Start/Stop PostgreSQL on Mac

Start PostgreSQL:-

sudo -u postgres /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/data start

Stop PostgreSQL:-

sudo -u postgres /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/bin/pg_ctl -D /Library/PostgreSQL/9.3/data stop

Stop PostgreSQL from auto-starting on reboot:-

sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.edb.launchd.postgresql-9.3.plist 

Make PostgreSQL auto-start on reboot:-

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.edb.launchd.postgresql-9.3.plist 

Refs
http://www.xtuple.org/faq/xtuple-faq/postgresql/how-do-i-stop-postgresql-service-mac 
https://gist.github.com/abhishekdev/1960888

Run Tomboy with Mono 3.2 on Mac

Compiling it from scratch based on http://xmemory.tompium.com/2012/06/running-tomboy-note-taking-app-on-mac.html doesn't work anymore. Here are the additional instructions:-

• After getting the latest version of Tomboy (1.15.3),  replace "flush(true)" with "flush()" in Note.cs to fix a compile error. Not sure why the compiler complained about this line. Anyway, using just "flush()" fixes the problem but it may not write everything to disk straight away.
• After building Tomboy, running it caused an exception:- 

Missing method System.Reflection.Assembly::op_Equality(Assembly,Assembly)

To fix it, modify a script file called Tomboy in Tomboy.app -> Contents/MacOS/Tomboy by changing the last line to

exec -a "Tomboy" "$MONO" --runtime=v4.0 --debug $ASSEMBLY $@

Refs
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mono/+bug/882501
http://xmemory.tompium.com/2012/06/running-tomboy-note-taking-app-on-mac.html

Offline Maps on New Google Maps for iOS (v2) and Android (v7)

To download an area on the map, type 

ok maps

in the search box.

To clear the cached map, go to

Settings -> About, terms & privacy -> Terms & privacy 

and select

Clear application data

Refs
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/07/17/offline-maps-in-google-maps-2/

System.Object is not defined or imported when building PCL project in Xamarin Studio 4.0.12

There're also a bunch of similar errors:-

: error CS0518: The predefined type `System.Object' is not defined or imported
: error CS0518: The predefined type `System.ValueType' is not defined or imported
: error CS0518: The predefined type `System.Attribute' is not defined or imported
: error CS0518: The predefined type `System.Int32' is not defined or imported
: error CS0518: The predefined type `System.UInt32' is not defined or imported
. . .

To fix this, go to References -> Edit References -> .Net Assembly then add mscorlib.dll from /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework/Libraries/mono/4.5

Refs
https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=12845

Enable Xdebug in MAMP

Uncomment the zend_extension line and modify the /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.x/conf/php.ini file to look like this:-

[xdebug]
zend_extension="/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.4.10/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20100525/xdebug.so"
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_host=localhost 

; On my machine, the default port 9000 has already been taken by something else.
xdebug.remote_port=9099 

; Recommended when using Symfony
xdebug.max_nesting_level=250

Then restart the servers in MAMP.

Refs

http://danpolant.com/want-to-run-xdebug-mamp-is-the-easiest-way/

http://xdebug.org/docs/all_settings

Show print history on Mac

When I opened the web based CUPS admin interface to show print history:-

http://localhost:631/jobs?which_jobs=completed

I got the "Internal Server Error" message.

To fix it, I used the following commands

sudo cupsctl --debug-logging
sudo cupsctl --no-debug-logging

Refs

http://osxdaily.com/2011/01/20/show-print-history-mac/

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3510277?start=0&tstart=0

Custom php.ini on shared hosting

• Find the default php.ini path. Mine is /usr/local/lib/php.ini

<?php phpinfo() ?>

• Copy the default php.ini to the user's home folder and customise it.

<?php copy("/usr/local/lib/php.ini", "/home/username/php.ini") ?>

• Create a .htaccess file in the user's home folder with the following content.

SetEnv PHPRC /home/username/php.ini
# The following lines are important if the php.ini file is put in the document root.
<Files php.ini>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>

Refs

http://php.net/manual/en/function.copy.php

http://jesin.tk/using-custom-php-ini-files-on-shared-hosting/

https://drupal.org/node/290592

List processes and ports on Mac

• Show listening ports

lsof -i -nP | grep LISTEN

or with all processes

sudo lsof -i -nP | grep LISTEN

• Show ports with any state, e.g. ESTABLISHED, CLOSE_WAIT, CLOSED, LISTEN

sudo lsof -i -nP | grep TCP

or

sudo lsof -i -nP | grep UDP

Switches
-i select IPv[46] files
-n no host names
-P no port names

Refs
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070425165628961

The system is running in low-graphics mode after upgrading the VirtualBox Guest additions to 4.2.12

I tried switching to use gdm instead of lightdm to see whether it could help but it didn't so I rolled back to v4.2.10 while waiting for v4.2.13 which was reported that this problem has been fixed.

• Rebooted the machine in recovery mode in the Grub menu by, while booting:- 
• Pressing ESC, or
• Holding down the Shift key (this works better for me).
• Uninstalled the VirtualBox Guest additions

cd /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.2.12
./uninstall.sh
reboot 

• After reboot, the screen was black. Here is what I did to fix this,
• Pressed Cmd + F1 (or Alt + F1, don't know why Ctrl isn't needed on my machine) to switch to tty1.
• Made LigthDM the default display manager

sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm
sudo reboot  

        But it didn't work. It turned out that I also had to modify /etc/X11/default-display-manager to have the full path to lightdm like this.

/usr/sbin/lightdm

Then rebooted,

sudo reboot

After that, I could continue installing the VirtualBox Guest additions v4.2.10 and now everything is back to normal.

Refs

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/11709

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1186984

http://askubuntu.com/questions/172319/how-can-i-start-in-safe-mode

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LightDM

http://askubuntu.com/questions/74551/lightdm-not-starting-on-boot

Install httrack using brew on Mac

Typed

brew install httrack

Then I got:-

==> Downloading http://download.httrack.com/httrack-3.46.1.tar.gzAlready downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/httrack-3.46.1.tar.gz
Error: SHA1 mismatch
Expected: be6328d2ff3cbabd21426b7acc54edcf1ebb76e0
Actual: 237fca7a9c5c63b53c5d0134dac6e5714422384c
Archive: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/httrack-3.46.1.tar.gz
(To retry an incomplete download, remove the file above.)

So I did:-

brew update

Then I got:-

error: The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by merge:     Library/Formula/libmusicbrainz.rbPlease move or remove them before you can merge.AbortingError: Failure while executing: git pull -q origin refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master

To fix it, I did:-

cd /usr/local
git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin/master

After that, I could run "brew update" and "brew install httrack" again with no problem. 

Refs

http://forum.httrack.com/readmsg/25812/25794/index.html
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/36862/install-homebrew-package-and-ignore-md5-hash
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10762859/brew-update-the-following-untracked-working-tree-files-would-be-overwritten-by

Reduce memory usage in Chrome by suspending tabs

Google Chrome seems to use lots of memory especially when there are lots of tabs open at once. It quite often slows down my machine significantly to the point that I have to restart the browser (with all tabs still open after the restart) and then it gradually slows down again. I'm glad I came across The Great Suspender. This extension allows me to suspend any tab manually, or let it suspend idle tabs for me automatically.

Refs

http://lifehacker.com/5982490/the-great-suspender-suspends-memory+hungry-chrome-tabs-you-havent-used-lately
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-great-suspender/klbibkeccnjlkjkiokjodocebajanakg?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon

Convert an object array to a string array in Java

• System.arraycopy(Object src, int srcPos, Object dest, int destPos, int length);
• Arrays.asList(Object_Array).toArray(new String[Object_Array.length]);  
• Java 1.6

        String[] stringArray = Arrays.copyOf(objectArray, objectArray.length, String[].class);

Refs

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1018750/how-to-convert-object-array-to-string-array-in-java

Find which process is using a file on Mac

Use this command

lsof | grep <filename>

or

lsof <filepath>

To ignore case, use

lsof | grep -i <filename>

Run it as root if the process is owned by root,

sudo lsof | grep -i <filename>

Refs

• http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20040121001144687
• http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=462257

Getting the error "oasis-text.icns is in use" when installing LibreOffice on Mac

The full error message is

The operation can't be completed because the item "oasis-text.icns" is in use.

To fix it, just quit the SystemUIServer process in the Activity Monitor.

Install Force.com IDE on Eclipse 4.2 (Juno)

• Use this Force.com IDE Update site http://www.adnsandbox.com/tools/ide/install/
• Copy org.eclipse.update.ui_3.2.300.v20100512.jar to the eclipse/plugins directory. Get this file from the old version of Eclipse or from this site http://www.java2s.com/Code/Jar/o/Downloadorgeclipseupdateui32300v20100512jar.htm. If this file is missing, we will get the following error message:-

Cannot complete the install because one or more required items could not be found.
  Software being installed: Force.com IDE 27.0.0.201302151147 (com.salesforce.ide.feature.feature.group 27.0.0.201302151147)
  Missing requirement: Force.com IDE 27.0.0.201302151147 (com.salesforce.ide.feature.feature.group 27.0.0.201302151147) requires 'org.eclipse.update.ui 0.0.0' but it could not be found

Refs

• http://wiki.developerforce.com/page/Force.com_IDE_Installation_for_Eclipse_3.6
• http://boards.developerforce.com/t5/General-Development/Install-Eclipse-Juno-4-2-with-Force-com-IDE/td-p/462323