Programming

Blocking Sites in Ubuntu

Aug 25th

Posted by eosgood in Linux

1 comment

If you share a computer or have small children you don’t want visiting certain sites, here is a way to easily block them if you are an Ubuntu user:

1) you will need to have sudo permission

2) run the following command to edit /etc/hosts – sudo gedit /etc/hosts

3) Now, under the lines:

127.0.0.1       osgood-desk     localhost.localdomain   localhost
127.0.1.1       ubuntu.ubuntu-domain    ubuntu

127.0.0.1       osgood-desk     localhost.localdomain

The next step is to simply add:

127.0.0.1 examplesite1.com

127.0.0.1 examplesite.com

4) Now, anytime someone tries to visit examplesite1 or examplesite2, their browser will be unable to access the site.

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Avoiding ‘mkdir -p’ in Perl by using File::Path::make_path()

Jul 7th

Posted by eosgood in Programming

7 comments

Using “ (back ticks) to implement the unix ‘mkdir -p’  is a “ghetto hack” and can now be circumvented by using File::Path::make_path. Here is some example code that implements that functionality:

###############################################################################
# Subroutine: mkdir
#
# Function that emulates unix’s “mkdir -p”
#
# Arguments: Scalar String – the path in question
#
# Returns: Scalar – either an integer representing the number of new directories created or an error message
sub mkdir($) {
my $path = shift;
my $err_msg;
# attempt a ‘mkdir -p’ on the provided path and catch any errors returned
my $mkdir_out = make_path( $path, { error => \my $err } );
# catch and return the error if there was one
if (@$err) {
for my $diag (@$err) {
my ( $file, $message ) = %$diag;
$err_msg .= $message;
}
print “$err_msg”;
} else {
print “$mkdir_out”;
}
} ## end sub mkdir($)

this subroutine will will try to create the path specified and will either print an int representing the number of new directories created or an error message.

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Setting Bash Environment Variables

Jul 3rd

Posted by eosgood in Linux

2 comments

If you are using the shell in Ubuntu and want to change your $PATH or $HOME variable permanently and not on a per session basis, the easiest way, IMO, is to simply edit ~/.bashrc. Adding the following line to .bashrc will add some directories to your $PATH variable:

‘export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/some/dirs:/path/to/some/more/dirs’

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