avconv doesn't love my webcam :(

I had a way to get a view of my DCS-932L, but now it's broken! Somone's gone and fixed (or introduced) a bug into the Ubuntu 12.04 build of avconv, and it's dead in the water. The IP cam didn't change, and the Ubuntu machine is updated regularly, so I'm calling it Ubuntu's change. The output from the DCS-932L is buggy over any interface, so I suspect the original fault lies there, but.. Well, I just want the picture back. The original article is here, and I'll update it when I get to it... Bug reporting time.

Clock synchronisation approaches

Further to my earlier thoughts about Spanner. http://krzyzanowski.org/rutgers/notes/pdf/06-clocks.pdf

Shared directories in Ubuntu using ACLs

A nifty article on how to use ACLs in Ubuntu to share directories effectively between user accounts.

http://brunogirin.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/shared-folders-in-ubuntu-with-setgid.html

I read in another blog on the way to the above link, that Ubuntu has a fairly prescriptive user permissions model, and I just wish they'd spell out what it is... Instead, users and administrators are left to pull together blogs, like this...

Yahoo Pipe to Google maps integration

Yahoo Maps are a bit rubbish, so I looked for a way to easily pull together a  map I don't dislike using.

The map's here; the original data's here; and the Yahoo pipe between is here.

This map is a handy reference to the Victorian state government's public register of convictions for food safety offences. It's also a nice example of how cloud services can be integrated and mixed, and matched - Yahoo does provide a map interface to this data, but their maps are terrible.



View Larger Map

Viewing D-Link DCS-932L IP camera from Ubuntu

In a word (line) ...

avconv -r 15 -f mjpeg -i http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@IP-ADDRESS/video.cgi -i http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@IP-ADDRESS/audio.cgi -vcodec mpeg4 -f mpegts file:///dev/stdout | vlc file:///dev/stdin

Now, if only the audio didn't crash avconv, we'd be cooking with gas! The silent version is here, and seems stable.

avconv -r 15 -f mjpeg -i http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@IP-ADDRESS/video.cgi -vcodec mpeg4 -f mpegts file:///dev/stdout | vlc file:///dev/stdin

SOA version mangement

I was looking for a way to not write this whole report, and fortunately, Google found this report for me. Yay! I didn't really want to write this stuff, so I'm glad I don't have to, now.

The title of "Best Practices for Artifact Versioning in Service-Oriented Systems" is pretty accurate. For the TIBCO geeks, this is required knowledge for the (deprecated) TIBCO SOA Architect qualification.

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/11tn009.cfm

File upload and copy pattern

I was asked a different question; but then ended up with this instead. Shame to waste it...

The pattern that I've used in the past has directories like this (under some root directory like /var/lib/uploads):

/partial
/ready
/working
/success
/error

This set of directories are required for all traffic to a given recipient. Essentially, a file makes its way through the directories, from top to bottom. All directories should be on a single file system. File uploaders/clients should be able to write to /partial and /ready. File receivers/servers should be able to write to everything, except /partial.

Step 1: A file is uploaded/copied into the /partial directory; with a (globally) unique file name. This step completes when there's sufficient confidence that the file has been copied (usually that just means that the expected number of bytes has been written without an error being thrown).
Step 2:  The file uploader/client moves the newly uploaded file into the /ready directory. DO NOT COPY THE FILE!!!! In general, moving/renaming a file within a file system is guaranteed to be an atomic operation, but copying is not. This signifies that the file is ready (from the perspective of the client).
Step 3: When the recipient application/process is ready to process a file in /ready, it should first move the file into its /working directory.
Step 4: When the recipient application has finished processing a file (due to completion, or error) it should move the file into the /success, or /error, directory.

Things to watch
- more than one file in the working directory is likely to indicate a failure.
- Any file in the error directory is likely to indicate a failure.
- "old" files in the partial directory indicate unsuccessful copies/uploads.
- "old" files in the ready directory indicate that processing has failed/slowed.
- "old" files in the working directory indicate a failure/ABEND.
- Make sure the file system doesn't fill.
- Archiving is not covered here; that's a different pattern.

Other notes;
- If there is more than one recipient (e.g.: a multi-process server) there should be multiple working directories (working01 working02, working03, etc. - one for each process.
- this is essentially a queue implementation with single phase commit transactions.
- You can implement exactly the same pattern using file renaming, rather than separate directories. I prefer directories.