Inspired by their acquisition of Ximian, i thought i'd take a look at Novell's ports for linux.

I like to jump in the deep end sometimes to see how well I go. I set myself the challenge of installing GroupWise on my Debian box. Google has been my friend thru this, especially when the only mention of whatever error i'm getting is in German.

alien was very handy for converting the RPMs. The installation of eDirectory (required by GrouWise) went fairly well. I did have to do a bit of hacking on the install script so it would use dpkg instead of rpm, and I had to learn a few of their terms.

I know a little about LDAP so it wasn't all new to me, but it seems that Novell like making you think up names for lots of things. To log in to ConsoleOne (the directory admin program) I have to enter a username, password, tree name and context.

I have only been able to get this login to work by adding the tree name as an alias for my directory server in /etc/hosts. I can't see how to add it to my dns server to get the same result.

I've also had some problems with their java package. When I ran ConsoleOne with it, it just continued to eat memory until it crashed, killing galeon along the way. Hacking the ConsoleOne launch script to use /usr/bin/java fixed that, altho some of the plugins arent showing up. I didn't have this problem on my suse system.

The next step was GroupWise. Luckily I have suse on my laptop, so I got to see how the install runs normally. The python based install program for GroupWise refused to run without specific versions of librpm installed; none of which are available to me as debian packages.

I aliened the GroupWise rpms and installed most of them. This needed the --force-conflicts because many of the files are in more than one package.

I'm currently trying to configure GroupWise using ConsoleOne. I REALLY wish I knew the relevance of all the names this thing is asking me for. A system name, a domain name, a postoffice name. With my first few attempts, I got all the way thru before it telling me one of the names conflicted with something else. When I went back and fixed it, it told me my database folder already contained a database so it couldn't use it. I had to kill ConsoleOne (it had one of the db files open), rm -rf the db folder, restart ConsoleOne and try again. After doing this a couple of times I start wondering why I'm still trying.

The reason is, I am frustrated by the mail programs I have used under Linux. I want a client/server mail system so I can access the same data store from different computers running different operating systems. I also want to be able to add properties to my messages, tasks, contacts etc.

I am hoping GroupWise will fill this need.

All the linux mail programs I have used seem to think the height of client/server mail is IMAP. After using Outlook and Exchange for a few years, IMAP looks pitiful to me. (If there is a way for IMAP to support adding arbitrary typed properties to messages and a client and server which support this, please let me know)

It would be nice if Novell made a portable mail client (not evolution unless they complete redo the backend interface.. again) which could be used as a plain pop3/maildir client and could be hooked up to a GroupWise server. A good flexible mail client/PIM will get people using the program and make them strongly consider the GroupWise server.

Anyway.. back to having another guess at what to call my system, domain, postoffice etc.

Most of the songs were chosen because they either reminded me of certain times in my life, or had a certain feel or uniqueness to them that appealed to me.

The Spiderbait song reminded me of when I used to go to the all-ages gigs at the Corner Hotel in Richmond around 1990. Spiderbait used to play occasionally.

That particular version of Wave Of Mutilation was on the soundtrack to Pump Up The Volume. I like that movie even tho it is a bit corny.

Tusk by Fleetwood Mac is a very unique song. To me it seems like a cross between rock and marching band. I don't think there's any other song like it.

Special Needs by Placebo has a great atmosphere to it. The lyrics are very subtle and the music fits them well.

A Perfect Circle - When I first heard of them I got put off by the hype. I listened to their newer album a few times and got hooked. A great atmosphere and unusual vocal melody.

Get Over It - even tho I hate the saying, the song appeals to me. It seems to be about having all the superficial indications of success but leading a miserable life. What's The Deal is about realising you are in that situation and going back to a simpler, happier life.

I realise that most of my musical experience is limited to comercial stuff and I might not think these songs were so special if I perhaps heard the songs that inspired them. Perhaps there's 100 other marching band rock songs and i've only heard that one because Fleetwood Mac were popular enough to get it played on the radio. It doesn't matter because I'm not writing this as a magazine article, just as an expression of my thoughts.

Reading back over this post it feels like a high school student's blog. Hopefully my style will improve as I write more.

My gf lent me her mp3 player recently.. the journey to/from work is much more pleasant now.

I loaded it up with a variety of songs. I originally had Blink 182's self titled album, but I wanted a bit more variety.

Current playlist:

Placebo - Special Needs

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

Andy Partridge - I wonder why the wonder falls

OK GO - Get over it

Franz Fedinand - Take me out

28 Days - What's the deal

10cc - Dredlock Holiday

A Perfect Circle - Blue

The Pixies - Wave of mutilation (UK Surf mix)

Ben Folds - Fired

Spiderbait - Shazam!

The Breeders - Cannonball

They Might Be Giants - Til my head falls off

Weird Al Yankovic - It's all about the Pentiums

Save Ferris - Come on Eileen

Smashing Pumpkins - Zero

Most of the songs have a bit of a story as to why they were chosen. I'll try to write more about it later.