Now that I’ve installed Trac about 10 times over the past year, I find that I still get a little confused every time because the documentation is a bit haphazard. I’m going to go over things very simply, in one list, step-by-step so there’s no confusion next time I install. Hopefully this helps someone else.

Bad News

As of 09/29/2007, Mylyn will only integrate with Trac 0.9 or 0.10. If you install the latest dev version of 0.11, you won’t be able to get Mylyn to connect to the Trac repository. I use Trac 0.10

Install Trac

1. Install Python 2.4.4
2. Install ez_setup.py
3. Via command line get to the Scripts directory of your Python installation and execute the following command:

   easy_install http://svn.edgewall.com/repos/trac/trunk/

4. Execute the following command

   easy_install pysqlite

5. Execute the following command:

   easy_install -Z http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/svn-python-1.4.2.win32-py2.4.exe

6. Create a directory at the root of the work drive named TracProjects
7. Create a subdirectory for your first project
8. Go back to your command prompt and execute the following command:

   trac-admin.py D:\\TracProjects\\{project directory} initenv

9. Fill out project name, then defaults for the rest until asked for path to SVN repository. Fill that in.

Your Trac environment is now set up, but you need to install Apache to serve up the site for your project. Well, need is a strong word since Trac has a built-in server, but it’s only recommended for testing.

Install and Configure Apache

1. Install Apache 2.2
2. Download and install mod_python. Be sure to grab the right version for your Python/Apache versions: mod_python-3.3.1.win32-py2.4-Apache2.2.exe
3. Add the following configuration to Apache

   LoadModule python_module modules/mod_python.so

4. Add the following configuration to Apache

    <Location /projects>
       SetHandler mod_python
       PythonInterpreter main_interpreter
       PythonHandler trac.web.modpython_frontend
       PythonOption TracEnvParentDir D:\\TracProjects
       PythonOption TracUriRoot /projects
    </Location>

5. Add the following configuration to Apache

    <LocationMatch "/projects/[^/]+/login">
       AuthType Basic
       AuthName "Trac"
       AuthUserFile D:\\TracProjects\\{project}\\{project}.htpasswd
       Require valid-user
    </LocationMatch>

Configure Apache Based Security

1. Create the .htpasswd file, referenced in the previous step, by using Apache\bin\htpasswd.exe at the command line:

   htpasswd -c D:\\TracProjects\\{project}\\{project}.htpasswd {username}

2. Add any additional users with the same command without the -c switch

   htpasswd D:\\TracProjects\\{project}\\{project}.htpasswd {username}

You’re all set at this point, just restart Apache so that the configuration changes and security take effect. After it restarts, try to hit your project URL.

This is more a personal entry than anything else. It’s listing of all the plugins and setup tweaks that I need for every day development.

1. Download Eclipse classic version. Unzip directly to root folder of work drive
2. Do a file search of your Eclipse installation directory (including subdirectories) for *.zip and delete all of them
3. Install Subversive – which will install Mylyn if you choose the integration – and the Subversive Connectors
4. Download XMLBuddy
5. Download Logwatcher
6. Download JSEclipse
7. Install QuickREx. Update site: http://www.bastian-bergerhoff.com/eclipse/features
8. Install CFEclipse. Update site: http://www.cfeclipse.org/update
9. Install the CSS and HTML Aptana editors. Update site: http://update.aptana.com/update/studio/3.2/
10. SQL Explorer. Update site: http://eclipsesql.sourceforge.net/

Just a personal post here, so I don’t have to go searching for it next time I reinstall Windows.

sc create Subversion binpath= "{path to svnserve.exe} --service --root {root repository path}" displayname= "Subversion Repository" depend= Tcpip

Our entire IT department had a meeting today with the VP and it was very encouraging. Many of the ideas that we’ve had for implementing strategic, long term goals and improving how we work were addressed, and it was sorely needed as a recent merger caused a lot of chaos and disruption of the process of our daily work.

Getting that level of support from senior management is critical when there is a large gap between what should be done and what is currently being done. While I was reflecting on many of the areas and how well they were addressed, I somehow wandered into the realm of past experiences with people who didn’t like some aspect of their workplace.

I quickly did the typical human task of categorizing these people into three types.

The Jerk

This type of employee is, unfortunately, far too common. The Jerk is the person who picks every aspect of their employment that doesn’t directly make their own life easier and complains about them constantly. They also have absolutely no intention of offering proactive solutions for any of the perceived problems, but are content tearing everyone else down. The only effect is making a workplace that much more hostile and alienating their co-workers. This, of course, is not The Jerk’s fault but everyone else’s for not realizing how brilliant The Jerk is.

The Idea Person

In the next tier we have the well meaning, but inexperienced Idea Person. The Idea Person is one who genuinely wants to improve things around them, whether it be ideas for improving cash flow, development processes, new product lines, integration… you pick a topic. They aren’t a Jerk because they want to help the business and rather than simply complaining, they try to develop plans for improving it. However, good ideas are only good if they can be implemented.

How many times have you heard someone say, “We need to completely reorganize our XYZ department. We should fire the ones who aren’t producing, set hard deadlines and goals and tolerate nothing short of them.” Now at a common sense level, this sounds logical for basically any aspect of a business, but implementation details are never produced, nor what level of risk should be acceptable for starting such an initiative.

The other common pitfall of the Idea Person is that they fail to take into account personal feelings and egos. An easily bruised ego is, far and away, the top way to deflate any project to improve your business. Simply walking into the manager of a department and saying the equivalent of, “You’re doing things incorrectly and it’s costing the company money. I have ideas on how you can better manage your aspect of the business. Look for my email.”, will guarantee two things

1. That person will never listen to your ideas because you presented them in a threatening, or demeaning, manner
2. You undermine your ability to ever affect change because you’ve not made the person be part of the process

The Genius

At this point, you might be surprised to hear that, in my mind, the Genius is usually not the person who has the best ideas. No, the Genius is someone who has two skills. They can listen effectively and they can make people believe in a solution. They go beyond the pathetic struggles for personal power and fragile egos and come up with plans of execution that involve everyone, benefit everyone, and present them with a grain of common sense and a dash of excitement.

They think through the details, even if the scope of the goal is broad, and find out what can be done with existing resources. They offer proactive, step-by-step tasks that can be easily understood and, if not easily achieved, then at a level that is attainable.

As I created these groups of people in my mind, I had to then step back and find out where I stood.

Am I a Jerk? Do I complain constantly about the people around me and how inefficient they are? No, definitely not.

Am I a Genius? Are my ideas always received with enthusiastic huzzahs and complete support. Absolutely not.

Am I an Idea Person? Am I constantly approaching people with unattainable ideas with no thought or planning behind them? Again, no.

So, as always, my typical human generalizations don’t hold up when presented with a singular case. I’d like to think I’m between the Idea Person and the Genius. I put a lot of thought into an idea before I go to others with them, but I also sometimes forget important details which makes the idea fall to the wayside.

What kind of person are you?

ColdFire 1.0 was released today and I have to say that Ray and Nathan have made a fantastic tool. For those of you who are using Firebug (and if you aren’t using it, this is one bandwagon that you need to be on) and doing ColdFusion development, ColdFire is an extension to Firebug that takes all of the debugging output and puts it down in the Firebug panel.

No more minuscule output to scroll through because your stylesheet makes the text 4px high, no more text hidden behind one of your DIVs when using a tableless design, and no more scrolling down past your design to see variable values and back up again.

When someone puts out a time-saving, well designed tool to make development easier and faster, you should investigate it – yes, I’m talking to all you dinosaurs still using notepad or vi for your ColdFusion development.