DEPRECATION WARNING: primary_key_name is deprecated and will be removed from Rails 3.2 (use foreign_key instead).

This would cause recursion somewhere in the stack, eventually leading to:

SystemStackError (stack level too deep)

After much digging, googling, commenting-out of code, and swearing I finally figured out that it was rails3_acts_as_paranoid causing the issue. One more google led to this solution by Chris Hilton, which involves patching rails3_acts_as_paranoid to prevent circular aliasing.

Hopefully Gonçalo Silva will fix it in the official branch on Github. Until then you can either fork and patch it yourself or grab ours:

gem 'rails3_acts_as_paranoid', :git => 'git@github.com:travergence/rails3_acts_as_paranoid.git'

First, Rails was out of date. Upgrading to 2.3.11 fixed those issues.

Next, Nokogiri was throwing this error:

/Users/chris/Sites/adobe-agency-partner-portal/vendor/bundle/ruby/1.8/gems/nokogiri-1.4.4/lib/nokogiri/xml/schema.rb:37: [BUG] Segmentation fault
ruby 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [universal-darwin10.0]

In this case my version of libxml2 was causing the problems. Upgrading that to the latest and re-installing Nokogiri fixed that issue.

To see where you stand with Nokogiri, run this command:

~/Sites/adobe-agency-partner-portal (master⚡) : bundle exec nokogiri -v—
warnings: []

ruby:
engine: mri
version: 1.8.7
platform: i686-darwin10.6.0
libxml:
loaded: 2.7.8
binding: extension
compiled: 2.7.8
nokogiri: 1.4.4

This is a big deal on a number of levels, not the least of which is because people have a tendency to reuse their passwords for multiple sites. It’s no small leap to imagine that most users on PoF who signed up with their Gmail account also used the same password for PoF that they used for Gmail. To put it another way, anyone who did that has now also had their Gmail account compromised, and for many people their email account is the gateway to all their accounts.

It got me thinking: what small steps could be taken on the user’s behalf to help cut down on the number of people reusing their passwords? How about something like this?

Obviously it won’t stop anyone if they’re adamant enough, but it just might get them thinking.

spec filename.rb

against a project built on Rails 3 beta and using Rspec 2 beta generated the following error (I can’t imagine why there were any issues):

/Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:209:in `require’: no such file to load — spec/adapters/mock_frameworks/rspec (LoadError)
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:209:in `require’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:197:in `load_dependency’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/activesupport-3.0.0.beta3/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:209:in `require’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rspec-1.3.0/lib/spec/runner/options.rb:312:in `plugin_mock_framework’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rspec-1.3.0/lib/spec/runner/options.rb:138:in `run_examples’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rspec-1.3.0/lib/spec/runner.rb:61:in `run’
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/gems/rspec-1.3.0/lib/spec/runner.rb:45
from /Users/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p249/bin/spec:19

As you can see from the error it is in fact not running the rspec beta but rather trying to use the system’s rspec 1.3.0. Problematic, that.

Turns out the solution was to use bundle* to run the individual spec (this, of course, assumes you’re managing your gems with Bundler):

bundle exec rspec filename.rb

*In the project above I have a whole separate environment managed by RVM specifically for the latest über-stable Ruby (ruby 1.8.7 (2010-01-10 patchlevel 249) as of this writing), the Rails and Rspec beta.

This post is about how spaces in Smarty templates might trip you up. Witness the following code from a Smarty template (yes, this is kind’a like PHP but less functional and less readable):

<img src="{$deletion_item->default_image(false)}" />

<img src="{$deletion_item->default_image( false )}" />

One would tend to think, or at least I tend to think, that those two lines of HTML/Smarty code would be functionally equivalent. They look the same, save for the second developer’s preference for some extra whitespace.

However example one works with Smarty, example two throws the following error:

Fatal error: Smarty error: [in /Users/chris/Sites/dreambank/templates/en/delete_item.tpl line 42]:
syntax error: unrecognized tag: $deletion_item->default_image( false ) (Smarty_Compiler.class.php, line 446) in /Users/chris/Sites/dreambank/includes/smarty/Smarty.class.php on line 1095

So, there you have it. There’s not much more to this than to say: when working with Smarty be very careful with your whitespace.

Since January I’ve been working with a group of fantastic people to help create DreamBank, a web site who’s goal – and our hope – is to alter, for the better, the way in which we give each other gifts. DreamBank is designed to allow anyone to post their goals, or their needs, or their wants in a way that allows their friends, their family, and everyone else to help them achieve their objectives. No more mis-sized socks, no more unwanted DVDs, no more soon-to-be-lost gift cards. Just a goal and the means.

For my birthday I’d really like if you’d head over to DreamBank, check out the work we’ve been doing, read about the philosophy, sign up, create a dream and give it a try.

http://www.dreambank.org

Many thanks to you, on my birthday.
Chris

DreamBank is hiring.

http://www.dreambank.org

DreamBank is about creating an alternative to traditional gift giving in a way that helps both the planet and important social causes. We’re currently looking for one more software developer with solid experience developing MySQL-driven PHP web sites (aka LAMP).

You’ll be working with the head developer to improve and solidify the current codebase, scope and implement new features, and help plan the technical growth of the company and site.

Real-world Ruby/Rails experience is also definitely an asset as we make considerable use of Rails at DreamBank.

If you’re interested, please send your resume and cover letter in PDF format as well as a links to examples of software you’ve worked on, to info@dreambank.org.

Regards
Chris Cummer
Technical Director, DreamBank

Location: Yaletown, Vancouver
Compensation: 60-70k on contract, depending on experience.
This is a contract job.

~/Sites/ticklists/: sudo rake ultrasphinx:bootstrap –trace
(in /Users/chris/Sites/ticklists)
** Invoke ultrasphinx:bootstrap (first_time)
** Invoke ultrasphinx:_environment (first_time)
** Invoke environment (first_time)
** Execute environment
** Execute ultrasphinx:_environment
** Invoke ultrasphinx:configure (first_time)
** Invoke ultrasphinx:_environment
** Execute ultrasphinx:configure
rake aborted!
You have a nil object when you didn’t expect it!
You might have expected an instance of ActiveRecord::Base.
The error occurred while evaluating nil.[]

I couldn’t find this one in the google anywhere. Turns out the cause of this is defining non-existent properties for indexing on your models (perhaps I’m the only one dumb enough to do that).

You’ll know if this is the cause because you’ll see something akin to this in your Rails console:

** ultrasphinx: warning: field f is not present in User
** ultrasphinx: warning: field descritpion is not present in Profile

Remove (or fix the spelling of) those and everything should work hunky-dory.

Update: Position filled. Thanks to all who applied.

Dreambank.org is looking to hire a software project manager in Vancouver to help chart and manage the post-launch development and growth of a funded web start-up that’s just about to go live.

Said PM would be responsible for determining the future feature-set and growth of the site, working with me (the Tech Director) to plan the schedule and deliver the features, work with marketing, with the customers, and so forth. Any PM worth their salt will be able to describe this job position far better than I (and if you’re off-put by that remark you’re probably not the right fit, sorry.)

Said person must have successfully managed and delivered at least one relatively sizable commercial software project in the past as the PM. That is the minimum requirement. No developers looking to advance their careers or PMs from other industries looking to get into software. You know software, and you know you know it.

If you sound like this person and you live in Vancouver and you’re interested and think you’re qualified, kindly get in touch with me at either chris@postal-code.com or chris@dreambank.org. I’d love to talk to you, fill you in and find out more about you.

Cheers
Chris