Mod_python is an Apache module that embeds the Python interpreter within the server. Here is step by step what I did to configure it for OpenSUSE 11.0:

1. Install mod_python:

$ sudo zypper in apache2-mod_python

2. Enable mod_python: edit /etc/sysconfig/apache2 and add python to the APACHE_MODULES line, so your line will look like:

APACHE_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_file authz_host authz_groupfile authz_default authz_user authn_dbm autoindex cgi dir env expires include log_config mime negotiation setenvif ssl suexec userdir php5 python"

3. Run SuSEconfig

4. Configure Apache to handle Python files:

$ sudo vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/python.conf  # create python.conf file

5. Add the next lines to your python.conf file:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
AddHandler mod_python .py
PythonHandler mod_python.publisher
PythonDebug On

6. Restart apache server:

$ sudo /usr/sbin/rcapache2 restart

7. Create a simple .py file, put it in /srv/www/htdocs/ and test to see if it is working with http://localhost/filename.py:

def index(req):
  return "It Works: mod_python ENABLED";

The other method is to configure the PSP Handler. PSP means Python Server Pages. PSP files have the extension .psp. If you follow this method it will allow you to include Python code directly in HTML code. To do that, I am sure that google can help you, for me the first method is enough.

That's all. The above procedure will work also for CentOS, replacing the corresponding commands and the place where the files are.

ARM architecture going more to desktop style applications had been in press frequently during the last weeks. On top of were press releases of ARM and canonical officially announcing an ubuntu port in one of the next releases for the ARM architecture. Applications are more of type nettop or advanced PDA like the nokia n810, than what is currently known as traditional embedded applications (just to name a few examples).

This has been due to the fact that licensees of the ARM architecture, big semiconductor companies from the Top 10 list, have begun shipping a new generation of “mobile PC in the pocket” of System on a Chip semiconductors. They include now a really high clocked ARM core, DSPs for Video/Audio processing that can even decode HDTV streams, and OpenGL 2.0 capable HW engine and the peripherials included to build PDAs, mobile phones or nettops. All that within the energy budget of a mobile phone, and not of a Desktop PC. The google G1 phone had been one of the first products of this generation, although its software uses these features only in the beginnings.

What now does this all have to do with the openSUSE Buildservice and openSUSE distribution? As you might already guess it, we haven’t been sleeping either. And I am not a advocate of ubuntu on an .opensuse.org website. So read further what we have done so far.

Here is the latest update on supporting Cross Development for other architectures than the usual x86 and powerpc 32/64 bit architectures currently supported in the OBS and the openSUSE distribution. You should be aware that we put together an updated roadmap for OBS development, which now also mentions Cross Development. Other places like the main OBS wiki page have also been updated accordingly. To sum it up, we are now able to handle a number of preexisting linux distributions in the best spirit of the current OBS now also for ARM. There is ongoing work so OBS Imaging and zypper are also working for ARM targets. For quite a while now, there have been packages for Cross Development in build.o.o in the openSUSE:Tools:Devel development snapshots project.

The nokia sponsored Mojo project had been also been there (e.g. with similiar ideas wrt. to what will be embedded in the future) for quite a while now, first unnoticed from us, been approaching the cross development issue quite similiar to us. But not with the power of the openSUSE Buildservice and all its capabilities. They had been porting, beginning with Debian @ ARM, a complete ubuntu desktop distribution. That involved more “handy work” like we need to do with OBS according to the conference slides published by the project. So here comes to my mind the following joke: What is this? Answer: the new Nokia HAL9000 Buildserver for ARM linux distributions! But read next why we might not end up like this.

In order to implement old and current ARM processor types, I had to put in another processor type into the OBS. There was the old armv4l type, that is used for ARMv4 generation of instructions on the OABI (old ABI), little endian. With ARMv5 instruction set, also a new ABI had been introduced called EABI. To sum it up, armv5el denotes ARMv5 EABI little endian with softfloat, whereas armv4l denotes ARMv4 OABI little endian with softfloat. This had to be introduced, because these two formats are not compatible and thus not combinable. armv5el was introduced to support multiprocessing, ntpl and mixture of thumb and non thumb modes. A kernel compiled sufficiently can execute both types of executables, although this would require to run the system like a biarchitecture, where all shared libraries need to be kept twice.

Debian had been tradionally supporting an ARM version, so it was the usual start for testing (also it provides a long history of package versions from “quite old” to “very new” i needed for testing the QEMU). Currently working in OBS, and using a patched QEMU, are:

Fedora (as provided by Fedora on the Linux UK ftp server). Currently working in OBS are:

Ubuntu (as ported by the Mojo Project – there seems to be an official arm port with one of the next ubuntu releases). Currently working in OBS are:

The developments are already going so far that one of the manufacturers of ARM based chips, Texas Instruments, is using a community approach to help but also to gain from the community. They created a development board of the current chip generation called “beagle board”, that is suited for everbodies use. The community for it is located at beagleboard.org. Texas Instruments now have also a youtube based marketing, so you can see this baby in action.

But now to the delicate question to you, the openSUSE and openSUSE Buildservice user. You might have noticed that two things are missing in what I am writing:

The latter can now be implemented with the OBS, since OBS is already capable of building the complete openSUSE distribution. When openSUSE 11.1 is released, there is a good time to lean back and consider what we should do next.

Do you have a use for this and should we support this officially?

Last weekend I spent some time on getting python-turbogears to build for Factory. In the process, I came across a spec file error which was causing not only python-turbogears to fail on Factory, but also dozens of other python packages. The problem was the spec file line:

%{__python} setup.py install –prefix=%{_prefix} –root=$RPM_BUILD_ROOT –record-rpm=INSTALLED_FILES

Once I fixed this for python-turbogears and it’s dependent packages (the solution is to replace –record with –record-rpm), I was able to get version 1.0.6 building for Factory. There were a few other issues which needed to be resolved (some deprecated def as() functions in python-peak and python-ruledispatch were causing syntax errors on python 2.6 – because ‘as’ is a reserved keyword), but finally I got it sorted out.

Once python 1.0.6 was successfully building on Factory, I decided to update the package to the most recent stable version of the 1.0.x package line from http://www.turbogears.org – 1.0.7. I had to rewrite the infamous cherrypy2 patch for 1.0.7 and also had to update the python-elixir package (the older 0.5 Elixir was incompatible with python-sqlalchemy >= 5) but now it builds properly.
You can now download and install python-turbogears using:

zypper in python-turbogears

(if you have the devel:languages:python repository, of course).

Thanks to Peter Poeml for his help packaging and fixing bugs.

Maybe you saw already my previous post, and you realized that I am using maybe 90% free software also on my windows computers. So, I would like to point out just a few links with free or opensource software for windows:

• Ultimate List of Free Windows XP Software from Microsoft
• Ultimate List of Free Windows Vista Software from Microsoft
• A simple list of the best free/open-source software for Windows
• The OSSwin project: Open Source for Windows
• GNUWin II
• OpenDisc
• TTCS OSSWIN CD
• Freshmeat.net
• Sourceforge.net
• Open Source Software CD

Do you want more? Check out our google friend.

I needed to insert tables in wordpress posts, but I found just one plugin for this task WP-Table. But it will not work, it is  not compatible with the new wordpress versions. What I did is to use google docs: File -> New Document -> Table -> Insert, populate your table.

Now, when you finished the table go to: Edit -> Edit HTML. Copy the HTML source code for the table and paste that html code in your wordpress posts, but in HTML EDIT MODE.

I hope that the method will work also for you.

If you are working in Scientific Computing, like me, then the next links are for you:

• Free Software :: Scientific Software
• Graphics Software
• Numerical Analysis Software
• Scientific/Engineering Software @SourceForge.net
• Scientific/Engineering Software @Freshmeat.net
• Wiki du laboratoire MAS
• Applications @Ubuntu
• Applications @OpenSUSE

I am using FreeNX but here is a solution to access a running X session with x11vnc.

* install the package:

$ sudo zypper install x11vnc

* ssh to remote machine and:

$ x11vnc -display :0

* ok, now on local machine:

$ vncviewer your_remote_ip:0

For more details and some comments (password option, ...) check the following link and try: man x11vnc