svn to git: central repository setup

The best thing about git is you can just start working; no messing around setting up the central repository, working out secure access, etc. But the learning curve for git, coming from svn, is much bigger than say from cvs to svn. The thing I'd not got my head around was what do you do when you need that central repository? For instance, when you have a 2nd developer! I think I've got it now, so here is my guide on it.

Let's assume it is a website ("mysite"), and we have three machines involved:
devel: where most development is done
store: the central repository server
www: the web server

The website is on devel currently, under git, and we want to check it out to www.
If not a website, but just two developers, then in this example "www" is the machine of that second developer.

For simplicity we'll assume all developers have ssh access to the "store" machine. And that all our git repositories will be kept under /var/git/

1. On store:
cd /var/git/
mkdir mysite.git
cd mysite.git
git init --bare

(see update#1 below, if your git does not support --bare)

2. On devel (from the root of the website)
git remote add origin darren@store:/var/git/mysite.git
git push origin master
(the "origin master" part is just needed the first time)

3. On www,
cd /var/www/
git clone darren@store:/var/git/mysite.git my.example.com
(this creates /var/www/my.example.com and checks out the current version of the site)
(you need to configure your web server to not serve the .git directory, as well as any other files end users should not see)

4. If we make a change on devel and want to update www.
First on devel, do the commits, then:
git push
Then on www:
git pull

5. If we make a change on www, and want to update devel.
First on www, do the commits, then:
git push
Then on devel do:
git pull origin master

Not quite symmetrical is it? To fix this, so in future you just need to do "git pull" from the devel machine too, edit .git/config. You'll see these lines:

[remote "origin"]
url = darren@store:/var/git/mysite.git
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

Don't touch them but, just above them, add this block:

[branch "master"]
remote = origin
merge = refs/heads/master

(unless you are doing something clever, you can use that verbatim). Now "git pull" works without having to specify "origin master" any more.

So, "git commit ...;git push" is like "svn commit ...". And "git pull" is like "svn checkout".


UPDATE #1: Older versions of git don't have the --bare function. Do these steps (on "store" machine) instead:

cd /var/git/
mkdir mysite.git
cd mysite.git
git init
mv .git/* .
rmdir .git

UPDATE #2: What to do if you already have some files on www, with some differences from what is in git? E.g. I had a test and live version of a website, with no source control; the test version had a number of extra files. I scp-ed the live version to devel, created a git repository. Then I set it up and push-ed it to "store". Then on my test site, I had to do these steps:

#Temporarily move current test files out of the way
mv my.example.com{,.old}
#Get the git version
git clone darren@store:/var/git/mysite.git my.example.com
#Merge in the test site
cd my.example.com
cp -a ../my.example.com.old/* .
#See what is different
git status
#For all changed files, revert to the git (live server) version
git reset --hard

By the end of all this, git status will just list (as untracked) the files that were on test but were not on live.

PHP, PDO, SQLite, mysterious lock problem

Let's start with the conclusion:
If doing a prepare() or query() with PDO and sqlite, and then you want to do something else with sqlite in the same PHP function then unset the first PDOStatement, before trying to do that something else.

As an example here is my code, to get a unique ID ($dbh is a PDO connection to an sqlite):

function get_next_id($dbh){
$q='SELECT next FROM MyNextId';
$obj=$dbh->query($q); //Throws on error
$d=$obj->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM);
$next_id=$d[0];

$q='UPDATE MyNextId SET next=next+1';
$row_count=$dbh->exec($q); //Throws on error
if($row_count==0)throw new Exception("Failed to execute ($q)\n");

return $next_id;
}

It works on Ubuntu 10.04, with sqlite 3.6.22, but fails on Centos 5.6, with sqlite 3.3.6, with this message:
exception 'PDOException' with message 'SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 6 database table is locked'

I went through the whole changelog from 3.3.6 to 3.6.22, but got no clues (though I am now impressed with how active and organized the sqlite development is). But finally I tracked down this article on someone getting similar errors.

And that was it. I could have used $obj->closeCursor(), but deleting $obj is just as good:

function get_next_id($dbh){
$q='SELECT next FROM MyNextId';
$obj=$dbh->query($q); //Throws on error
$d=$obj->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM);
$next_id=$d[0];

unset($obj);

$q='UPDATE MyNextId SET next=next+1';
$row_count=$dbh->exec($q); //Throws on error
if($row_count==0)throw new Exception("Failed to execute ($q)\n");

return $next_id;
}

If you are doing just one PDO action per function then there is no need, because exiting the function will automatically do the unset.

(I don't know why this is a problem on sqlite 3.3.6 but not sqlite 3.6.22... in fact, I suspect it may be due a difference in the PDO or PHP version or configuration instead. Apologies for the loose end!)

oauth for php (and Ubuntu)

There is a "standard" PHP OAuth library, documented in the manual, and which is installed via pecl. There is no package shortcut under Ubuntu; you still have to use pecl
sudo pecl install oauth

If you get a complaint about no "phpize", install the "php5-dev" ubuntu package. And then if you get an error in "php_pcre.h" when compiling, then you need to install the "libpcre3-dev" ubuntu package.

Finally, you need to enable it. Still as root:
cd /etc/php5/conf.d
echo "extension=oauth.so" >oauth.ini

(This creates a config file just for oauth; you could also simply put the extension line in php.ini.)

Finally, "php -m" should list "OAuth", and you can create a OAuth object in your php scripts.

Ubuntu package manager lists "liboauth-php"; the minimal information, and the lack of mention of pecl, should have given me the clue that it is something different.

Also different is this: http://code.google.com/p/oauth-php/

One man's feature request...

...is another man's bug.
Since Thunderbird 3, if you selected part of a mail then hit reply, only your selected part gets quoted. Incredibly annoying for those of us who think out loud with our mouse.

But it can be switched off. Edit|Preferences, Advanced tab, Config Editor. Then in the search box type:
mailnews.reply_quoting_selection
Change it from true to false (double-click that line is enough).

It turns out this was actually a Thunderbird feature request, dating from 2000! https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23394