EXT2-fs: blocksize too small ramdisk

I received this error creating ramdisks, and it was somewhat annoying finding a solution, though the error is perfectly clear.

It turns out that I had created my ramdisk with an ext2 file system and a blocksize of 1024, the default size. However, the kernel has built into it that it wants a size of 4096 for the block.

I couldn’t quite believe that it needed blocks that large, but the kernel guys know better than I do what to do. At first, I had tried a mere 2048 for the blocksize, but that didn’t cut it. Finding out that it wanted something that large was a shock, though.

Especially as the amount of RAM I have in my client is 256 meg. I have a 20 meg or so ramdisk image I am pushing down. Using a blocksize of 4096 resulted in a whopping 300 meg image. Too much for the memory.

Fortunately, you can pass the following as an option to the kernel:

ramdisk_blocksize=1024

or indeed any abitrary ramdisk blocksize, as long as it matches your real blocksize. If you’re using pxe, as I am, put it in your APPEND line. If you’re using grub to do this somehow, then add it in the boot line, I assume.

PordWress

I’ve been wondering about the upgrade path for a wordpress installation I have on a webserver.

If I’d just left wordpress in the default location, ports would automatically upgrade it for me. I’d occasionally have issues from that, but that’s not what I did, so I don’t have issues from it. Instead, I have wordpress permanently stuck around version 2.1. Which is non-optimal.

So I’ve been thinking about how to resolve this. I imagine it’s as simple as finding the default location and cping a binary, but I’m uncertain. And if I break that website, there will be hell to pay, where hell is a hot place that’s very uncomfortable.

Aq recently wrote a post about this very conundrum: http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2007/11/23/wordpress-through-subversion  - so good for him. I’m going to try out a dual pronged approach. First, I’ll clone the mysql database/wordpress install from the website and throw it over to the vm, then see if I can update it safely by copying a port-installed binary. If so, score. If not, I’ll try the subversion approach.

(failed)

I didn’t get 24 pages last night. At 6 AM, with 1 hour to go, I was falling asleep in my chair on page 18.

The problem was that I never really saw how my different stories gelled.  Alas.

But I did work out one of the most subtle ways a comic can be a comic. And exploited it maximally.

Had a fun time, folks. See you next year.

late night entertainment

arse

 I now have 12 pages. I have 45 minutes to write another 5.

I’ve never written something like this. Normally, I see the several ideas I have and I trust that they don’t make sense *now*. but in ten pages time they’ll just gel, and I go with that. This time, it’s. It’s weird.

I mean, it’s fucking weird.

I’m spending half my comic so far apologising for writing about boring topics. There’s really no way to write about source control management and make it interesting.
I should start writing about something else.

hee hee

Name that geek (terrible picture, terrible artist, making it hard)

Where am I

I am not just writing a comic here, I’m also maintaining the server for the 24 hour readathon (a parallel event that started this year), and it recently had a crisis.

It’s been having crises a lot of late. It has bad RAM. I need to buy more for it. But it’s limping along reasonably well, so meh. I’ll buy it in a couple of weeks.

I have written these pages so far. Note the liberal use of NIGHT for entire HALF PAGES.

I’m so fucking behind. But I’m having fun. I will have caught up by midnight, I hope. I’m moving right now from the science fiction story of balls coming to earth to the story of distributed development with git.

These snacks are fuelling me. Delicious!

Though my gas is fucking atrocious.

blaaahs

 cat httpd-access.log | grep 20/Oct | awk ‘{ print $1 }’ | sort | uniq | wc -l

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’ve got too many story lines and no idea how to put them together.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

I’m too many pages behind.

Fun!

soon…

…I’ll have to start real pages.

These ones are good to catch up though.

page trois

I’m having trouble having faith. The story has thus far been that odd kind of graphic novel that were originally intended by the term. Words, pictures, but not necessarily a comic.

Still, one thing I know is that stories have a way of coming through. And this one has several more threads that haven’t played into it yet. I know that the one about open source software will be more pictureish. I’ll get to draw Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds for the first time.

Of course, my art is mostly known for being craptastic, so they won’t look anything like the real things.