pipe:

echo -en "a\nb\n" >> /tmp/pipe

bash completion for SQL*Plus -- sweet!

just found the following script from Kris Rice:

------FILE-------
_sqlplus()
{
local cur
COMPREPLY=()
cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
prev=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD-1]}

if [ $COMP_CWORD -eq 1 ] && [[ "$cur" == -* ]]; then
# return a list of switched
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '-H -V -C -L -M -R -S' -- $cur ) )
elif [[ "$cur" == "/" ]]; then
# only /nolog is possible
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '/nolog' -- $cur ) )
elif [[ "$prev" == "as" ]]; then
# as sysdba sysoper
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W 'sysdba sysoper' -- $cur ) )
elif [[ "$prev" == "-R" ]]; then
# added for completness
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '1 2 3' -- $cur ) )
elif [[ "$cur" =~ "@" ]]; then
# if @
base=${cur:1}
COMPREPLY=( ${COMPREPLY[@]:-} $( compgen -f -P "@" -X "$xspec" -- "$base" ) $( compgen -d -P "@" -- "$base" ) )
elif [[ "$prev" =~ "@" ]]; then
# if @
COMPREPLY=( ${COMPREPLY[@]:-} $( compgen -f -P "@" -X "$xspec" -- "$cur" ) $( compgen -d -P "@" -- "$cur" ) )
elif [[ "$*" =~ "/" ]] ;then
# already has a / assume it's the pass
COMPREPLY=
else
#default
_history
fi
}
complete -F _sqlplus $nospace $filenames sqlplus


_history()
{
local cur
cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
COMPREPLY=( $( compgen -W '$( command grep "^sqlplus" ~/.bash_history ) ' -- $cur ) )
}
------FILE-------

oracle 10 on Linux

working with oracle now I wanted a system for experimenting. I find reporting tasks a lot easier to be done from a *nix system as from windows, altough I haven't used oracle so far (experiences from other db systems). Unfortunately my employer mostly favours windows.

So I have decided to install Oracle 10 on a linux system. The first install was tedous, I have decided to download the deb from oracle.com. After finding out there are some apt channels, I have added the following source to /etc/apt/sources.list and installed as follows:

# echo -en "\n# oracle 10\n >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
# echo -en "deb http://oss.oracle.com/debian unstable main non-free\n" >> \
/etc/apt/sources.list
$ wget http://oss.oracle.com/el4/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle  -O- | sudo apt-key add -
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y oracle-xe oracle-xe-client cl-sql-oracle

run the post configuration script:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure

make sure the service is running:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe start

then add a new user (make it a dba)
<http://127.0.0.1:8080>

restart the database service:

sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe restart

generate a tns file in your home directory, save it unter ~/tnsnames.ora:

<FQDN> =
(DESCRIPTION =
  (ADDRESS_LIST =
      (ADDRESS =
        (COMMUNITY = tcp.world)
        (PROTOCOL = TCP)
        (Host = 10.0.0.33)
        (Port = 1521)
      )
    )
  (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = <HOSTNAME>)
  )
)

replace <FQDN> with fulyl qualified domain name and <HOSTNAME> with the actual hostname.

then you should be able to connect to your database. use sqlplus to do so:

$ sqlplus <user>/<pass>@<HOSTNAME>

Now you should have a setup with one database administrator.