Set up a Private Git repository via SSH

Feb 06, 2014 GMT

If you need to set up a private Git repository, you don't have to deploy a full-blown Git server or use one of many popular Git services like GitHub and Bitbucket. Instead, you can opt for a quick-and-dirty solution which lets you work with git repositories via SSH.To do this, you need a remote machine with Git and SSH installed on it. Establish an SSH connection to the server, then create and initialize a bare Git repository: mkdir repo.git cd repo.git git init --bareOn your local machine, create and initialize the git repository by running the git init command. Use then the git remote add origin ssh://user@remotehost/path/to/repo command to add the remote host to the repository...

Establish SSH Connections Using sshpass

Jan 31, 2014 GMT

sshpass enables non-interactive ssh password authentication. In other words, it allows you to establish an SSH connection by specifying a password as part of the command. So instead of using a command like ssh user@remotehost, and then manually entering the password when prompted, you can use sshpass to pass the password non-interactively. This lets you automate scripts that establish an SSH connection as part of their routine (e. g., rsync-based backup scripts). In other words, sshpass provides an alternative to the popular password-less SSH login technique.On Debian and Ubuntu-based Linux distributions, sshpass can be installed by running apt-get install sshpass command as root. On...

Keep Tabs on Income and Expenses with My Expenses for Android

Jan 30, 2014 GMT

There are several traits that set My Expenses apart from the myriad of other expense tracking apps for Android. Firstly, My Expenses is an open source app, and it's available on both Google Play Store and F-Droid. More importantly, though, the app strikes a perfect balance between functionality and ease-of-use. The app lets you set up multiple accounts and track expenses for each account. Recording an expense is a single-step procedure that involves only a few taps. To track expenses more efficiently, the app allows you to create categories and assign them to expenses and income records. You can then view all expenses by category to get a better idea of...

Open Font Library: The Font Fountain

Jan 29, 2014 GMT

Google Fonts is a popular source of open source embeddable fonts, but it's not the only game in town. The Open Font Library (OFLB) project aims to provide an alternative destination for developers and designers looking for quality open source fonts. Although the list of fonts currently available on OFLB is rather short, it does contain a number of excellent fonts. The library features a slick interface which allows you to easily browse and preview fonts. The service also makes it possible to filter fonts by type and by license. Similar to Google Fonts, OFLB lets you download the desired fonts as well as embed them into web pages. OFLB is open to anyone who...

View System Info with Linfo

Jan 28, 2014 GMT

Linfo provides an alternative to the previously covered PhpSysInfo script. Install Linfo on a remote server, and you can quickly view essential info about the machine's hardware and software. This includes RAM and disk usage, hard disk and CPU temperatures, system load, running processes, and more. Similar to phpSysInfo, Linfo is written in PHP, so deploying it is a matter of grabbing the latest release of the software from the project's website, unpacking the downloaded archive, and moving the resulting diretory to the root of the server. Once you've done that, open the sample.config.inc.php file in a text editor and configure the available options. Point...

Pygmynote Update

Jan 27, 2014 GMT

Although I use Pygmynote on a daily basis, I haven't tweaked it for a while. Basically, the script does what it's supposed to, and I didn't feel an urgent need to improve it. Over the weekend, though, I finally got around to implementing a couple of small features as well as cleaning and tweaking the code. The most notable improvement is the addition of the new l command which makes it possible to add a record with a long note using an external text editor. The u command now also relies on a text editor for updating notes. The new version also introduces the g command which can be used to generate a static HTML page with records containing a specific tag....

Quick Tip: Word Count in KDE

Jan 23, 2014 GMT

Here is a nifty little feature in KDE that I discovered recently: it's possible to view the word count of a text file without actually opening it. To do this, right-click on a text file (or press Alt+Enter) in the Dolphin file manager, choose Properties and switch to the Information section. You should see the actual word count in the Words field. If, for some reason, the field is not displayed, you can add it manually by clicking on the Configure link in the lower-right corner of the dialog box and then ticking the Words check box.