2006-10-26

Open Source and the Easter Egg

My latest task was to be an easy one -- building the Apache - PHP stack for Windows 2003. "Easy," you think. "People are doing this thousands or hundreds of times a day." Very wrong, and yes I did know better.

The error I faced was this one:
  • Cannot load [path]php4apache2.dll into server. The specified file cannot be found.
Search on this error message and you'll see hundreds of instances dating back to 2004.

For the solution I attribute this Devside.net careful posting and bailout.

For a more animated expression of dismay, keep an eye out for the launch of errorprocessing.com. In the meantime, allow me to observe that in the relatively controlled environment of a Windows server, configuration management for the LAMP stack should be the responsibility of the folks at php.net. The information given there provides a hint, but not the solution.

And then there are dozens of misdirected suggestions, such as removing quotes around the pathname . . . This is not about assembling working components into working order. It's an Easter egg hunt, and one no self-respecting child would tolerate.

2006-10-12

IBM Information Server Product Modules

Is this a new class of product, SOA reworked, or vaporware? In any case, does it matter to anyone beyond the Fortune 100 who must pay attention to Blue's offerings? IBM is so not on my radar, despite their stock price.

Link to IBM Information Server Product Modules