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This isn’t going to be a pretty article, but I’m aiming to catch Google’s attention, along with anybody else who got the same problem as me when they installed the Roundup issue tracker, followed the instructions but got redirection problems ending up with urls containing ‘//////////’ and stuff like that.

Firefox catches this issue and displays the warning:

The page isn’t redirecting properly

The stdout message can show a different url depending on what action you were trying to perform when it got itself wedged, but it’ll end with //////////////////// HTTP/1.1" 301

The problem is in the config file, under [tracker]. The web= section is wrong. I know – you followed the instructions. So did I. They say,

The web address that the tracker is viewable at.
This will be included in information sent to users of the tracker.
The URL MUST include the cgi-bin part or anything else
that is required to get to the home page of the tracker.
You MUST include a trailing ‘/’ in the URL.
Default: NO DEFAULT

Lets just back up a fraction. To start the tracker, you use
python roundup_server.py TrackerTitle=./tracker_location

When I type http://localhost:8080/ into my browser, I get the tracker, so I thought that must be right. The instructions insist on the ‘/’. which I have. It would be helpful if they mentioned that you need the tracker title in the url too. In fact, when I type http://localhost:8080/, I’m redirected to http://localhost:8080/trackertitle/index. So in the config.ini, I need web=http://localhost:8080/trackertitle/ and all’s well.

I’ve just been reading about Xylitol, the sweetener used in Smint, Orbit Complete and lots of other sweets and chewing gums.

It’s a bit like the aspirin of the mint-world. It helps re-mineralise teeth, improves bone-density in osteoporosis sufferers and helps prevent ear infections.

It has no known side-effects, other than a mild laxative effect at high doses. Unless you’re a dog. Even small doses can cause hypoglycæmia (low blood sugar levels) in dogs, which can be fatal.

Charlie says, “Don’t play with matches and keep your Smints off the floor.”

[Updated to add: Paracetamol is equally dangerous to cats. In case you were interested.]

“Python requires commas within single-element tuples to disambiguate the tuple from a parenthetical statement. This is a common newbie gotcha.” – Djangobook

I didn’t know that and it’s never bitten me. Now that I do, I’ll be more wary.

I’m very happy to have heard David, Ben and Jason on the Joyeur weblog discussing how they help people choose between Python and Ruby as programming languages. The gist is: If you think whitespace is important (whitespace is the blank bits of a page – the margins, the separation between paragraphs etc.) then choose Python. If you’re a messy slob, choose Ruby.

Now, I wouldn’t want to comment on the personal habits of Ruby developers, but I was glad to hear David (?) lay down the challenge, “Show me somebody who likes both [Ruby and Python].”

I’m a Python programmer. I like Python – it fits my brain. During the time I’ve been learning a bit of Ruby, I’ve found a couple of cool features, but most of the time it’s just been a hard slog to understand other people’s code snippets, in a language where you can (and often do) write the same code elements in lots of different ways. To a Ruby programmer, this is flexibility. To me, it’s confusion.

Now, I’m happy, because I’ve learned that it’s not just me.

I’ve got stacks and stacks of statements at home, because I thought I had to keep them, for tax assessment purposes, for seven years. I’ve just done a little research, and found that I can recycle rather a lot of that pile.

How long must I retain my records?
If you send in your tax return after the normal filing deadline of 31 January, either because it was issued late or because you sent it back late, you must usually keep your records for 15 months after the date you sent it in. This applies to both online and paper tax returns.

I’ll keep all my P60s too, but that’ll really be a weight off my shelves! (Remember that if you run a business or are self employed, the rules are different.