Will Stevens's blog

Create a UTF8 database:
> CREATE DATABASE db_name DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Create a user for the database:
> CREATE USER 'user_name'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_pass';

Grant all privileges to the user:
> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'user_name'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
You should probably not give him all privileges on all databases, but you can change that as needed.

I have quite a few sites set up with Drupal and it has been working beautifully for me. However, with the fast turn over of Drupal code, I was having trouble keeping all of the sites up to date with the most current code releases. I needed to figure out how to manage my Drupal code in a way that allowed me to upgrade easily without stressing about what I might break. After a lot of research and trial and error, I have finally settled on the following setup.

Eurotrip.com has released its new and innovative Trip Planning tool today. This European travel website is jumping into the ring with companies like Dopplr and TripIt by releasing a planning application that allows users to better navigate the complicated travel planning process. Eurotrip already has a leg up on its competition with its flourishing community, all of whom are totally dedicated to budget backpacking. With the ability for savvy members to comment on travelers plans while they are still in the planning process, helping them avoid common pitfalls as well as giving great advice, Eurotrip has carved out a very exciting niche in the market.

Recently, while developing, I have had people looking over my shoulder and asking questions like; "How are you able to code and test so quickly?" and "You just wrote that, how is the person you are talking to on Skype able to view and test it already?". When I explain to them how my development environment is set up, they usually replay, "you should really blog about that". So here it is...

One step away from working for homeland security... :)

I knew they installed those things for a reason...

Ya instincts... :)

This has become one of my signatures, so it is about time I write something about it. The basic motivation is the rapid improvements in resolutions and screen sizes. This has made it difficult for developers to know what size resolution they should be developing for. In the old days a lot of developers would develop for an 800x600 screen. Later that switched to 1024x768, but the underlying problem is still present. How do you develop a site that will evolve with the technology.

This is how I got Django and Satchmo set up on my Debian Etch box with Apache2, MySQL, mod_python and Memcached.

The machine I started with had Debian Etch installed as well as Apache2 and MySQL.

If you are reading this it is because you already know that you want a Rails setup on a Debian server with NginX in front of a Mongrel Cluster.

These are the steps I used to completely set up my server...