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Time to look for some modern replacements that I can fold in.

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Mater's back from the shop.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

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I was recently trying to do some tricky start and stop commands with Monit http://mmonit.com/monit/.  Unfortunately while Monit itself can log to syslog, it doesn't output anything from attempts to start and stop the applications.

The stripped down environment that Monit spawns can be problematic and getting it to cough up whats wrong can be frustrating.

Based off of an answer to a similar question on stack overflow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3356476/debugging-monit by billitch I think I came up with a good way to keep tabs on whats happening inside those Monit start and stop commands.  A wrapper script pipes both standard output and error to syslog.

I created two shell scripts in /etc/monit, one for full debugging, and one for minimal extra output and ongoing use just in case a problem crops up, you can check your syslog and see what bad thing went down.

My original scripts also preserved the exit code of the command under test but apparently Monit doesn't give a whit about what the command exited as; so I've presented the simpler script here.

/etc/monit/modebug

#!/bin/sh
    {
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER date"
     date
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER env"
     env
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER $@"
     $@
     R=$?
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER exit code $R"
    } 2>&1 | logger

/etc/monit/morun

#!/bin/sh
    {
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER $@"
     $@
     R=$?
     echo "MONIT-WRAPPER exit code $R"
    } 2>&1 | logger 

This is an example Monit script, showing execution of both scripts.

/etc/monit/conf.d/dk-filter.monit

check process dk-filter with pidfile /var/run/dk-filter/dk-filter.pid
      group mail
      start program = "/etc/monit/modebug /etc/init.d/dk-filter start"
      stop  program = "/etc/monit/morun /etc/init.d/dk-filter stop"
      if 5 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout
      if failed unixsocket /var/run/dk-filter/dk-filter.sock then restarter.sock then restart 

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The 1957 Chevy 6100 Wrecker is home.  Thanks to Ray, and R. Lance and Sons Towing. http://rlanceandsons.com/

It looks uncannily like Tow Mater from Pixar's Cars movie but I'm going to resist naming it "Mater".  It's too cliche; and this is a serious work truck!  Maybe "Bessy"; Not sure.  The truck will eventually name itself; until them I'm just calling it

the 57Wrekr.

Current Todo List:

Rear Brake Drums are Seized; Unseize them.

Rear Brake Lines are Cut; Replace them.

The Rims may be unsafe widow-makers; Have them checked.

The Tires are Dry-rotted; Replace them.

Windshield is severely broken; Replace it.

Driver Side Vent window is missing; Find a replacement.

The bench seat is nasty; Fix or Replace.

Then drive it!

It last ran in May, starting it should only require fluid changes, and a nicely charged battery.

Big props to Ray and R.Lance it was fun going to pick it up, and it went very smoothly.

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I've recently been working on updating a set of Ruby applications and converting all of the gem dependencies to use Bundler (gembundler.com)

I've added to my optimized Capistrano Bundler tasks to include handling the prequisite rubygems version and providing a number of customization parameters.

Bundler 1.0 now includes a basic "bundle:install" Capistrano script http://github.com/carlhuda/bundler/blob/master/lib/bundler/capistrano.rb, but since mine covers a bit more ground than the default one I'm continuing to build my scripts around the following Bundler tasks.

Capistrano::Configuration.instance(:must_exist).load do   desc "Add deploy hooks to invoke bundler:install"   task :acts_as_bundled do     after "deploy:rollback:revision", "bundler:install"     after "deploy:update_code", "bundler:install"     after "deploy:setup", "bundler:setup"   end     namespace :bundler do         set :bundler_ver, '1.0.0.rc.5'     set :bundler_opts, %w(--deployment --no-color --quiet)     set(:bundler_exec) { ruby_enterprise_path + "/bin/bundle" }     set(:bundler_dir) { "#{shared_path}/bundle" }     set :bundler_rubygems_ver, '1.3.7'     set(:bundler_user) { apache_run_user }     set :bundler_file, "Gemfile"         desc "Update Rubygems to be compatible with bundler"     task :update_rubygems, :except => { :no_release => true } do       gem_ver = capture("gem --version").chomp       if gem_ver < bundler_rubygems_ver         logger.important "RubyGems needs to be udpated, has gem --version #{gem_ver}"         gem2.update_system       end     end         desc "Setup system to use bundler"     task :setup, :except => { :no_release => true } do       bundler.update_rubygems       gem2.install_only "bundler", bundler_ver     end       desc "bundle the release"     task :install, :except => { :no_release => true } do       bundler.setup             #Don't bother if there's no gemfile.       #optionally do it as a specific user to avoid permissions problems       #do as much as possible in a single 'run' for speed.             args = bundler_opts       args << "--path #{bundler_dir}" unless bundler_dir.to_s.empty? || bundler_opts.include?("--system")       args << "--gemfile=#{bundler_file}" unless bundler_file == "Gemfile"             cmd = "cd #{latest_release}; if [ -f #{bundler_file} ]; then #{bundler_exec} install #{args.join(' ')}; fi"       cmd = "sudo -u #{bundler_user} sh -c '#{cmd}'" if bundler_user and not bundler_user.empty?       run cmd       on_rollback do         if previous_release           cmd = "cd #{previous_release}; if [ -f #{bundler_file} ]; then #{bundler_exec} install #{args.join(' ')}; fi"           cmd = "sudo -u #{bundler_user} sh -c '#{cmd}'" if bundler_user and not bundler_user.empty?           run cmd         else           logger.important "no previous release to rollback to, rollback of bundler:install skipped"         end       end             end   end   end

This code uses some other dependencies that I use throughout my Capistrano scripts, namely the customized Gem2 plugin from vmbuilder_plugins. This following code necessary to monkey-patch the Gem2 plugin, which is bundled with Mike Bailey's deprec project http://github.com/mbailey/deprec/blob/master/lib/vmbuilder_plugins/gem.rb

module Gem   GEM_UNINSTALL= "gem uninstall --ignore-dependencies --executables"   def install_only(package, version=nil)     tries = 3     begin       cmd = "if ! gem list | grep --silent -e '#{package}.*#{version}'; then gem uninstall --ignore-dependencies --executables --all #{package}; #{GEM_INSTALL} #{if version then '-v '+version.to_s end} #{package}; fi"       send(run_method,cmd)     rescue Capistrano::Error       tries -= 1       retry if tries > 0     end   end   # uninstalls the gems detailed in +package+, selecting version +version+ if   # specified, otherwise all.   #   #    def uninstall(package, version=nil)     cmd = "#{GEM_UNINSTALL} #{if version then '-v '+version.to_s  else '--all' end} #{package}"     wrapped_cmd = "if gem list | grep --silent -e '#{package}.*#{version}'; then #{cmd}; fi"     send(run_method,wrapped_cmd)   end end

Unlike many examples of Capistrano deploy scripts which are kept inside the app root of the application they deploy, my deploy scripts are kept in their own repository, and they were built to contain all of the "institutional knowledge" of how to interact with all of our server farms and applications.  There is a lot of shared code that would have to be duplicated if I were to try to break the deploy scripts apart, and store them with each application.  There would also be a lot of tasks that don't make sense to live in only one application, some wouldn't have a home in any application.  I've found a couple of patterns that make it easier to hook and unhook code into the main deploy processes, which I may touch on in other posts. 

One of the techniques which is used in the bundler tasks is to separate out the callback hooks into their own top level task.  This allows me to not have to remember all of bundlers individual hooks, I can easily add them to any application that needs them, and omit them from applications that don't.  A second technique that I use is to control the task chains.  I learned early on that you want to be able to call individual tasks for maintenance and not inadvertently trigger a long series of chained tasks.

This is an example of what you might see in one of my application deploy scripts:

  on :start, :only => ["deploy","deploy:setup","deploy:migrations","deploy:cold"] do     acts_as_bundled     before "deploy:update_code", "deploy:clear_release_path","deploy:setup_dirs"     after "deploy:update_code", "deploy:authentication", "git:track", "scalr:on_boot_finish", "git:config", "scalr:on_hostup"     after "deploy:symlink", "deploy:cleanup"   end

Notice the acts_as_bundled acts as a nice declarative way to invoke bundlers callback assignments, and that they are only invoked if one of the top level tasks matches the :only clause.

So for example I can do a command like

cap deploy:symlink

Without causing "deploy:cleanup" to be executed.  But when I do:

cap deploy

It will.

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This time I went primarily to scope out the swap meet, but wasn't impressed, so I wandered back in to take a look at some of the cars.

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Awesome run even though he powered down before finishing.  

4885.mp3 Listen on Posterous

  The raceway and Wednesday Night Drags crew would also like to remember long-time racer and friend, "Mr. Pontiac" Pete Aljian.  Pete passed away on May 22, following complications after a stroke.  He was 71.  

  We’ll all remember the great pride Pete took in his all-steel, mid-nine-second, blue 1955 Pontiac, which  he built and drove, and was later driven by Bob Van Poppering and John Tobias.  As a tribute to Pete, his fellow ICRA (Island Cities Racing Assoc.) club members will be racing this weekend in his honor. Please keep Pete and his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.

Pete Aljian memorial run.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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This time I saw that the chips went all the way down to metal. (Top right grey color)

I had a couple of choices, ignore it some more, repaint the whole truck, or try to fix it myself.

Ignore it certainly hadn't helped up to this point, and I knew I had some white paint leftover from my repair of under the battery compartment of the Jeep.  I thought it would be a pretty good match. 

It's funny, I'm not a fan of white vehicles, and yet I have two trucks painted the whitest white you can imagine. It certainly wasn't intentional thats just the color they came with, and I'm very much a function over form kinda guy.  I wouldn't turn down a good truck just because it was white.

Materials: my auto masking tape, sanding pad, 1000 grit wet sand paper, old newspapers, old t-shirts, and paint prep cleaner (all left over from my wheel resto project). I  used the low grit sand pad to knock off any weak chips and to round off the edges of the remaining paint. I gave the windshield a slight dusting overspray after the first pass, so after this photo I cleaned it off and put more newspaper up to keep that from happening again. You need more newspaper than you think.

I used the 1000grit to knock the edge off the new paint where it abutted the masking tape.  It's a Good From Far, but Far From Good job.  There is a slight hue difference between the white paints, and theres a difference in the surface texture, but I made the ridge to be in the middle of the curve so it's very difficult to see it if your more than 10' away.  I should have practiced with some body filler and additional sanding, but I'll do that next time.  It does the job for now.

So heres the true out of pocket repair cost: $0; I already had everything from other projects, and still plenty of paint in the rattle can for a few more projects. 

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