non-random ramble

I just tried to install mono version 2 from darwin ports.

Before starting i uninstalled the mono i had already:

#!/bin/sh -x
#This script removes Mono from an OS X System.  It must be run as root
rm -r /Library/Frameworks/Mono.framework
rm -r /Library/Receipts/MonoFramework-SVN.pkg
cd /usr/bin
for i in `ls -al | grep Mono | awk '{print $9}'`; do
rm ${i}
done

First i could search for the mono package by typing

$ port search mono

To begin with this did not show the right version so i did :

$ port selfupdate

This checks for a new version of port and updates its list of available software.

now i see:

coco:~ Jim$ port search mono
mono                           devel/mono     2.0          Implementation of the .NET Development Framework
mono-addins                    devel/mono-addins 0.3          Mono.Addins is a framework for creating extensible applications
monodoc                        devel/monodoc  2.0          Documentation for the Mono .NET Development Framework
monotone                       devel/monotone 0.41         A distributed version control system
mod_mono                       www/mod_mono   1.1.16.1     an Apache plug-in for hosting the Mono System.Web classes
coco:~ Jim$

so all good, i ran

port install mono

but get :

darwin_stop_world.c:307: error: 'ppc_thread_state_t' has no member named '__r31'
make[3]: *** [darwin_stop_world.lo] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

A quick search on google brought this:

http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macports-tickets/2008-February/005279.html

The instructions here talk about editing this darwin_stop_world.c file and changing some constant values. They give the path to the file for an older version but a bit of ls ing turned up the new folder:

/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_devel_mono/work/mono-2.0/libgc/darwin_stop_world.c

Ok, so now the tricksy bit…

The instructions in the above link talk about some constants not set up correctly. On the line wher ei saw my exception, it was referring to the following bit of code:

#elif defined(POWERPC)
#if defined(_STRUCT_PPC_EXCEPTION_STATE)
	lo = (void*)(state.__r1 - PPC_RED_ZONE_SIZE);

	GC_push_one(state.__r0);
	GC_push_one(state.__r2);
	GC_push_one(state.__r3);
	GC_push_one(state.__r4);
	GC_push_one(state.__r5);
	GC_push_one(state.__r6);
	GC_push_one(state.__r7);
	GC_push_one(state.__r8);
	GC_push_one(state.__r9);
	GC_push_one(state.__r10);
	GC_push_one(state.__r11);
	GC_push_one(state.__r12);
	GC_push_one(state.__r13);
	GC_push_one(state.__r14);
	GC_push_one(state.__r15);
	GC_push_one(state.__r16);
	GC_push_one(state.__r17);
	GC_push_one(state.__r18);
	GC_push_one(state.__r19);
	GC_push_one(state.__r20);
	GC_push_one(state.__r21);
	GC_push_one(state.__r22);
	GC_push_one(state.__r23);
	GC_push_one(state.__r24);
	GC_push_one(state.__r25);
	GC_push_one(state.__r26);
	GC_push_one(state.__r27);
	GC_push_one(state.__r28);
	GC_push_one(state.__r29);
	GC_push_one(state.__r30);
	GC_push_one(state.__r31);
#else

in the post, he seemed to simply remove all the ‘__’ underscores and it worked… so:

	#if defined(_STRUCT_PPC_EXCEPTION_STATE)
		lo = (void*)(state.r1 - PPC_RED_ZONE_SIZE);

		GC_push_one(state.r0);
		GC_push_one(state.r2);
		GC_push_one(state.r3);
		GC_push_one(state.r4);
		GC_push_one(state.r5);
		GC_push_one(state.r6);
		GC_push_one(state.r7);
		GC_push_one(state.r8);
		GC_push_one(state.r9);
		GC_push_one(state.r10);
		GC_push_one(state.r11);
		GC_push_one(state.r12);
		GC_push_one(state.r13);
		GC_push_one(state.r14);
		GC_push_one(state.r15);
		GC_push_one(state.r16);
		GC_push_one(state.r17);
		GC_push_one(state.r18);
		GC_push_one(state.r19);
		GC_push_one(state.r20);
		GC_push_one(state.r21);
		GC_push_one(state.r22);
		GC_push_one(state.r23);
		GC_push_one(state.r24);
		GC_push_one(state.r25);
		GC_push_one(state.r26);
		GC_push_one(state.r27);
		GC_push_one(state.r28);
		GC_push_one(state.r29);
		GC_push_one(state.r30);
		GC_push_one(state.r31);
	#else

This was defined on lines 130 and 273

the second one now looks like :

	
		#if defined(_STRUCT_PPC_EXCEPTION_STATE)
			lo = (void*)(info.r1 - PPC_RED_ZONE_SIZE);
			hi = (ptr_t)FindTopOfStack(info.r1);

			GC_push_one(info.r0);
			GC_push_one(info.r2);
			GC_push_one(info.r3);
			GC_push_one(info.r4);
			GC_push_one(info.r5);
			GC_push_one(info.r6);
			GC_push_one(info.r7);
			GC_push_one(info.r8);
			GC_push_one(info.r9);
			GC_push_one(info.r10);
			GC_push_one(info.r11);
			GC_push_one(info.r12);
			GC_push_one(info.r13);
			GC_push_one(info.r14);
			GC_push_one(info.r15);
			GC_push_one(info.r16);
			GC_push_one(info.r17);
			GC_push_one(info.r18);
			GC_push_one(info.r19);
			GC_push_one(info.r20);
			GC_push_one(info.r21);
			GC_push_one(info.r22);
			GC_push_one(info.r23);
			GC_push_one(info.r24);
			GC_push_one(info.r25);
			GC_push_one(info.r26);
			GC_push_one(info.r27);
			GC_push_one(info.r28);
			GC_push_one(info.r29);
			GC_push_one(info.r30);
			GC_push_one(info.r31);
		#else
	

Watch out for the top of stack one! its an extra one.

ok this works!

I had to restart the terminal because it didnt seem to find the new programs – it still thought mcs lived in /usr/bin not /opt/local/bin which is where port puts it.

Now i can compile c# version 3.0!!

oh yeah, be sure to use gmcs to compile, not mcs which is the old one.

I just received this link from Tom Marsh at the guardian, its quite an interesting article and thought it would be worth publicising on our blog.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/08/scaling_agile_development_poll_200810/

enjoy.

At the end of our last couple of retrospectives, we ended up with a set of actions that were really for the whole team to think about. Actually they were more like principles we should be following for the next iteration, rather than specific tasks.

Whilst retrospectives should really come out with very specific achievable and measurable actions, these more general themes can also be useful.

One of the team, Jeremy started writing the basics of the actions on cards as statements, like “Challenge Requirements”. We put these “mantras” on the wall and so we can see them and sometimes refer to them during standups.

This Iteration we did the same thing and it seemed to be a good way of capturing and making visible a result of our retrospective.

So far we have :

• Challenge requirements
• Understand Story Intention
• Challenge the spike
• Its not over until UAT (User acceptance testing or signoff)
• Keep stories focused and SIMPLE
• Migration code will ALWAYS be used again
• Transfer ownership (of stories, if people leave or move teams)
• Share Knowledge (as people roll off the project)
• Is it releasable? (an individual story)
• Demo Early

I gave a presentation at TW last thursday last month (August).

The subject was Collective design.

There was some interesting discussion about design in general.

For now, the slides can be seen here:

Collective design presentation

Abstract:
Software development implicitly creates a software “design”, the shape of the software artifact. To build software requires people. This talk discusses how the design of software is affected by and communicated between software developers, particularly on projects involving many people.

end of the week,

finally over the lag and just have the retrospective to go.

today heaps of balloons in the office with everyones name on them!

Some great discussions and ideas.

An analogy for interaction with the clients – like swimming in a rip tide – you cant swim against it.

Building relationships is like building a fire.