Cardboard Box

Cardboard Box

A place to store useful snippets of code, links and other such geek stuffs.

Examine x509 Certificate

I've noted uses of the "openssl" command before. Here is another.

A quick way to examine a certificate in plain text.

openssl x509 -text -in cert.pem

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posted by Don @ 1:12 PM, , link to this post

Convert Seperate Key/Cert Files to PFX

The reverse of the process of extracting the key/certs from a PFX can be achieved via the following:

openssl pkcs12 -export -in [certificate.crt] -inkey [private.key] -out [package.pfx]

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posted by Don @ 11:21 AM, , link to this post

Recover MySQL Root Password

To recover the password for the root account on a MySQL server use the following steps.  Essentially, it can be done by restarting the daemon without the grant tables.

1. Stop the currently mysql daemon
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop

2. Start the daemon without the grant tables
# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &

3. Login to mysql as the root user ... it will have a blank password
# mysql -u root

4. Reset the root account password
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("NEW-PASSWORD") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

5. Stop & restart the daemon
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# /etc/init.d/mysql start

I found this tip here.

posted by Don @ 9:46 AM, , link to this post

Content-Disposition Header

In situations where you want a file linked to from within a website to present a 'Save As' dialog rather than simply displaying the content ... you can inject a Content-Disposition header into the HTTP connection to prompt the browser to do so.  I recently had a situation where I was linking to an uncommon file extension through a reverse-proxy and Internet Explorer 6 wanted to include extra URI information in the 'Save As' file name.  You can force the saved file name with this header as well.

In PHP, the header is introduced as follows...

header('Content-type: text/plain');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=myfile.ext');

Additional information, and my source for this information, can be found here.

posted by Don @ 3:18 PM, , link to this post

Upper To Lower To Upper Case Command Line

Nice trick to pipe command line data through to convert it's alpha characters to upper or lower case.  Most people dont even realize the 'tr' command exists on most linux/shell releases.

From UPPER to lower: tr [:upper:] [:lower:]
From lower to UPPER: tr [:lower:] [:upper:]

Example: ls /directory | tr [:lower:] [:upper:] | sort

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posted by Don @ 11:31 AM, , link to this post

Mount ISO (.iso) In Linux

To mount an ISO (.iso) on a Linux system...

mount -t iso9660 -o ro,loop /path-to-file/file.iso /path-to-mount-point

In many cases you will not have to specify the "-t iso9660" as most Linux distributions will auto detect that.  The "ro" in the "-o ro,loop" tell this system to mount it ISO read-only.

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posted by Don @ 4:44 PM, , link to this post

Enable Syntax Highlighting In Vim (vi), Mac OSX (Leopard)

To enable the syntax highlight feature of Vim on a Mac OSX (Leopard) system, edit the /usr/share/vim/vimrc file and add the "syntax on" config.

To do this from Terminal.app...

sudo vi /usr/share/vim/vimrc

...add a new config, "syntax on" and then save and close the file.

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posted by Don @ 10:57 AM, , link to this post

Remotely Reboot Windows XP

Using a remote desktop client to connect to a Windows XP box will not provide you with the option to reboot or restart the remote machine. To do this from the command line, open a command prompt (Start->Run->Cmd.exe) and use the command:

shutdown -r -t 0

...to open a gui interface to manage the reboot:

shutdown -i


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posted by Don @ 3:35 PM, , link to this post

Web Based Design Tools

Some great online tools for a web designer or content creator.  I frequently use the Image Optimizer to cheat some load time off my site's images.

http://tools.dynamicdrive.com

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posted by Don @ 5:17 PM, , link to this post

Mac Keyboard Shortcuts For Symbols

Mac OSX keyboard shortcut combinations for many common symbols.
™ (trademark) = Option + 2
£ (pound) = Option + 3
¢ (cent) = Option + 4
∞ (infinity) = Option + 5
§ (section) = Option + 6
¶ (paragraph) = Option + 7
• (dot) = Option + 8
€ (euro) = Shift + Option + 2
° (degree) = Shift + Option + 8
¥ (yen) = Option + y
÷ (division) = Option + /
± (plus/minus) = Option + =
≥ (greater than or equal to) = Option + >
≤ (less than or equal to) = Option + <
√ (square root) = Option + v
π (pi) = Option + p
≈ (approx.) = Option + x
∆ (delta) = Option + j
∑ (sum) = Option + w
Ω (ohm) = Option + z
µ (micro) = Option + m
© (copyright) = Option + g
® (registered) = Option + r
† (dagger) = Option + t

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posted by Don @ 5:45 PM, , link to this post

About This Blog

This blog is a place where I hope to put the snippets and trimmings of my geek'dom ... code samples that have served me well, tech links and other such things that'll I find useful. In short, any time I have to Google something, I tend to post it here for others to find as well.

Also, having owned 'digital-penguin.com' for many years and having worked with many a fellow geek, this site also serves as a place where I can always be found.


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