vamp: dm

/usr/local/bin: Not a directory

Posted by Dave Minor Mon, 16 Jan 2006 17:44:34 GMT

Here’s an FYI for anyone who runs across this. It’s really pretty straight forward but had me spooked for a minute.

I was installing an app from source. When I ran sudo make install, I didn’t get an error, but I also didn’t have anything in my /usr/local/bin directory because it wasn’t a directory at all, but a single file.

This freaked me out at first because I compile a lot of things from source on my main box, but this was on a different box. I had /usr/local and /usr/local/lib directories intact. I went to a completely fresh install of Tiger and noticed that /usr/local does not exist out of the box on Tiger. The Tiger box I was having problems with was not a fresh install, but an upgrade from Panther.

My hypothesis (which turned out to be correct) was that the make had run a $ cp package_bin /usr/local/bin, but since there wasn’t a /usr/local/bin already created, it just copied my binary to a file called bin in /usr/local.

To test this, I did:

    $ sudo mv /usr/local/bin /usr/local/bin.old
    $ sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin
    $ sudo make install

Then I compared the file sizes of /usr/local/bin.old and /usr/local/bin/package_bin and found them to be identical in size. That led me to conclude that my hypothesis was correct and now everything works nicely.

Hopefully this will help someone in their attempt to install apps from source who are having trouble with ”/usr/local/bin: Not a directory” issues.

Posted in Mac OS X | no comments

I am still not a private pilot

Posted by Dave Minor Fri, 06 Jan 2006 05:03:29 GMT

but I’m trying really hard!

Thanks to the weather and lots of busy and conflicting schedules, it’s been very difficult to take my checkride. Today was attempt #3 at getting together with the FAA Designated Inspector. The good news is that I passed the oral portion of the checkride! The bad news is that high winds and a missing ”’approved’ pilot operating handbook” kept me grounded yet again!

Now to try to get the DI to come back and do the flying portion with me very soon…..

I guess I should be pleased. It’s all just a bit anti-climactic. I’m ready to have this part behind me.

Posted in Flying | no comments

Fly Already!

Posted by Dave Minor Thu, 22 Dec 2005 18:17:35 GMT

So no posts about flying lately. Between work and family and Christmas and other things, I haven’t been flying much lately. I’m actually ready to take my checkride and have been trying to coordinate with the FAA evaluator for two weeks to get on his calendar.

So I’m in that dilemma of being ready, but needing to practice regularly to keep my skills polished. That’s an expensive dilemma to be in. :-/ I was really wanting to get this done before Christmas, but there’s no way that will happen now. Maybe next week before New Years.

Posted in Flying | no comments

Smiles All Around

Posted by Dave Minor Thu, 22 Dec 2005 18:13:54 GMT

I think these boys are trying to win Santa over about how good they are or aren’t being.

Posted in Family | no comments

Our New Pet

Posted by Dave Minor Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:14:18 GMT

Here’s some photos of a couple of the boys that were taken last week. Kyle is 5 weeks old now and really doing well. He can’t wait until Christmas—very excited.

Posted in Family | no comments

Programming with Foggles

Posted by Dave Minor Tue, 06 Dec 2005 15:20:47 GMT

Foggles-1 In flight training, we use sight limiting glasses (called “foggles”) or a hood to block out the windows and force the pilot to fly by instruments simulating having flown into clouds or fog. It demands focus and attention on the task at hand.

I need foggles in my programming. It’s so hard to stay on task and complete the requirement. Not just from a “keep programming” perspective (ignoring email, phone, browser, IM, and making posts to my blog), but also from a “specific task” perspective (ie, “oh, it would be cool if it also did X. I’ll add that real quick then come back to this problem”).

Of course, this is all just discipline, something which I apparently lack unless I’m passionate about something. I’ve never thought that was really a problem for me.

It would also be great if I could have someone sitting beside me all day reminding me to check on things and pointing out my mistakes:
“Make sure you close that block.”
“Watch your tests.”
“What’s another way you could write that method?”
“OK, you just got hacked. What are you going to do now?”

Posted in Flying, Look Inside, Programming | 1 comment

Step Closer

Posted by Dave Minor Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:13:04 GMT

Today was a good step in my dream of flying. I passed the Private Pilot written test with flying colors. :)

Last night I did my night cross country flight. Next big event is my solo cross-country which will happen after Thanksgiving. I should be ready for my checkride before the middle of December! This has happened a lot faster than I expected it to—which is fine by me!

Posted in Flying | no comments

Incredible Sidewalk Art

Posted by Dave Minor Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:39:23 GMT

I came across some fantastic artwork by Julian Beever today. He draws 3D images on sidewalks with chalk by using the 2D surface’s depth. You must view his work from a certain angle, otherwise it looks like a very elongated, malformed work.