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NOTE: Though targeting The WMF Subversion server these instructions will be similar for all Subversion connections.

Get the apps

Before any work can be done two applications need to be downloaded, Putty and Tortoise SVN. These two applications will work together to connect you to the Subversion server.

Putty can be downloaded at: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

Tortoise can be downloaded at: http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads.html

Run through their installation process and you will be ready to go!

Generating the Key

Access to the MediaWiki Subversion server requires you to first supply an SSH key to the WMF team to setup your account. Generating the key with the Putty Key Generator is quite simple with the following steps:

• Run puttygen
• Click on the Generate button and wiggle your mouse over the blank area.
• Click Save public key and save it somewhere safe. For general convenience you should append “.pub” (Without quotes) to the end of the file name.
  
• Click Save private key and save it somewhere safe. This private key you will want to keep as secure as possible, as with this key a malicious user could get into your Subversion account and wreak havoc.

Setup a session in Putty

Tortoise SVN uses the Putty sessions to secure the Subversion communication and manage your keys.

• Run putty
• Set the hostname of the server, input a one word session name, and click save
  
  
• From the left menu select Connections > SSH > Auth. On this screen is a Browse button. Load the private key you create earlier here. The key should have a “.ppk” extension.
  
• To make sure your key will always be available go back to the Session page with the left menu and click Save again.

Your Subversion key should now be setup and ready for use in Tortoise SVN

Checkout the MediaWiki files with Tortoise SVN

NOTE: In this section you will pull only one copy of the MediaWiki source to work with. This is just for demonstration purposes. See “Getting started and set up” for proper etiquette.

Tortoise SVN makes interacting with Subversion servers from Windows trivial.

• Create a folder to store the MediaWiki files in
• Right click the folder and select SVN Checkout
• In the dialog box you will checkout with a URL starting with “svn+ssh://username@svn.wikimedia.org”. It is important to note here that “svn.wikimedia.org” DOES NOT refer to the URL of the Subversion server, but rather the session you saved in Putty previously. So if your session name was “awesomeness” you would use “svn+ssh://username@awesomeness”.  The rest of the URL will point to the code you desire to checkout, probably the URL svn+ssh://username@svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/phase3 is what you want.
  
• A new dialog should pop up showing you a list of files that are being downloaded. Go make yourself some tea, this will take a while.
  

After the checkout completes you will have the MediaWiki code. Get hacking!

Committing back to MediaWiki

Tortoise SVN makes committing code changes back to the MediaWiki repository easy. The following steps will get your code flying back along the wire.

• Right click on the folder containing the MediaWiki checkout
• If you have created new files they need to be added to the commit first
  • Hover over the TortoiseSVN menu item and a submenu will pop up
  • From this submenu click Add
  • And new files will be show in this dialog. Choose the files you wish to include in the commit and click Ok
  • Now the really hard part, right click on the MediaWiki checkout again and click SVN Commit
  • Fill in a message about your commit and look over the list of changes. When satisfied click OK.
  • A new dialog will pop up showing the files being committed and a status message after the commit finishes.

Congratulations! You have successfully committed new code to the MediaWiki Subversion repository and enriched the community. Your code will now undergo a review process and if solid will be released with the next version of MediaWiki.

During this presentation you will learn about:

• Openness at Microsoft
• End-to-end WordPress development with WebMatrix
• How to run WordPress in the Windows Azure cloud
• Where to find free tools from Microsoft, such as Windows Server, SQL Server, etc
• How to manage WordPress with Windows on the go

Click the title slide below to download the presentation in PDF format

I will be posting pictures from this WordCamp on my 2012 Victoria WordCamp gallery album

Meetup (http://meetup.com) is a social networking site based around community groups. Meetup provides an API to access their platform services from remote applications to manage authentication, events, rsvps and more.

Until now a good PHP client for the Meetup API has not existed. This project aims to bridge that gap by providing a high quality stand alone Meetup API PHP client. This client is simple to use through provided classes and also allows powerful advanced usage through direct queries to the API

The client is quite simple to setup and get running in your application quickly. Most of the GET endpoints are currently supported with plans on implmenting the rest and support for POST on the way. Check the following resources to get up and running.

• Meetup API client for PHP wiki
• Setup the client
• Official Meetup API docs - These go hand in hand with the client

You can get the client from the Meetup API client for PHP Github project page

Please try it out and leave feedback on issues and desired additions on the project issues page

P.S. oAuth support is currently in the works!

Original YouTube Clip

Zippy sitting at the dock in Everett when I picked her up

Captain Mike and First Mate MJ provided the transportation to Port Townsend. I felt much more comfortable with a macho Ford F350 towing Zippy rather than my little Nissan Murano.

Just pulled Zippy out with Mike on the trailer in Bremerton

I posted previously about the condition of the hull. I am still incredibly amazed at the amount of growth on the bottom. 2 inch muscles so thick that the bottom could not be seen. No wonder I rarely broke 5 knots while sailing.

Zippy's Garden

At Port Townsend Zippy got stuck in a sling and towed over to the pressure wash area.

Zippy in the sling going to the pressure wash station

It took two people a half hour to clean up the bottom. I was very grateful to find that the growth had not done too much damage to the bottom.

After a pressure wash bath

Zippy up on stands waiting to be sanded

The previous owner told me the centerboard cable had broken and that the centerboard was always down. I accepted this as fact since the only major problem with this model boat is the centerboard cable breaking. Unfortunately after getting the hull cleaned up I found three startling things:

• The centerboard was in fact down, but snapped off at the end of the keel cavity. Effectively non-existant.
• The rudder was broken at some time and the work done on it was subpar.
• There are huge gashes starboard aft.

From looking at the damage it seemed to me that Zippey ran aground at some point on the starboard side and took some major damage. Consulting with several other owners and workers in the boatyard confirmed this to me. I contacted two owners back and he said the boat was perfect when he sold it to the person I bought it from so I must assume he caused the damage and was not forth coming with me when I asked about damage. He does not respond to my contact attempts so I have been unable as of yet to determine what exactly happened.

Pulling out the centerboard stub. The foam had expanded on impact and it was wedged in.

After many hours of sanding and achy weary arms, Zippy was finally in a condition to be prepped for the first coat of paint.

A naked Zippy

The weather started getting rough… A storm front was moving in so Zippy got a full tarp covering. It was very loud inside the boat at night with even a light wind moving the tarps around.

Protection from the rain

A new centerboard was fabricated from two ¾ inch pieces of plywood epoxied together. It was soaked in chemicals to make it resistant to the seawater then glassed.

New centerboard in fabrication

The first couple coats of color have gone on. The goal is a brushed metal bright silver with dark red accents. Turning out great so far.

First coats of color

And finally, here is Zippy back in the water! The mast is not back up yet in this picture because it was getting dark, but she came out real pretty.

Zippy back on her moorage

Sailboat trailer refit

When I bought zzZippety Doo Dah, my Spirit 23 sailboat, it came with a double axle trailer. Unfortunately the previous owner did not take care of the trailer and it was in such pitiful condition when I picked it up that it could not even support the weight of a person. The frame was made of steel and incredibly rotten. The hitch took a 1 7/16^th inch ball, which seemed odd to me. Turns out the hitch was actually 2 inch but had so much rust and junk in it that the 2 inch ball did not fit. A friend does an amazing job welding and replaced all the bad steel. It was a big job. Check out these before and after pictures.

Original Trailer

Rebuilt Trailer

And as an example of how much steel required replacement, in the background of the above picture you can see some of the original steel. Here is a closer image.

Replaced Steel