Ignoring multiple files in Subversion using command line

Ignoring single in Subversion file/folder is as easy as

svn propset svn:ignore bin .

This would make svn ignore folder bin in current directory (final dot is mandatory).

But ignoring multiple files is a little bit more complicated. Firstly you should have one of environment variables SVN_EDITOR, VISUAL or EDITOR set. This can be done as easy as

export SVN_EDITOR=geany

This would make Geany you svn editor. This assumes Geany is installed of cause :)

Then simply start your svn editor and add all files you want to ignore

svn propedit svn:ignore .

The editor would start and you can add as many files as you like, one per line. Again, final dot means that you edit ignored files in current folder.

That's it :)

Netbeans 6.8 M2 dropped embedded browser

Netbeans 6.8 M2 was just released. The sad news for Linux users is that it misses the embedded browser for this OS. It was present in M1, but dropped in M2 :(

Accessing system properties from Ant build file

I need to do some tasks via shell scripts. Among those tasks are also ant scripts. Sometimes I need to pass some arguments to ant script from shell scripts. I've found that this can be done through java system properties. Those properties are easily accessed from ant build file - just like properties declared in build file itself: ${property.name}
Here is a brief example. The build file cool-build.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="FunProject" default="work" basedir=".">
    <target name="work">
        <echo message="my.cool.property=${my.cool.property}">
    </target>
</project>

We, run it with passed system property my.cool.property:
ant -f cool-build.xml -Dmy.cool.property=1
And the result is:
[echo] my.cool.property=1
Just as expected :)

Java browser

NetBeans 6.8 M1 was released a few days ago. And it came with its own embedded browser! The browser looks good. Really good. Of cause there are some problems: crashes, hangs, no flash support. I also did not managed to login to my gmail account with it :) But hey, it's just the initial release, so we can't be very demanding.
It's worth notion that the browser is based on Mozilla XULRunner. Which means that it is not related with mysterious JWebPane (based on WebKit). So, it looks like Sun is forging two java browsers. Wow!

Failure with boosting HDD performance

Today I've read an article at tuxradar.com with some Linux tips. In this article it is recommended to boots the performance of HDD. It is suggested to set options for root to defaults,relatime,data=writeback in /etc/fstab
So I did. Then rebooted and.. guess what? My Mandriva One 2009 failed to boot. Luckily this was not my first boot failure (and I guess not the last :D ). So, I had a SystemRescueCd an some live CDs at hand.
First of all I've checked man for mount to get some info about relatime and data=writeback options. There is nothing special with former, but the latter is not so easy to use. Changing default value requires passing additional kernel boot parameter. E.g. rootflags=data=journal. So modified the kernel row in my GRUB configuration file. But Mandriva still failed to boot. Then on some mailing list I've found that rootflags should go directly after root option. This did not helped either.
So, I changed all settings to original state. No faster HDD operations for me. At least for now...

P.S. Just curious whether guys at tuxradar.com actually try to apply theirs tricks themselves before urging others to do so.

Disabling Automounting HDD Aartitions in GNOME

I have a multiple Linux distros installed on my PC. And each of them has its own /boot partition. The most used Linux is Mandriva 2009.
It seems to me that things went wrong after I played a bit with gparted in Mandriva, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway for unknown reason GNOME started mounting all partitions on the hard drive on my login.
Not only this slows down the login time. This is also really annoying. In a Linux world when you like OS to mount some partition you simply edit /etc/fstab. And when the Linux is messing you up it starts to stink like Windows...
The core problem is for sure in user settings in GNOME because it neither happens for other users nor for other desktop environments.
Playing with a GNOME Configuration Editor did not helped :(
I even started to consider to switch desktop environment to xfce. But after some more googling and reading man pages for fstab and mount I finally found the solution.
I simply added a following line for each partition I like to be not mounted:
/dev/sda2 /mnt/sda2 ext3 noauto,nouser 0 0
And it works! :)

Making a microphone louder

Recently I've installed Mandriva 2009 on my aged desktop machine. And there (in Gnome) was a problem with microphone in Skype 2.0.0.72. In fact the microphone was very-very quiet.
The solution was easy: I've installed gnome-alsamixer, run it and checked "Mic Boost (+20bD)" option.