Truncated descriptions in sw.slr Resident profiles

Posted on by SignpostMarv

Those of you with lots of URLs in their profile descriptions may notice that the description gets cut short. This is due to a bug with Linden Lab’s software that results in broken HTML.

I’ve reported the bug to Linden Lab’s bug tracker- go vote for it on if you want the bug to be resolved with any expedience.

The broken HTML is filtered out before it reaches the database, which is what results in the description being truncated. Once Linden Lab fix the bug on their end, the changes will automatically clear up on sw.slr.

region name usage comparison

Posted on by SignpostMarv

Further to the issues regarding non-unique region name support in Second Life, I did a bit of research regarding the rather inconsistent implementation of non-unique vs unique region name support in aspects or systems of Second Life that were developed by Linden Lab.

List of systems using/supporting modes of region name usage.
unique non-unique.
  • the World Map, region search list non-unique sims have to be clicked on directly in the map, selecting a region from the list does not work- compare interesting with the results from a search for “corsica_reg9″ with “Help Island”.
  • secondlife:///app/ teleportation URLs.
  • slurl.com
  • Linden Lab’s webmap API, get region name at co-ordinates call.
  • Linden Lab’s webmap API, get co-ordinates for given region call.
  • Landmarks.
  • Events, old archive (uses slurl.com links).
  • Events, world.secondlife.com archive. (uses slurl.com links).
  • llMapDestination() provides only a region name parameter.
  • llRequestSimulatorData() also only provides a region name parameter.
  • The world map, display and direct-click only.
  • The voice map API.
  • It could be argued that by indexing Region documents by UUID, world.secondlife.com supports non-unique region names.

Updates on sw.slr upgrade

Posted on by SignpostMarv

The UHU5 upgrades to Regions & Places are coming along nicely, which should put off any further refactoring until PHP 5.3 is released (late static binding FTW!). The Region & Places upgrades are of course holding up the Events upgrade, since an Event object will have a Parcel sub-object (I’m sure I’ll have fun working around the issue of old events being held long-nuked regions/parcels).

Once these upgrades have been finished, I’ll continuing work on the SLOpenID upgrade (preliminary testing on a replacement server has been completed).

non-unique region names within the confines of a single grid, yay or nay ?

Posted on by SignpostMarv

Personally I’m against it.

You generally don’t have (thing) with the same name the same (other thing):

  • street in the same town.
  • town in the same county.
  • county in the same country.
  • country in the same continent.
  • continent in the same planet.
  • planet in the same solar system.
  • domain name in the same network.
  • book by the same author.
  • album by the same musician.
  • musician on the same label.

Why should region names within the same grid have the same name ? Well the only advantage appears to be if they’re clones of each other, but historically cloned sims generally have numeric suffixes. All of Linden Lab’s customers and even Linden Lab themselves follow this pattern when cloning sims.

origin of issue.

Non-unique region names appear to be an accidental bug, or lack of foresight. I originally noticed non-unique sim names cropping up on Linden Lab’s webmap API back in January. Yoz Linden looked into the matter, and surmised that before regions are rezzed, they have the same name, and that the non-unique names (of as-yet non-existent) were being leaked out into the webmap API. However, more recently it seems that the regions are retaining these non-unique names when they are brought online, which causes problems.

problems with non-unique region names.

  1. Usability

    Currently, you can’t select which instance of a non-unique region name you’ll find yourself in if you click a teleport link or SLUrl.

  2. Navigartion

    While a SLUrl opens the map to the region it’s named for, you’d have to remember to manually select the right region (though that assumes you know which region is the right one you want to go to)- though this is generally only a problem when the non-unique region names aren’t for cloned sims.

  3. Phishing

    If non-unique region names are allowed, then a mechanism needs to be put in place so that non-unique sim names can only be registered by the original registrant.

    Of course, if the sims have long-since expired, then any claim over such sim names should expire as well- the point is to prevent situations from occurring whereby asshats can steal customers or make your customers think you advocate certain objectionable materials.

disabling events-related UHU4 scripts

Posted on by SignpostMarv

The majority of the events-related portions of sw.slr are based on UHU4, which is admittedly a little bit icky at times. The MySQL tables storing the events data are about 4GB, and the code & queries using those tables occasionally cause “issues” for my host- since it is a shared host after all.

The latest issue is with the UHU4-based events-by-region listing, but rather than just disabling those scripts, I’m going to be disabling all UHU4-based scripts that interact with the events table. I’m currently concentrating on upgrading sw.slr to UHU5-based code, and I’m looking into alternatives to hosting all the events data on the same server as the rest of sw.slr.

Marvism: tossing snowballs into hell

Posted on by SignpostMarv
Tossing a snowball into hell and hoping it hits someone before it melts
To ask a question that needs asking, though the answer is generally known but not officially stated.
To ask a question that you know there’s a strong likelihood of getting the answer you don’t want on the off-chance you might get the answer you do want.

It’s a phrase I started using during the run-up to SL5B, the latter definition was applied when I felt obligated to ask for exhibitors to be given permission to use megaprims, even though we knew the answer would probably be “no”.

OGP – Why live on Agni ?

Posted on by SignpostMarv

Now I realise this question is probably aimed at the more technically minded (since the software isn’t exactly user-friendly yet), but when OGP eventually gets to the point where it’s as trivial as clicking a link to teleport between grids, and Agent Domain gets to the point where you can IM your friends & groups without being rezzed on Agni, how many of you are going to move out of Agni and into your own OpenSim running at home ?

Leave a comment if you’ve considered the possibilities of moving out of Agni, and your reasons for/against doing so.

iSheep

Posted on by SignpostMarv

While conversing with Gwyn regarding the code dream I had minutes prior to logging on today (I was dreaming potential tweaks to Laconica), Gwyn commented on the possible ability to use neural interfaces to “record” such dreams- for some reason I then came up with an imaginary device, the “iSheep”:

  1. Signpost
    it was like full-screen Notepad++ inside my head

    watching code writing itself, syntax highlighting and everything

  2. Gwyn
    wow

    I’ll give you a set of neural interfaces when they come out, so that you can offload your dreams ;)

    I’m sure Apple is working on that lol

  3. Signpost
    iSheep

  4. Gwyn
    ooooh

  5. Signpost
    the iSheep comes complete with iPod and iPhone features

    since the iSheep is a neural interface, it can monitor your health

    should the iSheep detect your are injured, dying or dead,

  6. Gwyn
    (dead!!)

  7. Signpost
    the iPhone components will automatically dial the relevant authorities, using OSX’s voice synth features to alert members of the public, call an ambulance, or read your most recent copy of your last will & testatment

    the iPod features are used to play back audio suitable to assist getting to sleep, and visual patterns designed to assist lucid dreaming

    the solid state hard disk is used by the video recording features to store visual recordings of your dreams, which will be available for playback in a variety of user-configurable video formats for later playback

    the special-edition iSheep will be called the iREM,

    which will feature limited-edition case design, and R.E.M.’s full discography loaded into the solid-state hard disk

    Laurence Fishburne will be signed to promote the iSheep

  8. Gwyn
    ROFLLLLL

As an afterthought, I’m guessing that the edition of iPodLinux for the iSheep would expand the capabilities of the iSheep to include a broader range of audio/video formats, as well as “live preview” of currently occurring dreams.