I'm Darren, I'm a Ruby on Rails developer and web guru, I live in Parksville/Qualicum Beach and this is my website

Due to recent developing using php Ming library for creating Flash, I was forced to figure out how to do a custom php5 install on my Dreamhost account. It actually wasn’t hard at all considering they have well written instructions on the Dreamhost wiki. However this custom install described there doesn’t include the Ming component that I needed… so, if you need Ming here is the script I ran. I just added some lines to the script that’s listed on that page. I also upgraded the php version to 5.2.4. Everything else was the same. Here is a link to the file: custom php5.2.4 with ming library install on dreamhost, if you would like to download it.

#!/bin/sh
# Script updated 2006-12-25 by Carl McDade (hiveminds.co.uk) to allow memory limit and freetype
# Modified on 2008-02-18 by Darren Terhune (headfirstproductions.ca) to to include ming library
# Script updated 2007-11-24 by Andrew (ajmconsulting.net) to allow 3rd wget line to pass
# LIBMCRYPT version information (was set as static download file name previously.)
#
# Save the code to a file as *.sh
# Abort on any errors
#
set -e
# The domain in which to install the PHP CGI script.
export DOMAIN="headfirstproductions.ca"
# Where do you want all this stuff built? I'd recommend picking a local
# filesystem.
# ***Don't pick a directory that already exists!***  We clean up after
# ourselves at the end!
SRCDIR=${HOME}/source
# And where should it be installed?
INSTALLDIR=${HOME}/php5
# Set DISTDIR to somewhere persistent, if you plan to muck around with this
# script and run it several times!
DISTDIR=${HOME}/dist
# Pre-download clean up!!!!
rm -rf $SRCDIR $DISTDIR
# Update version information here.
PHP5="php-5.2.4"
LIBICONV="libiconv-1.11"
LIBMCRYPT="libmcrypt-2.5.7"
LIBXML2="libxml2-2.6.27"
LIBXSLT="libxslt-1.1.18"
MHASH="mhash-0.9.7.1"
ZLIB="zlib-1.2.3"
CURL="curl-7.14.0"
LIBIDN="libidn-0.6.8"
CCLIENT="imap-2004g"
CCLIENT_DIR="imap-2004g" # Another pest!
FREETYPE="freetype-2.2.1"
MING="ming-0.3.0"
# What PHP features do you want enabled?
PHPFEATURES="--prefix=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-config-file-path=${INSTALLDIR}/etc/php5/${DOMAIN} \
--enable-fastcgi \
--enable-force-cgi-redirect \
--with-xml \
--with-libxml-dir=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-freetype-dir=${INSTALLDIR} \
--enable-soap \
--with-openssl=/usr \
--with-mhash=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-ming=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-mcrypt=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-zlib-dir=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-jpeg-dir=/usr \
--with-png-dir=/usr \
--with-gd \
--enable-gd-native-ttf \
--enable-memory-limit
--enable-ftp \
--enable-exif \
--enable-sockets \
--enable-wddx \
--with-iconv=${INSTALLDIR} \
--enable-sqlite-utf8 \
--enable-calendar \
--with-curl=${INSTALLDIR} \
--enable-mbstring \
--enable-mbregex \
--with-mysql=/usr \
--with-mysqli \
--without-pear \
--with-gettext \
--with-imap=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-imap-ssl=/usr"
# ---- end of user-editable bits. Hopefully! ----
# Push the install dir's bin directory into the path
export PATH=${INSTALLDIR}/bin:$PATH
#setup directories
mkdir -p ${SRCDIR}
mkdir -p ${INSTALLDIR}
mkdir -p ${DISTDIR}
cd ${DISTDIR}
# Get all the required packages
wget -c http://us.php.net/distributions/${PHP5}.tar.gz
wget -c http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/gnu/libiconv/${LIBICONV}.tar.gz
wget -c http://easynews.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mcrypt/${LIBMCRYPT}.tar.gz
wget -c ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/${LIBXML2}.tar.gz
wget -c ftp://xmlsoft.org/libxml2/${LIBXSLT}.tar.gz
wget -c http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mhash/${MHASH}.tar.gz
wget -c http://www.zlib.net/${ZLIB}.tar.gz
wget -c http://curl.haxx.se/download/${CURL}.tar.gz
wget -c http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/freetype/${FREETYPE}.tar.gz
wget -c ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/libidn/${LIBIDN}.tar.gz
wget -c ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/imap/old/${CCLIENT}.tar.Z
wget -c http://superb-east.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/ming/${MING}.tar.gz
echo ---------- Unpacking downloaded archives. This process may take several minutes! ----------
cd ${SRCDIR}
# Unpack them all
echo Extracting ${PHP5}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${PHP5}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${LIBICONV}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${LIBICONV}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${LIBMCRYPT}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${LIBMCRYPT}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${LIBXML2}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${LIBXML2}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${LIBXSLT}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${LIBXSLT}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${MHASH}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${MHASH}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${ZLIB}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${ZLIB}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${CURL}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${CURL}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${LIBIDN}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${LIBIDN}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${CCLIENT}...
uncompress -cd ${DISTDIR}/${CCLIENT}.tar.Z |tar x
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${FREETYPE}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${FREETYPE}.tar.gz
echo Done.
echo Extracting ${MING}...
tar xzf ${DISTDIR}/${MING}.tar.gz
echo Done.
# Build them in the required order to satisfy dependencies.
#libiconv
cd ${SRCDIR}/${LIBICONV}
./configure --enable-extra-encodings --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#libxml2
cd ${SRCDIR}/${LIBXML2}
./configure --with-iconv=${INSTALLDIR} --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#libxslt
cd ${SRCDIR}/${LIBXSLT}
./configure --prefix=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-libxml-prefix=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-libxml-include-prefix=${INSTALLDIR}/include/ \
--with-libxml-libs-prefix=${INSTALLDIR}/lib/
# make clean
make
make install
#zlib
cd ${SRCDIR}/${ZLIB}
./configure --shared --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#libmcrypt
cd ${SRCDIR}/${LIBMCRYPT}
./configure --disable-posix-threads --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#libmcrypt lltdl issue!!
cd  ${SRCDIR}/${LIBMCRYPT}/libltdl
./configure --prefix=${INSTALLDIR} --enable-ltdl-install
# make clean
make
make install
#mhash
cd ${SRCDIR}/${MHASH}
./configure --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#freetype
cd ${SRCDIR}/${FREETYPE}
./configure --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#libidn
cd ${SRCDIR}/${LIBIDN}
./configure --with-iconv-prefix=${INSTALLDIR} --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#cURL
cd ${SRCDIR}/${CURL}
./configure --with-ssl=${INSTALLDIR} --with-zlib=${INSTALLDIR} \
--with-libidn=${INSTALLDIR} --enable-ipv6 --enable-cookies \
--enable-crypto-auth --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
# c-client
cd ${SRCDIR}/${CCLIENT_DIR}
make ldb
# Install targets are for wusses!
cp c-client/c-client.a ${INSTALLDIR}/lib/libc-client.a
cp c-client/*.h ${INSTALLDIR}/include
#ming
cd ${SRCDIR}/${MING}
./configure --with-ming-prefix=${INSTALLDIR} --prefix=${INSTALLDIR}
# make clean
make
make install
#PHP 5
cd ${SRCDIR}/${PHP5}
./configure ${PHPFEATURES}
# make clean
make
make install
#copy config file
mkdir -p ${INSTALLDIR}/etc/php5/${DOMAIN}
cp ${SRCDIR}/${PHP5}/php.ini-dist ${INSTALLDIR}/etc/php5/${DOMAIN}/php.ini
#copy PHP CGI
mkdir -p ${HOME}/${DOMAIN}/cgi-bin
chmod 0755 ${HOME}/${DOMAIN}/cgi-bin
cp ${INSTALLDIR}/bin/php-cgi ${HOME}/${DOMAIN}/cgi-bin/php.cgi
rm -rf $SRCDIR $DISTDIR
echo ---------- INSTALL COMPLETE! ----------

Found a site that has some cool terminal commands. The sites called OS X Daily. My favorite command was “top” which will show you in your terminal window all your computers cpu usages and more.

Here’s a way for you to backup your mysql databases automatically. You can configure it to do it when ever you like. Code was found on dreamhosts wiki written by Matttail

First log on to your home directory with an ftp client or ssh. Create a backups dir and a backups/archives dir.

ssh yourdomain.com

If you have a problem logging in it’s probably because you don’t have shell access, which you should be able to set up with your host from their panel)

Run these commands from the command line in your home dir:

mkdir backups
mkdir backups/archives

Then open your favorite text editor and create a file with this code. Replace the User, pass mysqlA.domain.com db_nameA with your info. If you want more then just copy paste the mysqldump lines and fill them in accordingly. Save this file as mysql.sh and then upload it to the backups dir.

#!/bin/bash
cd /home/username/backups/
mkdir mysql
suffix=$(date +%y%m%d)
mysqldump --opt -uUser -ppass -h mysqlA.domain.com db_nameA > mysql/db_nameA.$suffix.sql
mysqldump --opt -uUser -ppass -h mysqlB.domain.com db_nameB > mysql/db_nameB.$suffix.sql
tar -cf archives/mysql_backup.$suffix.tar mysql/*
rm -r mysql/

Then you will need to set up a cronjob so from the command line:

crontab -e

Place the following in this file:

MAILTO="you@yourdomain.com"
27 23 * * 3 /home/username/backups/mysql.sh

You can takeout the MAILTO if you don’t want it to email you errors if there are any when the script is ran. The 27 23 * * 3 is the date the script is ran, which is 11:27pm on the 3 day of the week. Edit these if you like. Mine is set to 0 2 * * 1, which is 2:00am Monday. Type CTRL O to save the file and CTRL X to exit the crontab.

That’s it! Your done! If you want to test the script run this command under the backups dir:

./mysql.sh