• Downloaded latest Math::Pari tarball from CPAN
• Downloaded pari version 2.1.7 tarball
• Untar Math::Pari
• cd into Math::Pari and run “perl Makefile.PL pari_tgz=/path/to/pari-2.1.7.tgz”
• Ignore all the stupid messages
• run “make realclean”
• cd into the new “pari-2.1.7″ directory that is now inside the Math::Pari dist
• run “./Configure” and then “make gp”
• cd back up a directory to the Math::Pari dist
• run “perl Makefile.PL Configure”
• run “make”
• run “make test”

If all goes well then all your tests should be passing! There may be an easier way to do this, but this is what worked for me.

Enough backstory. I had some hassle getting Catalyst::Authentication::Store::LDAP working with Active Directory. I wanted both authentication and roles, so here’s what I ended up with:

Plugin::Authentication:
    default_realm: members
    realms:
        members:
            credential:
                class: Password
                password_field: password
                password_type: self_check
            store:
                class: LDAP
                ldap_server: dc1:389
                ldap_server_options:
                    timeout: 30
                binddn: cn=SomeAccountYouSetup,ou=Accounts,dc=domain,dc=com
                bindpw: password
                user_basedn: ou=Accounts,dc=domain,dc=com
                user_filter: (userPrincipalName=%s)
                user_field: mail
                use_roles: 1
                role_basedn: ou=Groups,dc=domain,dc=com
                role_filter: (member=%s)
                role_scope: sub
                role_field: name
                role_value: dn
                role_search_as_user: 0
                role_search_options:
                    deref: always

I’m not really participating in Matt’s Iron Man but the flurry of Perl posting does leave me feeling a bit guilty for not saying a bit more about my language of choice.

UPDATE: I’ve changed the configuration a bit to show what you need to change.

My first adventure was with Paul Graham’s ANSI Common Lisp. I really enjoyed the concepts that the book introduced but I was very frustrated by the syntax and nomenclature. Practically all my programming experience has been with “C-style” languages so Lisp is something of a leap. Overall I think the biggest things I brought away from my time with this book were: functional languages are really cool and recursion is much cooler — and a lot easier — than I’d thought.

My next book wasn’t CS related. I devoured Neal Stephenson’s Anathem. It was a great read but I’ve been itching to go back lately and read it again. The more I read Stephenson’s books the more I pick up from them. Anathem was very dense and I probably missed a lot of the good stuff.

Next on the agenda was Programming Groovy. I had no practical reason to use Groovy but I had been spending a lot of time using Java for work and was interested in what Groovy brought to the table. The simplified syntax and heavy use of autoboxing made Java feel nimble and interesting.

Finally we’ve arrived at the present day. Sitting beside me is a queue of books. The current one is Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World. I’ve got a list of programming languages I want to learn about and reading this will check one off the list. I sat this one down because I wasn’t feeling some of the more complex “protocol” examples it got into. Luckily I mustered up some more tuits and skipped that chapter. The next one began processes and I’m really impressed with what Erlang can do. I even thought of a project I could write in Erlang if I wasn’t so busy right now.

The next book on my list Practical OCaml. I’ve got it on loan from my friend Stevan and the quick glance I gave it piqued my interest. I’ll proceed to this after finishing the Erlang book.

Looking back it’s amazing how much information I’ve absorbed in the last 6 months. In the next few days I’ll post another category of books I’ve been reading.

The highlight of the weekend was probably hanging out at a pub that promised live soccer: Harry Rambsbottom’s. We caught half of the Hull v Arsenal game and helped to run their cask of Old Thumper dry. If we weren’t at the venue or on a go-kart track then we were at Harry’s.

The conference gave us a bit of time to talk about Enlightened Perl. I had some good conversations about QueryLog, Perl performance and various other tidbits. One of the things that I got from the conference was the desire to talk a bit more about how Magazines.com — and less so, me as a manager — get things done. I’m going to start this week by writing out some of the stuff I’ve been doing in my spare time then working my way toward how out systems work. This came up a few times during the weekend and I’m interested to hear how others do things.

So check back in a few days, I’ll have some thoughts up.

We’re a Perl shop, located in Franklin, Tennessee. We sell magazine subscriptions online. This year we’ve got a lot to do and I’m looking to add some developers to our ranks. I’m not sure how many yet, but I can give the following details:

• Telecommuters are welcome.
• “New” code: Catalyst, DBIx::Class, Moose and all those things.
• 2009 Projects include two major “new” projects plus maintenance and refactoring in older applications. Lots of niches to fill. We’ll find the right one for you.
• Apache, MySQL and Linux.
• Conferences! Number depends on schedule and work to be done.

We aren’t looking for a particular job level. I’m interested in juniors to seniors. The candidates we choose will depend on the choices we have. If you are interested then drop an email to me via cwatson at magazines dot com.

I’m really excited about our work in 2009. I’m opening the year with two talks at the Orlando Perl Workshop and a commitment to work with the Enlightened Perl Organisation. I’ll eventually post this opportunity on jobs.perl.org but wanted to start here. Give me a shout!

1. I’m a closet designer and typography nut. I spent 2 hours “hacking” tonight on Fibonacci sequences, leading and rhythmic padding. I don’t like talking about it with most people because so many people make this claim and so few seriously invest time and effort into learning the mechanics. Therefore you’ll probably not see me advertise my work anytime soon.
2. I tend to have very few really strong opinions, I generally take on the opinions of those around me. This isn’t to say I don’t believe anything, merely to say that I only seriously invest in a few core beliefs.
3. I’m proud of myself.
4. I intend to work much harder on the social aspect of my career in 2009. More conferences (and talks), more Nashville gatherings, more blogging, etc.
5. Jennifer and I are going to drink wine more often with dinner. I’m convinced it’s good for me!
6. I have one of every computer Apple makes, except the non-Pro Macbook. The laptop is the only one I ever turn off.
7. I’m the co-founder of Cold Hard Code. We created Cartionary and Roostermatic. We’re currently working on a secret project.

I’m not reposting the rules, but I am going to tag Jay Shirley.

Around the time that I started thinking about what to buy, Sun started making noise about their Sun Storage 7000 line. These bad boys pack a bunch of disks in a nice chassis, pump it full of Solaris (Open? not sure), format the whole shebang with ZFS then gussy the whole thing up with a nice web interface.

And they only cost $10k. Nice.

Wait! They even have a 60-day Try and Buy offer! They ship it to you (free) and you can play with it for 60 days! Like it? Buy it for a 20% discount. Don’t like it? Mail it back! (free)

So I sign up and a week or so later I test it out. It’s everything I hoped it would be! I spent way too long emailing around trying to find out how to actually buy the damned thing. I’ve got the approval and a credit card in my hand. It took me a few hours to find out who to talk to.

I finally get the right person and I say “This thing is great. Give me two!”

Sorry sir, you’ll have to fill out paperwork for another Try and Buy to get the discount on the second unit.

Huh? Seriously. Seems so. What a pain in the ass! Have you looked at your stock price lately? Why are you making it so hard for me to give you money? I feel like I’m standing at the door, leaving breath fog on the glass with money clenched in my hot hands. Why do I have to take 30 minutes out of my day to fill out paperwork again?

So, resigned to my fate, I add “Fill out Sun’s stupid fucking paperwork” on my TODO list and go back to work. Guess what happens. NetApp calls! They come out and talk to us and we send them away with instructions to send us a quote in 2 days, as we like the Sun gear.

Lucky for Sun, NetApp came back with too high a price. Even though NetApp would’ve taken my money happily and given me what I wanted, I decided to go with Sun. Consider that a dodged bullet, Sun. You might want to consider if this “open” push is at odds with your ridiculous bureaucracy. You should not make it hard for me to give you money. But thanks for the sweet Try and Buy.

While I’m at it, if you are a LAMP System Administrator in Nashville (or nearby) and are looking for a great opportunity, drop an email to cwatson at magazines dot com!

On a side note, my first entry of the 2008 Catalyst Advent Calendar went up today. Enjoy!