PolarLava::Blog

Whoo ha!  It's been three years now that I've been spewing out this pointless, self-serving drivel.  Hopefully you're enjoying it…I think I am!  ;)

I've removed the bug tracking system from the site.  I wasn't getting that many reports, my project development has ground pretty much to a halt and the software was way outdated and prevented a security risk.  Thus I've removed it and simply replaced it with a link to my Contact form which should suffice for my current needs.

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I've (finally) installed and setup a bug tracking system for my projects.  If you believe you've found a bug in a project or simply would like to request an enhancement, please submit it here.

It's very quick and easy, so I encourage you to use it.  If this is something you see yourself using more than once or twice, I encourage you to contact me (kevinp AT polarlava.com) and I'll setup an account for you.

At the moment you can't view bugs without logging into an account.  This is something I'm looking into fixing.  It may just be a configuration that I need to figure out or I may need to write a custom logged out viewing screen.  One thing at a time…

Thanks!

PolarBlog V1.7.1 (Blind Squirrel) has been released.

Enhancements

• None

• Includes the missing upgrade/installer utility for V1.7.0 that was released yesterday.  You must run the upgrade utility in order for your PolarBlog V1.7.0 installation to work properly.

• None

PolarBlog V1.7.0 (Homing Pigeon) has been released.  The major focus of this release is that addition posting via email, reworking of the installation/upgrade utility and resolution of a RSS handling error.

Enhancements

• Added blog posting via email!
• Major rewrite of the installer/upgrade utility.
• Added Multi-Section "Other Blogs" support.
• Added Ping-O-Matic! checkbox to entry add/update (if USE_PINGER enabled).
• Additional validation of input data for improved security.
• New input_text CSS replaces title in most places.
  * title = Entry Title and Entry Index Date
  * input_text = Edit input field text
  
• Database performance improvements to entry selection.
• Addition of English and Spanish translation in UTF-8 character sets.

• Bad header redirect (304) is causing the RSS feed to not be sent when no updates have been made, but the user doesn't currently have the file!  This has been corrected by redirecting to the existing RSS feed.
• FULLTEXT entry search may have not been created properly in a previous upgrade.  This condition is automatically checked and corrected in the new upgrade process.
• Undefined variable $display in PolarBlog::buildComment() issuing a PHP Notice.
• Edit topic or user cancel button returns to main page.  While editing a topic or user when you cancel it now returns to the section selection menu.

• Added USE_TIMER
• Added POP3_MODE
• Added POP3_HOST
• Added POP3_PORT
• Added POP3_USER
• Added POP3_PASSWD
• Added POP3_MAIL
• Added POP3_TOPIC

December 9, 2005
And if you're now reading this, my migration to A2 Web Hosting has succeeded!  It's likely that there are a few things that may be broken, so bear with me over the next couple of days whilst I sort it all out.

— December 5, 2005
Things will probably be pretty quite here this week as I prepare to switch over my hosting Friday evening.

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As much as I didn't want to have to do it, I've decided to move my website again.  I've signed up and begun reconfiguring my website at A2 Web Hosting.

Although my current hosting provider runs fast servers and does a good job of staying on top of security issues, they have been increasingly unresponsive to support requests.  I've had a couple of issues in the past couple of months that have not been acknowledged or remedied.  I'm not sure what has happened with them, but I used to get very timely and positive responses to my support requests.  And I don't think it's because I'm constantly whining about things, I'm not.  I've been here for two years now and other than some initial issues, I haven't spoken to them until the past couple of months.  That's not acceptable to me and that's the first reason I'm packing up and moving.

The other reason for my move is because I want to be on a server with PHP5 on it.  I had volunteered to be guinea pig for it with my current provider, but my offer was not acknowleged.  And then more recently I entered into a discussion to consider porting PolarBlog to PostgreSQL.  This is something I am interested in doing as well as increasing my general knowledge, so I then needed a host which would also provide that.  Thus in addition to my current requirements, I needed a host that had both PHP5 and PostgreSQL support.  I found only a few affordable choice and A2 Web Hosting quickly became the clear option.  As an added bonus they also support Ruby on Rails should I start looking at that…something else I'd like to do.

So, sometime in the next month, PolarLava will be on the move.  And if I can find the time, it will come out on the other side with a new look.  But that may need to wait a bit…time will tell.