LordElph's Ramblings » Uncategorized http://blog.dixo.net Stuff and nonsense about software development and whatever else I find fun... Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:04:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 There’s a bit of me in PHP! http://blog.dixo.net/2009/06/03/theres-a-bit-of-me-in-php/ http://blog.dixo.net/2009/06/03/theres-a-bit-of-me-in-php/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:39:30 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/?p=305 Last October I found a bug in PHP’s SOAP module. It was pretty obscure bug in the way PHP used Digest authentication. As it was a showstopper for me, I submitted a bug report and wrote a patch to fix it.

It took a while, but my patch has finally been merged into the 5.* and 6.0 sources!

I’ve been using PHP for ten years, and so it’s perhaps a little surprising it’s taken me this long to give anything back. Truth is, this was the first time I’ve come across a bug which halted my development work.

It’s a tiny fix, 6 lines of code, but it makes me happy that after all this time, finally, there’s a bit of me in PHP! Hurrah for open source software!

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2009/06/03/theres-a-bit-of-me-in-php/feed/ 4 Geograph Torrents http://blog.dixo.net/2008/06/30/geograph-torrents/ http://blog.dixo.net/2008/06/30/geograph-torrents/#comments Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:03:53 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/?p=202 Something Geograph has needed for some time is a way to get at the entire archive without causing us huge bandwidth bills – it’s currently around 100GB in size.

So I’m please to announce http://torrents.geograph.org.uk/ where you will be able to download the entire archive via BitTorrent!

More details…

We’re going to release the archive as a series of volumes, each containing around 50,000 images and weighing in at around 5GB. The first volume is available now, with a smaller sample volume which allows you to preview how the metadata is delivered.

All the metadata for each volume is delivered as a RDF formatted file called manifest.rdf, which should be self explanatory, here is a sample fragment:
Look

<rdf:Description rdf:about=”00/00/000014.jpg“>
<dc:identifier>http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/14</dc:identifier>
<dc:title>Durdle Door from the east</dc:title>
<dc:subject>Coastline/Beaches</dc:subject>
<dc:creator>Helena Downton</dc:creator>
<dc:dateSubmitted>2005-03-06T10:20:26Z</dc:dateSubmitted>
<georss:point relationshiptag=”is-picture-of”>50.6205085825182 -2.27398572077417</georss:point>
<georss:point relationshiptag=”was-taken-from”>50.6211552007986 -2.26663784055893</georss:point>
<dc:licence>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/</dc:licence>
<dc:format>image/jpeg</dc:format>
<dc:type>http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/StillImage</dc:type>
<dc:publisher>www.geograph.org.uk</dc:publisher>
</rdf:Description>

How to download

If you are new to using bittorrent, you will need some software, such as Vuze (aka Azureus) or uTorrent. Once installed, go to http://torrents.geograph.org.uk/ and click a torrent link to set it downloading – easy!

Please seed!

Please seed these torrents if you are able – simply leave your torrent client software running after your download has completed. You’ll be helping others to complete their downloads faster!

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2008/06/30/geograph-torrents/feed/ 2 OS Map Integration into Geograph Begins! http://blog.dixo.net/2006/11/15/os-map-integration-into-geograph-begins/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/11/15/os-map-integration-into-geograph-begins/#comments Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:00:25 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/2006/11/15/os-map-integration-into-geograph-begins/ Ordnance Survey have sent the Geograph team 21 CDs of 1:50K maps. Huge thanks to the OS for making this possible, this data is otherwise prohibitively expensive to consider using within a site like Geograph.

Over the next fews days these are getting trickled up to the Geograph servers, and then Barry Hunter will perform the integration work. You can probably expect to start seeing some basic integration of maps into photo viewing pages before Christmas. This will really enhance the educational value of the site, something we’ll be building further upon in the new year.

Coincidentally, Ed Parsons offers a tantalising glimpse of OS Openspace today. Can’t wait to see that reach a public release…

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2006/11/15/os-map-integration-into-geograph-begins/feed/ 1 Sponsor LadyElph in the Race For Life! http://blog.dixo.net/2006/06/07/sponsor-ladyelph-in-the-race-for-life/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/06/07/sponsor-ladyelph-in-the-race-for-life/#comments Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:12:04 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/2006/06/07/sponsor-ladyelph-in-the-race-for-life/ Race for LifeMy better half, the lovely Sarah, is taking part in this years Race For Life in aid of Cancer Research UK. She’s aiming to hit £150 and is on £97 already, so if you can spare a few quid, read more about it and sponsor her online.

Sarah sends big hugs to anyone who sponsors.

You know it makes sense. Click it! Click it now!

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2006/06/07/sponsor-ladyelph-in-the-race-for-life/feed/ 0 Look out Warsaw http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/18/look-out-warsaw/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/18/look-out-warsaw/#comments Thu, 18 May 2006 17:07:49 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/18/look-out-warsaw/ No posts, or coding, or tweaks or *anything* from me for 3 days, I’m off to Warsaw for a stag weekend!

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/18/look-out-warsaw/feed/ 0 Blogging, I finally get it. http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/01/blogging-i-finally-get-it/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/01/blogging-i-finally-get-it/#comments Mon, 01 May 2006 07:50:26 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/01/blogging-i-finally-get-it/ This blog has now completed its first full month, and I’ve managed to average one post per day! I’ve had various aborted attempts at doing this in years gone by, but this is the most active I’ve ever been.

One of the reasons is that I think I finally “get it”. My previous attempts at blogging were more about collecting daft links I didn’t want to bookmark but might want some day. I can do that now with del.icio.us. Now, I find myself using Technorati to track topics I’m interested in, and when an interesting post pops up, I try to relate it to things I’m working on or past experience.

I was quite surprised and encouraged that many posts with more original content attracted comments, so I’m going to try and do more of that. It should be an exciting month for Geograph, so expect many posts on that topic.

It seems you can’t fully appreciate the blogosphere until you immerse yourself in it!

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2006/05/01/blogging-i-finally-get-it/feed/ 0 Save Parliament! http://blog.dixo.net/2006/04/05/save-parliament/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/04/05/save-parliament/#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2006 19:06:10 +0000 lordelph http://blog.dixo.net/2006/04/05/save-parliament/
Save Parliament From the “Save Parliament” website – “The boringly-named Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is in fact a very dangerous piece of legislation. It grants any minister the ability to amend, replace, or repeal existing legislation. The frightening thing is this: they would be able to make major changes to the law without Parliament being able to examine it properly, taking away the ability of Parliament to meaningfully represent the citizens of this country.”

I’m no activist, but it’s stuff like this which gets me writing to my MP. I don’t know how I’ve missed this issue to date, but I’m damn sure I’ll add my voice to it’s opposition.

]]> http://blog.dixo.net/2006/04/05/save-parliament/feed/ 0 Third time lucky http://blog.dixo.net/2006/03/27/third-time-lucky/ http://blog.dixo.net/2006/03/27/third-time-lucky/#comments Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:24:44 +0000 lordelph I’ve tried this blogging thing twice before, and the trick is to have some focus or purpose. Last time around it was just for logging daft and interesting links that I didn’t need to bookmark, but might want someday. Del.icio.us soon did a better job of that for me.

So what will I write about?

  • The Geograph Project – takes up a lot of spare time
  • Geocaching - the only activity which gets me outside at the moment
  • PHP and C++ software development, as that’s what I spend my days doing
  • I’ll undoubtedly throw in a few daft links too :)

OK! Let’s go!

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