Posts from — July 2008

For the last half an hour I have been playing with Git. Project I’m working on my laptop is version tracked by git. However what is the fun of using version control without a remote server.

As soon as I pushed my project directory to my remote OS X Tiger server, I got the following error.

    bash: line 1: git-receive-pack: command not found
    fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

Google comes to rescue.

    Many installations of sshd do not invoke your shell as the login shell when you directly run programs; what this means is that if your login shell is bash, only .bashrc is read and not .bash_profile. As a workaround, make sure .bashrc sets up $PATH so that you can run git-receive-pack program.

Running following two lines solved the problem.

echo export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Although it is one of the first chapters one read when starting with Linux/Unix, it is always confusing where should we put what when it comes to installing stuff on Linux/OS X computers.

I found a detailed reference Filesystem Hierarchy standard website.

It is also worth knowing, why is it important to store any new customized apps in /usr/local.

After watching Linus Torvalds speaking for Git, and the popularity of Github, I am giving git a try. I have been using Subversion for a while, so things moved pretty smoothly.

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July 4th and I’m heading to Canada to see my siblings. I haven’t seen my eldest sister and her family in years.

The day is sunny and beautiful. At the moment, we are flying over Tennessee.

At Memphis airport while checking in, I was asked by the security officer that I needed to step out for additional checking. No scanners beeped, no other reasons, except the fact that I was wearing a turban.

It was one of the very few moments in the last three years that I have been in the United States, (I would suppose very few compared to Biharis in Punjab or Haryana would have to deal with), that I felt that congress still makes racist laws. I wonder why TSA does not check for a women’s bra or men’s undergarments, if the sole concern is that some chemical might be hidden in the clothes. Why target only turbans? Simple – Because congress has been known to use scare tactics throughout the history.

My take on the whole thing -

1. Dumb politicians and idiot right wings responsible for selecting them exist in every country – doesn’t matter how democratic it is.
2. Racism and regionalism is often painted as patriotism.
3. Few random incidents should not change your opinion about anything or anyone.

I still believe US is one of the most free nations in the world – definitely more than India is. And I hope to retain this view unless something happens that drastically changes it. In the latter case, I am moving to “ANTARCTICA”!!