last week I came across this article describing how to install PHP on Mac OS X and was a little disgusted. why didn't someone write up a similar story for mod_perl?
after talking to a few people on #modperl and #axkit, and going through the basic "PHP has a larger userbase" we started to rest on arguments like "we have no time" and "I figured everyone who was interested in reading about mod_perl wouldn't be interested in something so basic." That started me wondering about the percentage of PHP users that actually need to install PHP - I suspect it's quite low compared to mod_perl.
So, installing mod_perl on OS X would probably make for a good article, especially as the Mac seems to becoming more popular with Perl developers in general. We tried to do the Mac service in our chapter on mod_perl installation (thanks to Ken Williams) but the community could probably benefit from more than the cursory information we provide there.
speaking of chapters, we put three chapters online last week (Chapter 7, and Chapter 16 as well as one of the Appendices). They're all in PDF because I haven't found the tuits to do HTML conversion yet.
Actually, not having HTML is is turning out to be a drag because Google hasn't indexed the PDF chapters (or our code listings, for that matter). Since our code repository is just a CVS checkout of our code using mod_autoindex, I tried tweaking the settings to add the Etag header to the directory listings. maybe that will help out a bit. Once Google indexes the code, it will be easier to find stuff by keyword, since readers can't grep the PDF files for the whole book.
Hmph. When Reuven Lerner mentioned the online chapters from his new book, people started swarming about problem code, and a few authors and editors came to his rescue. I have to admit, I was once one of the people who would roll their eyes at typos: a sign of carelessness and non-attention to detail, I would think. No more. I had to stop looking at the final version of our book that went to press - every time I looked at it I found something small that put knots in my stomach. I could start to hear the folks on slashdot whining about the code that wouldn't compile because of a missing semi-colon, the un-mono'd binary programs that make the sentences difficult to decypher, the one paragraph that got to press we thought we had removed, or any other number of things readers will find that we didn't...
the time between when you have to let go of your work to when the first un-biased person reads it is phenominally painful. having a slew of poor reviews is almost preferable.
so, I'm trying to occupy myself with tools. cordless drills, 28oz framing hammers, taping knives, sheetrock - all the things that are turning my former study into my daughter's new room, from the bare studs out.
nothing is quite so relaxing as taking a hammer to a wall and wiping the dust off the front of your sweatshirt.
