This error message kept showing up in my Console:
com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd[790]) Exited with exit code: 1

Followed a lengthy process to discount disk errors – (finding and fixing some serious ones) then a clean install and update of the system. Yeuch.

In the end it turns out to have been an error in the latest addition to my virtualhosts in /etc/apache2/virtualhosts. No error in the contents (created by the excellent virtualhost.sh script) – but something wrong with the file or its permissions or gawd knows what.

Obscure, strange and particularly annoying when a deadline is looming. Nevermind – next time I know to temporarily disable any virtualhosts when trying to find out what has killed my Apache server.

Cloud enabled local web development? That’s an oxymoron — right? Explain. I prefer to develop/design using MAMP as it’s quicker and doesn’t rely on a sketchy internet connection. While I have a main powerhouse of a Mac Pro under my desk I also use a very capable little MacBook Pro.*

Anyway

I was on the road today – and finally felt the full advantage of getting myself fully into The Cloud.

The main issue? Synchronising my digital self across more than one computer. Storage and email are the main issues…

While according to some Apple’s dot Mac/MobileMe may well be the current cream of cloud subscription services in North America – out here in backwater Europe performance is sh*te. Particularly iDisk. While Apple’s webmail is good – it’s trying too hard to be a desktop application and failing.

For storage I can’t recommend Dropbox enough and for e-mail there’s Gmail…

Dropbox

Now I’ve got my Sites folder (and  a few salient folders of Work In Progress) in Amazon’s S3 cloud via Dropbox. The free service is great (2GB) and the paid versions (50/100GB) are not expensive…

• It’s easy.
• It’s speedy. One of the technical features of the system is that files are stored as blobs of hashed deltas (wikipedia says it betterer )… popular files are recognized and appear online without having to be transferred – for example some reference books and software libraries that uploaded very smartly.
• It’s nimble. As the thing works with deltas and blobs it’s also quick to mirror things when you’ve just been making minor edits or rearranging things.
• 30 days of versioning for all your files - TimeMachine in the Cloud!

Syncing external folders (e.g. ~/Sites ) across multiple machines with Dropbox

Thanks to this post I found the answer…

[NB - your short user name needs to be the same on all your Macs! If not then go here and read part three "The Full Monty"...]

The steps to synchronising your ~/Sites folder (or any folder that you don’t want to move into the Dropbox watched folder ) between two or more Macs are:

1. temporarily turn off Dropbox on both machines
2. make your first sync manually between them (use a direct connection – or load up a USB stick/external HD)
3. create symlinks into your Dropbox folder on both machines. Create the symlink by typing a command into a Terminal window… it goes a little something like this: ln -s  /path/to/folder/name_desired_folder ~/Dropbox/desired-folder
4. then restart Dropbox on both machines

Now I’m coding on the go with hassle-free syncing and backup. That is nice.

Email

Well I’ve become a Gmail man. It may not be pretty but Gmail has threaded conversations done properly and labels. Took me a while to get used to threaded conversations [takes me a while to get most things!] but now I find them indispensable. Gmail’s generally very good at keeping quoted text out of your face making the threads very readable. Obviously threaded conversations aren’t so useful if people veer off-track or forsake the reply button in favour of the new message. Offline access was not robust in Safari and now it’s not an option as Mac OS 10.6 won’t have it.  So I still use Mail.app as a backup.

Still on MobileMe/dotMac

The missing links… I’m still on Mobile Me and using it for Address Book, Calendar and Keychain synching. [My FTP favourites too thank's to Panic's Mobile Me implementation in their FTP app Transmit]. Tied into this is Apple’s iSync application which is keeping my mobiles in step. Until Google’s address book improves drastically I’m not considering a move.

*Not just for the occasional bit Road Warrior stuff but also we do sometimes vacate this town for more than a couple of days plus mains power is also a bit of an issue round here! Sometime I need to use my laptop in the office (I do have a UPS but it doesn’t last very long with the beast.)

The following instructions are mostly the same as before – except it’s not quite so easy now – if you want more than a base PHP install that is. (I even had another look at the commercial MAMP Pro offering. Nah.) For a simple MAMP stack you really only need to turn on Apple’s PHP package and grab a copy of MySQL. If easy is good for you – jump to 1.5.

But I “like” to have phpMyAdmin and don’t like being warned that I’m missing the mcrypt extension for PHP. If you want mcrypt too – start at #1.

Tools & Requirements:

• You need admin access on your Mac
• Basic understanding of the filesystem and Terminal.app
• If you’ve not got it already grab the wonderful and free editor TextWrangler. The config files that need editing are hidden from normal view- but easily reached by TextWrangler which even has a menu item for that: File / Open hidden… .  It also handles authentication beautifully to allow saving without having to manually change permissions to and fro.

1. [extra steps to customise things first eg add mcrypt PHP extension - if you don't need/want it skip past to 1.5.] Go and see Xeon Xai’s blog post Snow Leopard PHP Extensions Installation Tutorial or for a quicker version – go here. These first optional steps to customising your set up (adding PHP extensions and even downgrading PHP from 5.3. to 5.2) has turned out to be more “intereseting” than originally percieved and needs post of its own…

1.5 Prepare your php.ini file by duplicating the supplied stock example file and givining it the right name: In Terminal paste this:

sudo cp /private/etc/php.ini.default /private/etc/php.ini

You’ll need to edit the timezone – replace

;date.timezone = with
date.timezone = Europe/Madrid

For other timezones look to the official list here (note the lost semi colon – that’s the comment character)

1.6 Get PHP looking in the right place for MySQL (once you’ve installed it.) …Still editing php.ini find and replace all instances of /var/mysql/mysql.sock with /tmp/mysql.sock . (Why? – well as documented here it seems php.ini is configured for Mac OS X Server’s bundled version of MySQL)

1.7 Start PHP by un-commenting the LoadModule php5_module line in your /etc/apache2/http.conf file.

1.8 Turn Web Sharing (in System Preferences/Sharing) off-and-on again.

2. Get yourself virtualhost.sh from Patrick Gibson. This little shell script will make the process of setting up proper virtual domains on your development server a cinch. I use “.dev” or “.live” as the TLD to prevent any conflict with the live sites. (Although now I’ve started using Git I may just drop the separation between live and development branch domains on my development box. I still put all my sites in my ~/Sites folder though.

3. MySQL
3.1 If you’ve already got another version installed uninstal MySQL from your Mac. NB – this will delete your databases too! But you’ve got those backed up and you want a clean slate:

• sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
• sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
• sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
• sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
• edit /etc/hostconfig and remove the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
• sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
• sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*

3.2 Get a MySQL Community Server for the Mac and install it.

4. Give your MySQL root user a password; type the following into the Terminal:
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password sniggle
…if you like sniggle as a passowrd that is.

5. Now you can administer your MySQL server with phpMyAdmin and the root user you’ve just defined. (There are other tools too – eg MySQL Administrator – but I’m used to phpMyAdmin from the hosting packeges I use). You may want to virtualhost phpMyAdmin to, for example, “http://mysql/”. Love virtualhost.sh.

6. Then for each [dynamic] site you’ll probably want to add a user and then associate a DB with that user. Do this in phpMyAdmin in one step using the Privileges pane fill in “Add a new User”/then select “Create database with same name and grant all privileges”. Job’s a good ‘un.

Done and not long-winded at-all at-all!

Want to get MAMP on Mac OS X 10.6?

If you’re on 10.5 you may read on…

Want to roll a MAMP stack of your own to enable proper local web development? Try these steps to getting you own development environment:

1. Swap the Apple package of PHP for Marc Liyanage’s package of PHP for Mac OS X. Read his notes – only takes a minute. His version has useful “extras” like the mcrypt extension that Apple doesn’t include: you’ll want that for phpMyAdmin. (If you’ve already started Apple’s version – you’ll know how to stop it by re-commenting the LoadModule php5_module line in your http.conf file )

2. Get yourself virtualhost.sh from Patrick Gibson. This little shell script will make the process of setting up proper virtual domains on your development server a cinch. I use “.dev” or “.live” as the TLD to prevent any conflict with the live sites. (Although now I’ve started using Git I may just drop the separation between live and development branch domains on my development box. I still put all my sites in my ~/Sites folder though.

3. Get a Mac OS X MySQL package – (not the latest build but v5.0.x) from the good folks at MySQL. If you’ve already got another version installed – here’s how to uninstal MySQL from a Mac (NB – this will delete your databases too!).

4. Give your MySQL root user a password; type the following into the Terminal:
/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password sniggle
…if you like sniggle as a passowrd that is.

5. Now you can administer your MySQL server with phpMyAdmin and the root user you’ve just defined.  (There are other tools too – eg MySQL Administrator – but I’m used to phpMyAdmin from the hosting packeges I use). You may want to virtualhost phpMyAdmin to, for example, “http://mysql/”. Love virtualhost.sh.

6. Then for each [dynamic] site you’ll probably want to add a user and then associate a DB with that user. Do this in phpMyAdmin in one step using the Privileges pane fill in “Add a new User”/then select “Create database with same name and grant all privileges”. Job’s a good ‘un.

Done and not long-winded at-all at-all!

[Originally posted as a reply in Panic's Coda forum... Lots of love for MAMP Pro - a serious contender - and for just 40€... ]

Or How to setup a MAMP Stack on… Mac OS X: a proper write up.

Please disregard the gubbins on this post…

[OK - this was going to be a simple step-by-step account of how to install a particular project management system on a Mac OS X box. That particular project stalled but I learnt a few things about how to get a [M]AMP stack setup to the point a which I can continue… ]

Need a project management package. So far requirements and research lead to Open Goo.

• Download package from OpenGoo.
• Create a MySQL database for it.
  • Download and instal PHP My Admin. Nice documentation.
  • • [unstuff it and put the folder into ~/Sites/ , for example]
    • virtualhost it
    • setup config.inc.php with blowfish key
  • fix socket error (?)
    • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/mac-os-x-installation.html: edit (with TextWrangler of course) /etc/php.ini so that  ”mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock”
  • Fix mcrypt error: “Cannot load mcrypt extension. Please check your PHP configuration”
  • Ditch the default OS X PHP install in favour of Marc Liyanage’s packaged instal of PHP for Mac OS X
    • If already set up the Apple version of PHP – make sure it’s disabled:  ”LoadModule php5_module“  in /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf shoul commented out
    • Download and run Marc’s installer from the link above. RTFM mind – but it’s a cinch. The new PHP files will now be in /usr/local/php5.
    • Also ditch any previously installed MySQL
      • sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
      • sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
      • sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
      • sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
      • edit /etc/hostconfig and remove the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
      • sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
      • sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*
  • install to match the PHP  package to MySQL 5.0.77
• Create a privileged MySQL user. (Any user may log in without  a password to get an anonymous session: “No Privileges”. Mac OS X user account – or _mysql. At this stage  log in without a password.)
  • phpMyAdmin can manage a whole MySQL server (needs a super-user) as well as a single database. To accomplish the latter you’ll need a properly set up MySQL user who can read/write only the desired database. It’s up to you to look up the appropriate part in the MySQL manual.
• Ye-har! Who’d of guessed… Apple’s MySQL documentation was where to find simple instructions for how to give the MySQL root user a password – and hence succeed to log inwith privileges. Terminal command: /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password sniggle. Where sniggle is your choice for a secure password.
• For each DB user you should add that user with an MySQL query:
  CREATE USER 'user1'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY'pass1';

code.google.com/p/virtualhost-sh/wiki/VirtualhostsOverNetwork

patrickgibson.com/utilities/virtualhost/

how-to-setup-development-domains-on-os-x/

Add PHP with debugging

Activate: goto /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf and uncomment LoadModule php5_module . Save.
Add debugging: In Terminal type:
cd /private/etc
sudo cp php.ini.default php.ini
Edit said php.ini: change
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE to
error_reporting = E_ALL .Save

Add SSI

Go back to /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf…

1. Uncomment these lines from the <ifmodule mime_module> stanza:
AddType text/html .shtml and
AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

2. Add “Includes” to the “Options” statement in the <directory "/Library/WebServer/Documents"> stanza (so it now reads
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews Includes)

3. [Re]start Apache with sudo apachectl graceful

Job’s a good ‘un.

Right now trying to develop a web magazine. Also bearing in mind  the need to be able to bash out other smaller websites with minimum hassle. Solution should allow Mac OS X and web based editing.

Drupal is proving to be a pain in my backside – at version 6.x. Too many stumbling blocks. Excuse the pun*. TinyMCE doesn’t want too play. Will continue the study – but will start running another test install of Drupal 5.x.

WordPress – not sure if  I’ll be pushing it too hard for the magazine site

RapidWeaver – definitely not for the magazine site – but could be a goer for the smaller sites – if we can get it to work with includes and if the WebYep CMS plugin for RapidWeaver does what it says on the tin…

*Drupal is a modular CMS built on the priciple of “Blocks”. The modules I’ve tried so far have not been… cooperative.

Update 2

Thanks to this great list of open-source apps for Mac OS X there another option to look at: AbiWord. I’ve not tried it yet but it looks set to beat my non-starting attempts with OpenOffice (office Mac is PowerPC without X11). Even better – it seems to state that it can do the job. TBC.

——–

Update

What a difference a day makes

Despite yesterday’s test proving otherwise – today it seems that I can use Paste Special in to GoLive and keep all formatting. Today I can “Paste As” and chose “Cleared HTML (Removes exotic Markup)” over the limited “HTML” option which was all I could do yesterday. Just a few extra non-breaking spaces and p tags for the line breaks – but otherwise perfect unicode for the web.

I think that I may have not been pasting directly from word. Not sure. Anyway this is now the best solution for when I’m about to help update content.
——–
[Posted to the Microsoft Word forum here]

I’ve been searching for a while now and have found no simple solution for this issue. I’m working to set up a CMS (Drupal in this case) and want to find a way to enable the writers – using Word 2004 – to upload their own content, properly styled in clean XHTML.

I want to avoid any extra steps as more steps leads to more chances for errors to creep in. The only formatting needed is semantic content; just HTML body content without extraneous Word Roundtrip information or formatting at all as all design should be defined by using CSS stylesheets.

I just want the basic stuff i.e. h1-h6 headings (defined at the authoring stage, using Word’s standard styles), bold, italics and quality typography (all accents, “curly” quotes and em-dashes) properly encoded into human readable XHTML entities (ie “&” becomes “&”).

I’m worried that I’m going to have to compromise on quality or make, what to my mind should be basic functionality, a laborious and error-prone process…

Does anybody have a solution? Is this doable by hacking/editing the “Word Conversion Options” or “com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist” files?

[The basic structure: headings and paragraphs; bold; italics and accents (as unicode) can be handled by the CMS's interface thanks to TinyMCE and its Paste From Word function - but this cannot handle typographic features such as proper curly quotes and em-dashes.]