If you want to have a script run when a user logs in and/or logs out then you’ll likely want to look into using login and logout hooks. A hook is a script that runs as root (although you can execute as the user with su). Hooks are enabled in the /var/root/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow. You can do so using defaults, writing the path to the script into LoginHook as a string as follows: defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /scripts/script.sh If you only want to run the script once (ie – at first login) then you can end the script with a defaults command that will then reset the field. defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook…
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Football: Wildcats vs. Bulldogs
24-13 wasn’t a route. But it is respectable enough given that they’re not a bad team this year…
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Mac OS X Server 10.5: Managed Preferences Update
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal If you’re familiar with Managed Preferences in Tiger then you’re basically already familiar with Managed Preferences in Leopard Server. But there are some great new features that Apple has provided us with by popular demand. These include the following: Applications There are now more features to the Applications Managed Preference. You can allow or disallow applications by selecting them individually or a folder. This means that you can allow access to applications located in the /Applications folder but disallow all applications located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. There are also now controls for allowing specific widgets and disabling Front Row. Finder There are new options…
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Mac OS X Server 10.5: Advanced Mode
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal So you selected Advanced Setup during the wizard while you were installing Mac OS X Server and now you’re looking at this new Server Admin screen that you’ve never seen before. You see the server name but there are no services in the list. This is because Apple has gone the extra step to make Server Admin less confusing and more user friendly than ever before. When you click on the Settings icon at the top of the Server Admin screen you will see the tab for Services. Here, you can enable or disable any service by checking its box and clicking on the…
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Mac OS X 10.5: The New Terminal
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal Apple has been slowly winning over a lot of traditional Unix and Linux converts. This new breed of switcher is after a cool shell environment. In Leopard, Apple has upgraded Terminal.app to provide a whole slew of new features that are sure to continue winning new converts. Let’s just take a look at a few of them: Secure Keyboard Entry – Prevent other applications from detecting keystrokes used in terminal. Enable this using the Terminal menu. Tabbed Interface – I always have 3 shell windows open. That’s how I roll. But with the new tabbed interface (which you can access using the Command-T keystroke) I find…
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Mac OS X Server 10.5: LDAP ACLs
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal In Leopard, Workgroup Manager supports rudimentary ACLs for the LDAP database. We’re all familiar with Access Control Lists by now. Especially in the Mac OS X Server community. However, we might not all be familiar with ACLs as they’re implemented in LDAP. But we should be, because LDAP is being used more and more as an address book, and with the new Directory application being shipped in Leopard it is conceivable that environments aren’t just going to use ACLs to secure LDAP but they’re also going to use them to allow users to self update their information in the directory. So in the interest…
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Mac OS X 10.5: Solidifying the Top Menu Bar
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal In Leopard the Top Menu Bar is fairly transparent and will overlay on top of the background image. For those who want to disable it the following command will do so: write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 1 If you later start to miss this menu bar then you can undo this change by using the following command: defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.WindowServer 'EnvironmentVariables' -dict 'CI_NO_BACKGROUND_IMAGE' 0
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Mac OS X Server 10.5: Introduction to Ruby on Rails
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal So Ruby on Rails… What does this mean for me and what exactly is Ruby on Rails from a systems administration standpoint? Ruby on Rails was created by David Heinemeier Hansson from his work on Basecamp, a web-based project-management tool, by the company 37signals. Ruby on Rails was first released to the public in July 2004. Ruby on Rails is a web application framework designed to support the development of dynamic websites. To see some sites built using Ruby on Rails check out http://happycodr.com Ruby is an object-oriented program language that Rails is built on. To access rails, you can use the rails command. The Ruby…
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Football: Georgia vs. Auburn
45-20. In the SEC that’s a route. I was worried to, to be honest. They’re a really good program.
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Mac OS X Server 10.5: Troubleshooting CalDAV
I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal So you installed your new server and you’re having a few problems. Let’s look at the common issues and a few simple fixes for them. iCal will not start, with log entries that it is unable to create a virtual host: Check your host name. iCal is going to need the host name to be correct in order to start. Use scutil --get HostName and then make sure that the host name listed in the iCal Server settings is identical to this value. You setup a user, check the box in Workgroup Manager for Enable Calendaring and then save your settings but you get the following…