A message I posted to freebsd-questions just now.

I admit it. I really don't get the FreeBSD packaging system. Sometimes I'll create a package without errors, but the package will be empty. Other times, the package is created and comes with requirements that were never built.

At the moment, I'm dealing with the latter. I created a package for exim-mysql with the following command:

# portupgrade --package --recursive --new exim-mysql

And it *appears* to work. However, when I rsync the ports tree to another machine (including the newly created package in packages/All/) doing the following results in an error:

  # PKG_FETCH=/usr/bin/false; \
    portupgrade --recursive --use-packages-only --new exim-mysql
  --->  Checking for the latest package of 'mail/exim-mysql'
  --->  Found a package of 
        'mail/exim-mysql': /usr/ports/packages/All/exim-mysql-4.60.tbz (exim-mysql-4.60)
  --->  Installing 'exim-mysql-4.60' from a package
  --->  Installing misc/ldconfig_compat as dependency required by exim-mysql-4.60
  --->  Checking for the latest package of 'misc/ldconfig_compat'
  --->  Fetching the package(s) for 
        'ldconfig_compat-1.0_5' (misc/ldconfig_compat)
  --->  Fetching the latest package(s) for 
        'ldconfig_compat' (misc/ldconfig_compat)
  ** Could not find the latest version (1.0_5)
  ** No package available: misc/ldconfig_compat
  --->  Installing the new version via the package
  ** Listing the failed packages (*:skipped / !:failed)
          ! misc/ldconfig_compat  (package not found)
  --->  Packages processed: 1 done, 0 ignored, 0 skipped and 1 failed

Apparently, a dependency is missing. Something called "ldconfig". So I try to remove it:

  # pkg_deinstall exim-mysql-4.60
  [Updating the pkgdb  in /var/db/pkg ... - 103 packages found (-0 +1) . done]
  Stale dependency: exim-mysql-4.60 --> ldconfig_compat-1.0_5 -- manually run 'pkgdb -F' to fix, or specify -O to force.

Now it's complaining about a stale dependency... A dependency for a package that was just installed. I remove the dependency with "pkgdb --fix" but that doesn't solve the problem because the package was still built wrong.

Reading the contents of /usr/ports/mail/exim/Makefile tells me nothing. I only found out that mysql-server requires this but I'm not sure how to make this work properly.

I've built and rebuilt exim-mysql on the main server with no results. I've broken down and installed it manually from ports on the client machine but this is not an option.

Please, if someone can rescue me from this insanity, I'd be o-so-greatful.

Godsdammnit I hate FreeBSD.

Will be presented tonight at the Bloor Cinema by the Toronto Public Space Committee. It's a fundraiser showing, so it'd be cool if lots of people showed up to help support a group that does a lot of good work in the city. The movie is supposed to be really interesting too, so I encourage all to drop in.

Details can be found on the TPSC website.

Subtotal:	$156.88
Order Delivery Fee:	$9.95
GST:	$3.78
PST:	$3.73
Total:	$174.34

This was the detail on my recent grocery purchase (via GroceryGateway.com -- go there, save yourself the hassle, they rock.) Normally I wouldn't bother posting such a thing until I realised: look at the GST total... ($3.78)

The Conservative promise to reduce the GST to only 5% will help who again? Lets see, rent: no GST, groceries: barely any GST... If you're poor, what else do you have money for?

Then again, my guess is that the GST on a new Plasma TV or an H2 is pretty steep.

Repeat after me: "For an average Canadian, a Conservative government is NOT a Good Idea".

Yesterday Theresa and I went on an adventure. The sky was gorgeous, the day ripe for picture taking, so after a brief visit to the In Transit exhibit at the Toronto Free Gallery, we set off on a mission of exploration.

The goal was to see the nifty pedestrian bridge that appears to be right near the wind turbine next to the CNE. The proximity is an illusion of course because I have, on more than one occasion, gone to the turbine and wondered where the hell the bridge was.

We took some advice offered to us by Andrea's new boyfriend and hopped on the 504 streetcar, riding it to the end before it turned north and looked around. We were at Roncesvalles and King and there wasn't a pretty white bridge anywhere. It would seem that the directions we'd been given were only half the story. The bridge he'd thought we were talking about was nearby, but we weren't thinking about the same bridge. We walked onto not-for-us bridge and looked West... There it was: Very Far Away.

We were on our own now, hopped on yet another streetcar that appeared to be going in the right direction and hopped off when we figured we were close. There was an interesting walk through a TTC tunnel, hopping over fences and into mud, but eventually we found it... And I still don't know what it's called.

The rest of the afternoon had us walking back to the wrong bridge with the right bridge at our backs. We took pictures of lots of stuff and my collection is in my imager here.

I got home after a pasta dinner with Pavel, Emily and Theresa and following a brief chat with Noreen, went to sleep... at 9pm.

Now I'm well rested and all foggy. I suppose that's what happens when you sleep for as long as I did, but I guess I needed it.

Want to get involved with the Toronto Public Space Committee?

Join us for a TPSC Orientation Meeting on Monday!

Find out what we do, how we work and how you can plug in!

  TPSC ORIENTATION MEETING:
  Monday January 30, 7pm
  City Hall (Queen & Bay)
  Committee Room#4

publicspace.ca/getinvolved.htm

Anyone interested in coming with?

Hudson's Bay Co., the oldest company in Canada, has agreed to be acquired by South Carolina billionaire businessman Jerry Zucker

Complete story on cbc.ca.

I've just discovered possibly the coolest geek toy I've seen in a long time:

$ pcretest
PCRE version 6.3 15-Aug-2005

  re> /(.*)@danielquinn.org/
data> someone@danielquinn.org
 0: someone@danielquinn.org
 1: someone
data> someone@danielquinn.com
No match

Wired has a really interesting article about a new game called The Movies. It's not really a game at all, but a mini movie studio you can install on your computer that lets you build your own scenes, write your own scripts and create your own characters complete with camera work and dialogue.

Already the software has been used by thousands of people to make a pile of pointless crap but in a few cases, real talent has emerged. One example the article comes back to repeatedly is a short film called The French Democracy, an explanation for the whole story behind the recent race riots in Paris and the surrounding suburbs. The movie is badly translated but you can see the real power behind this technology. People are finally going to start taking back their culture.

One paragraph in the article though was rather disturbing:

No lawsuits have been brought against machinima makers -- or the companies providing the tools to create machinima -- but Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Fred von Lohmann says it's only a matter of time. "I predict legal threats against people who make machinima that includes recognisable characters, settings, plots, props and trademarks. Also threats against people who run the 'worlds' and provide the in-game creation tools," he said. He worries that courts will demand that toolmakers like Lionhead "police and filter for copyright and trademark violations in virtual space."

Sadly, he's probably right.

So it looks like a Conservative Minority... barely. The NDP gained a bunch of seats, so Jack's probably pretty happy and Harper gets to be the boss of us so he's probably in the happy column too. And Paul... that bastard has the gall to claim that he and his party stood for our values in this election, that in his Canada, no one would be left behind...

That kind of blind arrogance was rewarded with 103 seats.

The fact is that the Liberals should have been punished royally -- not so much for the scandals, but for lying to the lot of us about being a progressive, left-leaning party. They hack health care, strip social housing, and neuter environmental laws, and then they go on television and lie to us saying that somehow, they're the "progressive alternative".

And you people bought it.

While the NDP made some gains in the urban centres (Trinity-Spadina, Highpark-Parkdale) the should-be-ours ridings still went Liberal because the lefties were afraid... Afraid of what I'm not sure, these Liberals are just Conservatives in blue with a better PR machine.

But out of all of this, the one who should be really ashamed is Jack Layton. Sure he's a nice guy but he failed miserably with these results. The NDP needs a leader that can help people see through the Liberal lies and envision the Orange and Green as the only progressive, leftist alternative... and Jack pretty much failed in this task.

The Liberals stole at least five or six seats in this election based completely on fear tactics. In a number of other cases, vote splitting between the two got a Conservative candidate elected. Nice work to all you "strategic" voters out there, if your strategy was to not support the ideals you really want well -- you've succeeded admirably.

And now Martin gets to retire thinking that he did a good job in cutting the social heart out of this country. He can tell himself that it was this Gomery scandal that did him in and that that wasn't his fault anyway.

Please Jack, give up the reigns to someone stronger and more charismatic. We need a Broadbent, or better yet a Douglas to take the helm here because this was our one good chance and we blew it.