Aleph-Null: Welcome
Aleph-Null, Inc. is a software development and consulting company
specializing in Open Source solutions. We provide software development,
support, and administration on a variety of platforms.
Get QueryPath.
It's like jQuery for PHP. Query XML and HTML with CSS 3 selectors or XPath. Manipulate and traverse documents.
Inject database results right into the DOM.
Use HTML as a template language.
Write your own extensions.
Book/eBook: Drupal 6, JavaScript, and jQuery. Buy It.
Book/eBook: Learning Drupal 6 Module Development. Buy It.
Book/eBook: Mastering OpenLDAP. Buy It.
Book/eBook: Managing and Customizing OpenCms 6. Buy It.
eBook: Building Websites with OpenCms [5]. Buy It.
Matt Butcher is the principal consultant for Aleph-Null, Inc. In addition
to being a professional software developer and systems integrator, Matt
is a published author, with three books and over a dozen articles.
Articles and How-To's
Documentation, tutorials, howto information, etc. written by Matt Butcher.
Note that documentation on
specific products (e.g. Sinciput, Caryatid) is to be found on the respective
project's page.
Two news bites on Matt Butcher from SDR News
At CMS Expo 2009, Matt Butcher was interviewed by SDR News. In the interview he talks about changes in web development, speed and reliability, and the QueryPath library. Get to Know QueryPath
"HTML, HTTP, and XML are the undisputed triumvirate that form the backbone of Web technology... The new QueryPath library... offers an efficient API for working with XML, HTML, and HTTP." Drupal 6 and JavaScript Translations
Drupal's unsung hero is its multilanguage support. Boasting "Over 42+ Languages and Counting" (Douglas Adams reference intended), Drupal's PHP library makes it easy to build language-sensitive modules and themes. And with the advent of Drupal 6's robust JavaScript libraries, you can now add translation support to the client side, as well! Working with JavaScript in Drupal 6
As an introduction to my latest book, Drupal 6 JavaScript and jQuery, Packt has released a two-part series entitled Working with JavaScript in Drupal. This tutorial covers the basics of JavaScript in Drupal, creating simple script files, creating custom themes, and adding JavaScript to a theme. QueryPath: Find your way
jQuery for PHP anyone? QueryPath is a PHP library that provides the chaining, querying, traversing, and manipulation features of jQuery, but for server-side web applications. Apache, SSL, and "Getting Rid of the Passphrase"
When setting up Apache to use SSL/TLS, how do you get rid of that password prompt during Apache's startup? This short article explains how to use OpenSSL's RSA tool to remove the passphrase from the SSL/TLS key file. Drupal Site Stuck Offline? Here's How to Unlock It
It is possible for an administrator to lock her- or himself out of Drupal using the Site Offline settings. This short howto explains how to unlock the site by editing the database. Drupal 6 on Mac OS X: The Secret is MAMP
I was surprised to discover that the OS X version of PHP does not include the GD library. I've also been disheartened by the disjointedness of the Mac OS AMP stack. So when Drupal 6wouldn't install, I took the opportunity to try out an alternative: MAMP. OpenCms Presentation Slides
Matt Butcher gave one of the invited technical discussions at OpenCms Days 2008. While Alkacon will be publishing PDF versions of the presentations on their site, we have posted an OpenCms module version of Matt's presentation. This is his presentation exactly as it was given at the conference. Theming Modules in Drupal 6
Interested in learning how to get Drupal modules to interact with the theme system? Want to make sure that a module can be blended with a site's look and feel? This article provides an overview of the theme system. Enable Apache and PHP5 on Mac OSX Leopard
This short howto explains how to enable Apache 2.2 and PHP 5 on Mac OS X Leopard (10.5). All the tools are there on your Mac. You just have to turn some things on. Installing Solaris Express Developers Edition on Parallels
While installing the Solaris Express Developers Edition on Parallels, I hit a hitch: the installer seemed to hang. The solution? Raise the memory allocated by the VM to around 1 Gig. OpenCms 7.04 with Tomcat on Ubuntu Feisty (7.10)
Deploying OpenCms 7.04 on Tomcat 5.5 in Ubuntu 7.10 (or Debian Etch) can be a little tricky if you have not already configured Tomcat. The main reason for this is that the security manager for Tomcat is configured (under Debian and Ubuntu) to be very strict. This article explains how to configure Tomcat 5.5 on Ubuntu and Debian so that you can get to the OpenCms installer. (This same strategy will work for other similar webapps, too). Tomcat 5.5 On Debian: Security policies and {catalina.home}
Debian Etch's Tomcat 5.5 package is reorganized to match the file system hierarchy standards for Debian. This causes some problems with Tomcat environment variables -- especially in policy files. Tomcat 5.5 On Debian: AccessControlException for logging.properties
When installing a new Java Servlet in Tomcat 5.5 of Debian Etch, I found a critical AccessControlException error in my log files. The error had something to do with logging.properties. With a little digging, I found a solution that is both secure and quick. Fixing Ubuntu Gutsy's X.org configuration for a Toshiba Satellite R-15
After upgrading my Satellite R-15 from Ubuntu Feisty to Ubuntu Gutsy, my X.org server started hanging. It took a little clever debugging and some bug database reading, but I think I found the problem -- and the solution. Velocity Variable Scope and mergeTemplates()
How did variables set in one template manage to make it into another template used on a different request? The answer was a little surprising. LDAP Development in Python, Part 4
In this last article in the series, Matt Butcher covers LDAP schemas, and how the Python API can be used to manipulate LDAP schemas. LDAP Development in Python, Part 3
In this third article of the series, Matt Butcher examines more operations, such as ModRDN, Add, Modify, and Delete and also looks at the LDAP URL library (ldapurl). LDAP Development in Python, Part 2
This is the second in a series of articles by Matt Butcher about developing LDAP aware applications in Python. This article focuses on using standard LDAP operations to compare, search, and modify data. Using the LDAP Password Modify Extended Operation and the ldaphelper utility module are also covered. Book Review of Mastering OpenLDAP
Phil Lembo, manager of the ELDAPO blog (a blog dedicated to directory management) posted a review of Matt's Mastering OpenLDAP book. LDAP Development in Python, Part 1
Technical article covers the details of writing LDAP-aware applications in the Python programming language. This first part covers the basics. PHP: Strings vs. Character Arrays
In PHP 5, is it faster to manipulate strings as strings, or as arrays? Is substr() faster than array_shift()? I found myself in a situation where I was carefully evaluating and modifying string values in PHP. Given my experience with Java, I wondered whether it would be faster to convert the strings to arrays, and manipulate them that way (using a standard parser-like method). So I devised a test. The conclusion? It is faster to treat PHP strings like... strings. Restoring libc6 from a Debian GNU/Linux Rescue Shell
On Debian Linux Etch (stable), we had an incident that resulted in the removal (deletion, bye-bye, kaput) of libc6. Of course, almost everything depends on libc6 (a.k.a glibc), so the system basically became unusable. Using the Debian install disk and rescue mode, we managed to get things back to normal using a Debian installation/rescue disk, udpkg, dpkg, and a handful of other GNU/Linux shell tools. Configuring a Client for Subversion plus Secure Shell (svn+ssh)
Configure a Linux client to use svn+ssh (Subversion over SSH) with a public key/private key combination. This same process should work on most Unices. Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) Linux on a Toshiba Satellite R-15 TabletPC
This update describes some of the differences between Ubuntu Linux 5.10 (Breezy Badger) and 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) on a Toshiba Satellite R-15 TabletPC. How I configured my Toshiba Satellite R-15 TabletPC
This guide explains how to set up a Toshiba Satellite R-15 TabletPC to run in tablet mode under Ubuntu Linux 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake). It also contains information for older versions of Ubuntu. PXE Linux Correction
A reader recently submitted this updated step for configuring PXE Linux (See my PXE Linux How-To posted at LinuxDevices). Ubuntu Linux 5.04 on a Toshiba Satellite R-15 Tablet PC
This is a cursory overview of what is working and what is not working after an Out of the Box (read: no attempt at manual configuration) install of Ubuntu Linux 5.04 on a Toshiba Satellite R-15. UPDATE 2006-01-06: Updated for Ubuntu 5.10. Update 2006-01-11: Found out source of suspend problem. UPDATE 2006-01-20: Got the tablet and stylus working! Core Fluxbox
Fluxbox, a derivative of Blackbox, is a light-weight window manager. While the main desktops, KDE and Gnome, continue to get more resource-hungry, Fluxbox maintains a minimalistic interface designed to perform well (even on slow machines) while still providing the necessary functions of a good window manager. Using USB with FC2 on a Tecra 8100
I recently upgraded my Toshiba Tecra 8100 from Red Hat 8 to Fedora Core 2. Amongst the other nasty surprises, one that I found particularly irksome was the failure to recognize the USB hub. Turns out the solution was really quite simple. Running Gentoo on a Toshiba Tecra 8100
This covers installing Gentoo 1.0 rc6 on a Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop. UPDATED FOR GENTOO 1.1a on June 6, 2002 Mailman on Gentoo
As of this writing (June 30, 2002), there is no Mailman ebuild for Gentoo.
When I have a chance, I will build one. However, here are a few additional
considerations for installing Mailman. Gentoo Fonts
A short guide to setting up XFS in Gentoo Linux. Using the Iomaga HipZip in Linux
This short guide explains how to use the HipZip in Linux over a USB connection.
Articles Published Elsewhere:
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Review of NA-CAP 2007
The International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IA-CAP) included Matt Butcher's review of the 2007 NA-CAP@Loyola conference. IA-CAP Newsletter, vol. 2, num. 2, Nov. 2007. FOSS and the Philosophers
I used to think of myself as something of a rare bird -- a philosopher and software developer with a keen interest in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movements. But as I discovered at last month's North American Computers and Philosophy (NA-CAP) conference in Chicago, there are many with similar interests. Using DiskOnChip with Linux Kernel 2.4
The M-Systems DiskOnChip is a solid state storage device used primarily in embedded devices. It is manufactured by M-Systems (www.m-sys.com) and comes in several form factors, models and sizes. Linux, an Open Source operating system, has become a popular OS for embedded devices due to the readily available source code, the open licensing, and the robustness of the platform. This document is an introduction to working with the M-Systems Disk-On-Chip under the Linux operating system. Right now, this document is specific to the Allwell Set Top Box platform. Most of the steps are similar regardless of the platform, though. Using the /dev and /proc file systems
There are two Linux file systems that continually prove to be confusing stumbling blocks to new Linux users. These two directories, /proc and /dev have no Windows counterpart, and are not at first glance easily understandable. They are, however, powerful tools for understanding and using Linux. This article is a walk-through of the device (/dev) and process (/proc) file systems. It will explain what they are, how they work, and how they are used in practice. Configuring the Palm Key flash drive in Linux
Key chain-sized storage devices are becoming increasingly popular, for both individual and business uses such as backing up data and storing sales presentations. I've been able to test and use the Allwell Palm Key flash drive, a nice key chain storage device with a reasonable price tag. Below, I describe ways to configure and use the Palm Key storage device. Linux in education
Linux has been making inroads into K-12 education for years, but Microsoft's move to require an audit of 300 school districts nationwide has brought Open Source into the educational limelight. As schools analyze alternatives to hefty licensing fees, LUGs and Linux-in-education organizations are pointing out that Open Source solutions are better suited to the educational environment, and are only a fraction of the cost. Linux and broadcasting
The annual National Association of Broadcasters' show in Las Vegas is one of the broadcasting industry's premier showcases for technology. From studio equipment to online channel guides, NAB brings together all aspects of the broadcasting industry. During the convention this past week, Tux was there. The stallion and the penguin
In late May, DreamWorks' new animated film "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" will hit theaters and mark a major milestone for the studio, as well as for the Open Source community at large. "Spirit" was created on Linux workstations as well as a Linux rendering farm. Network Booting of a diskless Linux device with PXE
PXELINUX can be used to boot a diskless Linux device over a network. Matt Butcher, who uses PXELINUX to boot set-top boxes, explains how PXELINUX works and how to use it in this interesting technical "HOWTO" article. |
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