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Weird ruby error - undefined method 'require_gem'

2008-09-02T19:58:00Z

Really just posting this for future Googling of this error. (Just jump to the last two paragraphs if all you care about is my solution and not any of these symptoms.)

I was working on a new app (more on that soon) and getting ready to push to my production server. When I tried to load the database schema to get it ready I got the following error:

/usr/local/bin/rake:17: undefined method `require_gem' for main:Object (NoMethodError)

I figured that deep inside the massive stack of what whatever files rake was including there was some esoteric error, probably dude to different gem versions. The production server had an older version of gem so I updated that. No go. Checked the rake gem and both production and development had the same version (0.8.1). Searched online and there were other people listing this error, but no solution that helped me. This morning I figured I would just manually create the database and see if the app worked, and it did. Not ideal, but it worked. Now came them time to start the application (two instances of mongrel balanced by Apache) and damn it, the same error! Only this time it was in the mongrel_rails executable:

/usr/local/bin/mongrel_rails:17: undefined method `require_gem' for main:Object (NoMethodError)

What the hell?? So I looked at the mongrel_rails executable:

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby
#
# This file was generated by RubyGems.
#
# The application 'mongrel' is installed as part of a gem, and
# this file is here to facilitate running it. 
#

require 'rubygems'
version = "> 0"
if ARGV.size > 0 && ARGV[0][0]==95 && ARGV[0][-1]==95
  if Gem::Version.correct?(ARGV[0][1..-2])
    version = ARGV[0][1..-2] 
    ARGV.shift
  end
end
require_gem 'mongrel', version
load 'mongrel_rails'

Sure enough, line 17 has the require_gem method call. What does that same file look like on development?

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby
#
# This file was generated by RubyGems.
#
# The application 'mongrel' is installed as part of a gem, and
# this file is here to facilitate running it.
#

require 'rubygems'

version = ">= 0"

if ARGV.first =~ /^_(.*)_$/ and Gem::Version.correct? $1 then
  version = $1
  ARGV.shift
end

gem 'mongrel', version
load 'mongrel_rails'

Pretty different. Checked on mongrel versions and the production server had an older one (1.0.1 versus 1.1.4). So I sudo gem update mongrel and I'm back in business—my app loads. But I still couldn't rake my database to life...

I go back and look at the source of /usr/local/bin/rake and sure enough it's different on my dev machine and production (pretty much the same differences as the mongrelrails script). But rake is already up-to-date...what gives? Maybe there's some secret gem command to update the script for rake, but I don't know it. I just copied the rake executable from dev to production and everything was perfect! *rake db:schema:load RAILSENV=production* ran like a charm.

No idea why these scripts changed (maybe when rubygems 1.0 was released?) and why there was no process to update these scripts that depended on them...if anyone knows, please leave a comment and share!

Launch! Alfred - A Rails app for monitoring other Rails apps

2008-06-19T23:27:00Z

I finally made Alfred official! In my current position as UI Architect I'm always putting together little HTML or dynamic prototypes and mockups. For me the quickest way to do this has been with Rails. As I started getting three, four, five apps that I needed to keep running in order for others in the company to play with, I found that starting and stopping these apps (and keep tracking of which port they were running on, whether they were already running, etc.) got to be a huge chore.

So I wrote on more Rails app called Alfred. Alfred (named after Batman's faithful butler) watches over your Rails apps, let's you know if they're running or not, and gives you one central place to start, restart and stop them. It's been very handy at work and I couldn't live without it now.

It still needs quite a bit of work (it has no idea what to do in the case of an error with your app or how to gracefully recover from it) but that's coming soon enough! I also plan on adding a public view so that you can give out the link to others if they want to check out one of your prototypes, but don't want them having access to start/stop, new project creation, etc.

Head over to github and check out the README for instructions on getting a copy and installing. Since this is an open source project everyone out there is welcome to contribute and improve with features that they themselves find handy.

Are WE Big Brother?

2008-05-21T19:44:00Z

I was thinking about social networking today. You know, that whole revolution that's taking place on the internet right now which lets you see what all of your friends are doing at any given moment?

Is it possible that, like Skynet, we were so worried about the government becoming Big Brother that we didn't notice we were creating him ourselves? And that we're willingly giving up our privacy to him?

Plea to Firefox extension community - Please build an IDE!

2008-05-15T23:28:00Z

I'm begging the community -- could someone build a simple IDE on top of Mozilla? I'm talking just a big text editor window, access to the filesystem and code-coloring. That's all I need. I do everything else in Firefox already (how did we ever program for the web before Firebug?) and if I could just switch tabs to write the actual code, I would be in HEAVEN.

Right now I'm using TextMate on my Mac, which I love, but there aren't any features in there that I use that couldn't be duplicated in this barebones Mozilla/Firefox IDE. I'd even define the syntax for the code coloring myself if it was extensible enough to do so (it would have to be to support all the languages that people would want to use this for). Out the box I would want HTML, CSS, Javascript and Ruby/Rails. I will happily build the lexicons for those syntaxes, someone just give me the format they want them in! Might I suggest TextMate's highly customizable Bundles as a potential drop-in?

I don't care about refactoring, automated builds or even code hinting. Files and colors are all I need (although being able to define a Project would be a nice-to-have). I've looked into Mozilla development and it's just going to take too much of an investment in time to get ramped up to the point that I could actually begin to write something useful, so I'm begging someone out there who already knows what they're doing to help me out! I'd even pay for the damn thing!

Anyone?

Backpack API CFC

2008-02-11T18:52:00Z

Did some searching and found the old Backpack API CFC that people have been asking for! I created this several years ago as 37signals was linking to various implementations and language helpers for their API. I haven't tried this thing since and I don't even know if it still works, but here it is (also available under 'Projects' at the right).

Life and Death (or Win One for the Reaper) - Sheet Music from the Lost Soundtrack

2008-02-05T04:26:00Z

Lost is my favorite show on TV right now. I finally got around to purchasing the soundtrack this weekend and I'm glad I did. Perfect recordings of some of the best music from the show. You almost don't notice it when you're watching, you just feel what you're supposed to feel. The best example of this for me was the finale of season 1 after they blow open the hatch. We flash back to everyone getting on the plane. Everyone is moving towards their seats, giving a polite smile or nod to strangers--others they'll end up sharing the island with. *We* know what's going to happen to them in the next few hours and the music playing (a variation on the song mentioned below) starts to play...very sad moment, even though you know they're going to be "okay."

One of the best songs from the show is The Sad One (usually played when someone dies) entitled Life and Death on the soundtrack. There's actually another version, Win One for the Reaper that I like better--no strings in the background (although there is a little guitar) and it feels like a finished song. Life and Death sort of fades out and then up come the discordant strings letting you know that something is wrong, usually right before a commercial. Win One for the Reaper is very clean and has a distinct end to the song. It even ends a little high note, just a bit of hope there at the very end. Beautiful song.

I don't really play the piano. Well, not in the normal sense. I can learn a song note by note and then sit down and play it from memory, but I can't read music to save my life (not while playing, anyway). Nevertheless I searched for the sheet music online, either to download or purchase but there was nothing. There was a torrent of the sheet music a while ago, apparently, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. Google returned a few results for some YouTube videos. After going through a couple of those I found one that shows step-by-step how to play the song. Bingo! Now all I needed was a piano...

I purchased my Macbook last year and one of the first things I did was uninstall GarageBand. When I installed Leopard I decided to keep it this time and even spent a few minutes playing around to see what I could do. It sat unused for months until this weekend when I realized I could use it as my piano. There's a neat mode that lets you use the keyboard to simulate the piano keys and works surprisingly well. I also played with the default piano sound to get much softer than default (turned down the velocity to about 23 and the release up to about 1 second). I started recording, tweaked things here and there and then ended up with what I thought sounded like a pretty good version of the real thing. I also repeatedly listened to the real thing to fill in some gaps in the YouTube videos (several subtleties that it took me dozens of listenings to sound out for myself).

Now I wanted to share with everyone else who might have been searching for the sheet music just like me. I had no idea if this would work, but I went up to File > Print... and sure enough, I've got the sheet music! So, attached below is a PDF of the sheet music for Win One for the Reaper by Michael Giacchino (it has my name on the sheet simply because my name is in the computer, sorry Michael!). With a little modification this is also Life and Death. Listen to the soundtrack and you'll be able to figure out the differences. Enjoy!

Win One for the Reaper / Life and Death - Lost Soundtrack (pdf)

Update

Here's an MP3 straight out of Garageband of myself playing the song. Had to tweak the default Grand Piano to make it softer and not nearly as bright:

Win One for the Reaper (mp3)

A dilemma

2007-10-12T05:54:00Z

Lately I’ve been bouncing between two extremes at work: wanting to Make a Difference and just Collecting a Paycheck. There are times at my job where I really want to fight for something, a design or a new feature, and sometimes I win—Making a Difference. Other times I realize it’s not worth the fight and so I give up—Collecting a Paycheck. Making a difference is great for the soul, but is it worth the aggravation and stress that comes along with it? Sitting back and collecting a paycheck is easy and carefree, but will I feel empty years later when I look back at what I’ve done with my life?

When I’m collecting a paycheck I feel like my free time is more important, and that I’ve got my priorities right. Or what the general consensus would say are the right priorities—family and friends first, work second. One of my favorite quotes: “On their deathbed, no one ever said ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’” But do I want to look back and see that 33%+ of my life was spent just doing what I was told, not what I believed in?

When I’m making a difference I feel alive—the code flows out of my fingers and the day flies by. I don’t mind working late to just finish up this one feature. I’m at home, thinking of little tweaks and updates. This is when family and friends start to move down the totem pole a little. Being at home becomes a distraction from what I should be doing. Is that any way to live a life?

There are times at work when I feel—when I know—that my opinion doesn’t matter to the decision makers and that things are just going to be a certain way , no matter how clear it might be to everyone else that we’re moving in the wrong direction. At these times trying to Make a Difference just leads to disappointment—you can’t win. The boss wants it a certain way, and that’s just how it’s going to be. That when it’s time to go into paycheck mode. Just do what you’re told , the boss will be happy (the customers, they’re a different story).

I feel like someone who just collects a paycheck isn’t the guy who becomes CEO of the company one day. But do I want to be that guy? Do I want even more stress and responsibility for things that, in the long run, really don’t matter? Or do I just enjoy my small victories when I can get them, do a good job from 9 to 5 and then come home and Make a Difference with the people that really matter?

Welcome to HD

2007-08-22T17:40:00Z

I finally crossed the threshold into High-Def. I’d been holding back for quite a while, what with HD DVD vs. Blu-ray, 1080i vs. 1080p, LCD vs. plasma vs. DLP… the list goes on. After much research I finally found a TV I knew I’d be happy with for a few years, the Samsung LN-T4661 . Glowing reviews from professionals and home users as well. I’ve gone through and did a quick once-over calibration with the new HD DVD version of Digital Video Essentials and it looks amazing. I can’t stress this enough: do not just plug in your TV and leave it like that forever. Get this disc or something similar and tweak those settings. From the factory most TVs are set to look good in a showroom and that means maximum brightness and overly saturated colors, which ruins the fine details in your favorite TV show or movie.

I knew that normal TV programming wouldn’t keep me satiated very long so I also picked up a Toshiba HD-A20 HD DVD player, capable of 1080p output. Although depending on who you ask, it might not be true 1080p. But, the next step up in players is their top-of-the-line HD-XA2 model which costs twice as much. I think I’ll wait for a firmware update for mine, or pick up a Samsung BD-UP5000 dual format player when it arrives in October.

Now for images. In a word: stunning. When you have a great set showing some great content (check out the Planet Earth series), it’s hard to believe that images from a television can look this good. There’s a scene in Planet Earth where the camera zooms out and you see litterally thousands of birds on the screen at once. Each is perfectly clear and identifiable.If you don’t plan on upgrading from standard definition any time soon, do yourself a favor and don’t go out of your way to find a setup like this. Ignorance is bliss! I can’t imagine going back to standard def now. I watched a couple scenes from King Kong in HD last night and I don’t remember it looking half this good in the theater. The colors are so rich, everything pops off the screen. You can make out individual flies buzzing around the T-Rex as it wakes up next to Naomi Watts in the jungle.

And maybe it’s just all in my head, but the sound seems that much better as well. HD discs are supposed to have more bandwidth for sound, so it should be better. I’ve got a Denon AVR-3805 receiver talking to 7.1 Infinity Primus speakers, and had this same setup even before the new TV. Sound was good before but it feels like a true home theater now. There’s a point in King Kong where he stomps off past the camera and you can hear him walking off to the side and eventually behind you, staying easily localized the whole time.

If you’re on the fence about HD, just go ahead and take the plunge, you won’t be disappointed. I’m not aware of any big changes to the specifications on the horizon so you should remain future-proof for some time. If you haven’t see a good setup yet, make it a point to go and find one. It will definitely push you over the edge.

What about RubyWeaver?

2007-08-03T19:57:00Z

Thanks to Google Analytics I've found that plenty of people have been coming here looking for the old RubyWeaver extension. Thanks to Jason Gill, it has a new home:

RubyWeaver

I also added a link in the side nav and the 404 page, so hopefully people can find it. Sorry about that! TextMate is my editor of choice now, I haven't touched Dreamweaver in ages.

If I ever release an album

2007-07-30T16:42:00Z

This will be the cover:

I think you can agree that no other image could sum up my very best.

See the original album here

Use your headphones with the iPhone

2007-07-23T03:15:00Z

Here's how to get most Sony earbud-style headphones to fit the iPhone without one of those ridiculous 6" extenders available from Belkin and others.

I'll be using a pair of Sony MDR-EX90LP earbuds (highly recommended, by the way). Most, if not all, Sony earbuds have this same right angle connector on the end:

Here's the infamous iPhone port. The actual port is sunk down 3/16ths of inch or so making it very difficult for headphones with a normal plug to fit:

Here's what happens when we try to plug in our Sony headphones as they are right out of the package:

Not ideal. Luckily all we need to remedy this situation is your standard razor blade:

I've done this with another pair of headphones so I already know that we need to remove about 1/8 inch of rubber around the plug:

Simply repeat this cut all the way around the plug:

Peel off (may need to touch up your cuts if they weren't deep enough the first time):

And there we go!

Let's try to plug them in:

Whoops. Need to remove a little of the plastic as well. We'll need to remove the corners from the "bottom" edge—the same side that the cord is on. Here's one edge cut and another scored, ready to be cut:

Ahh, much better. The plug will go in like this but doesn't quite rotate freely in the socket unless we trim the other two corners as well:

Here's the final trim on all corners:

Now that's a good fit! You'll feel it lock right in and it should rotate freely in the socket. Enjoy!

P.S. These in-ear earbud style headphones are the most comfortable type I've found. While none will ever sound as good as a nice pair of over-the-ear phones, even those make my ears "tired" after a while (something about them being constantly covered) and they're just not practical for most travel. The standard earbud style, like the ones that come with the iPhone/iPod just irritate the edges of the inside of my ear. But I can wear these in-ear style all day and they never become uncomfortable.

The iPhone does everything

2007-07-03T15:53:00Z

I just paid my bills, got directions, secured a ride and am posting this article, all from my iPhone. It is, without a doubt, the greatest piece of technology I have ever used. How can Apple consistently make such amazing products? Doesn't anyone else out there "get it?" This is what the future was meant to be like.

RidingTheClutch is back

2007-02-14T15:06:00Z

Yes, after months of absence, a new server and a couple new jobs, I’m back. My newest pursuit is all things Ruby and Rails (this blog is running on Mephisto . I released ColdFusion on Wheels to little fanfare in the community. If one of the big guys don’t pick up on your framework it’s pretty much destined to fail. There’s a little bit of closed-mindedness in every programming community, but the CF community seems particularly susceptible. After all, didn’t we invent rapid application development? How dare some little upstart framework claim to do something better/faster/easier? And why would someone then come along and adopt the best parts of that framework for our own beloved language?

My own development of Wheels is on hiatus for a while, but until then my co-core-committer, Per Djurner is taking over the helm. The Google Group is still hopping and there are a couple production sites out there running on Wheels (they should be posted to cfwheels.com