Just Let It Flow!

While in the process of maintaining my dedicated server, I ran into a bit of a ‘bump’ so to say. It all started when after I updated to PHP 5.2.1. I recieved an email from one of the people I host, asking why he had a 5MB error_log file.

He supplied me with the contents of the log file, which were:

[11-Mar-2007 17:00:45] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: pdf: Unable to initialize moduleModule compiled with module API=20050922, debug=0, thread-safety=0PHP    compiled with module API=20060613, debug=0, thread-safety=0These options need to matchin Unknown on line 0

Knowing that I had installed a PECL module for PDFLib, I assumed that it was it, I was right. I had previously went through a ton of hoops to get this to work. Here is how I fixed the error message above and how I got mine working. I would like to note that I am not a Linux expert.

I used PDFLib Lite, for free, non-commercial use. http://www.pdflib.com/download/pdflib-family/pdflib-lite/

You need to be root/sudo while doing this and PEAR/PECL needs to be installed.

wget http://www.pdflib.com/binaries/PDFlib/701/PDFlib-Lite-7.0.1.tar.gz

tar xzvf PDFlib-Lite-7.0.1.tar.gz

cd PDFlib-Lite-7.0.1

./configure --prefix=/usr

make

make install

pecl install pdflib  (will ask for installation directory, type: /usr/)

You should recieve a string similar to this:

"Build process completed successfully
Installing '/var/tmp/pear-build-root/install-pdflib-2.1.2//usr/local/lib/php/ext ensions/no-debug-non-zts-20050922/pdf.so'"

What I did next, was copy the pdf.so file into my php extensions directory:

cp /usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-<tab>/pdf.so /usr/include/php/ext

I then modified my php.ini file, to load the pdflib, by adding the following line to the extensions section:

extension=pdf.so

I hope this helps some of those that got this error. There isn’t much help out there on this error, that I could find on google, that is why I decided to post it in my blog.

On top of what I already have on my table, I’ve been asked to do some contract work. Payment is done per script. Writing simple classes to have certain functionality. An example, would be a class to create FAQ’s using a MySQL database. I look forward to making a bit of extra money doing this. Hopefully I will be able to handle the load.

This year has had its ups and its downs. Needless to say, it was just another year. People coming up with New Year’s resolutions, that probably won’t last for more than the first month, if two weeks. This brings me on to the next subject. I don’t have a New Year’s resolution, however, I do have goals that I would like to meet/achieve by the end of this year. They go as follows:

• Be employed by a company/corporation doing web development.
• Finish projects on time.
• Receive some sort of certification.
• Learn a new development language.

My goals, to me, seem reasonable and worth attempting to do.

Now on with the next subject at hand. I currently have some projects in the works.

1. Babetemplates.com - This site has been under development for sometime now and is long overdue. It has been constantly thrown on the back burner. The designer has lost ideas for the site, and has come to what he calls a “designer block”. The coding for the site is next to none. We plan on making it a wallpaper site as long as a ‘reference’ to find ‘babe’ pictures.
2. Poetrycircle.net - This site too, has been under development for ages. It was almost complete at one time, but then lost the time to complete it. The domain is roughly 4 years old. I have a great designer who has made a design for the site. I have coded it and it is using Smarty Template Engine. I have few things left to do on the site. It is functional — has registration, login, logout, add/edit/delete poems, and view poems. I plan on adding a few more features to it before I release it to the public.
3. MyStorytime.net - I mentioned this website in a previous blog. I haven’t touched the code for this in a while and as a matter of fact, it has become buried (not good). I’m going to dig it up eventually and complete it. Most of the code is done for this site as well, I just need to integrate it.
4. Oceanempires.com - This website/domain is an Open Source project. It is planned out to be a text based online game. Visit www.oceanempires.com to read the design document and to visit the office SF.net page.

These projects are currently marked ‘todo’, by me. I will post status on these as time goes on.

To begin, I haven’t posted anything in a while, simply because I have had no updates.  My partner that works on BabeTemplates.com with me, has went out of town, so the development has been put on hold for a week or so.

MyStorytime.net is almost complete with development.  The idea is from the founder of HackThisSite.org and Hulla-Balloo.com, Jeremy Hammond.  I worked on the ‘Storytime’ idea with him, however, I was a novice developer at the time and the website’s coding was poor.  I was given the okay to re-develop the idea and make a domain for it.

As many of us know, myspace TRIES to limit us with our abliities in our page’s designs.  I recently visited a friend’s myspace page, and to my astonishment, it looked nothing like a typical myspace page.  To me, the page looks quite nice, to the point that I would like to create my own.

With that thought in mind, I am going to slowly design and piece together a “complete” website/myspace page.  I never thought that I would be interested in attempting to do so, however, my friend has inspired me todo just that.

If anyone has any tips/tricks for myspace, please feel free to leave them in a comment.

I am beginning a new project on BabeTemplates.com. The site is a graphic community with the work being focused on women. BabeTemplates.com once consisted of approximately 1,500+ members, with little to no promoting. Though, due to lack of time, I (creator/founder), let the site slowly die.
The goal of the website is to attract members with like interests, whom will help the community grow by bringing other members and creating unique designs for the site.

The backend of the website is going to be developed in a PHP/MySQL environment. I will be integrating the forums (VBulletin), into the main site. The coding of the website is pretty straight forward. A file upload system will be needed so that users can upload their work for approval. An administration panel will be created to approve or deny the submitted work. Searching of the database will be allowed, to look for a specific ‘babe’.

I’ve been up since Sunday, July 23rd, 6:00PM EST.

I am one tired man,

Goodnight.

This is my first entry into what I consider my ‘Portfolio Blog’. From this point on, I will attempt to keep this updated with my thinkings, workings, or just anything that I find interesting.

My most recent design is a CD cover that I did for ‘Mixtape King’, called ‘Mixtape King News’. The idea of this was to copy that of a newspaper’s front page and come up with content.