Methods I have seen so far:

1. Checking content-type from file name: this inefficient, a user can just rename a file and you are fooled, or the file can have a different file format and you will not get the expected result.

2. Using Rmagick to check if the file is an image. This is so slow and uses so much Ram. You can try to initialize an rmagick object from an image file, then rescue when the file is not an image.

3. Using mini_magick to check if a file. This method is faster than rmagick. Implemen ted same way as rmagick.

A Better method for OSX and Linux,  is to use the command line tool “file” included in most UNIX operating systems.

It is very fast and very accurate.

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file = "/path/to/file.ext"
if RUBY_PLATFORM.match(/darwin|linux|unix|solaris|bsd/)
 content_type = `file --raw --brief "#{file}"`.chomp
 case
  when content_type.match(/image|png|jpg|jpeg|gif/)
   real_type = "image"
  when content_type.match(/pdf/)
   real_type = "pdf"
  when content_type.match("Microsoft Word|Microsoft Office Document")
   real_type = "doc"
  else # This can go on and on
   real_type = "Unknown"
  end
end

Some examples of content types:

.doc = Microsoft Word document data

.doc = Microsoft Office Document

.pdf = PDF document, version 1.4

.pdf = PDF document, version 1.3

.psd = Adobe Photoshop Image

.png = PNG image data, 3508 x 4961, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced

.gif = GIF image data, version 89a, 195 x 109

.jpg = JPEG image data, EXIF standard

etc…

I hope this can be useful to someone.

1. XCODE you can download xcode from http://developer.apple.com/tools/xcode/index.html

2. OSX 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6

Procedures:

1. Install Passenger

$ sudo gem install passenger

now check where is passenger installed:

$ passenger-config --root

in my case is: /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.5

2. Install nginx

If you have nginx from macports, deactivate it in case of conflicts.

You can activate anytime later

$ sudo port deactivate nginx

$ wget http://sysoev.ru/nginx/nginx-0.7.59.tar.gz

$ wget http://sysoev.ru/nginx/nginx-0.7.62.tar.gz

$ tar xpf nginx-0.7.62.tar.gz

$ cd nginx-0.7.62

I Recommend using nginx 0.6 series because I had a lot of “502 Bad Gateway” with 0.7 series.

$ wget http://sysoev.ru/nginx/nginx-0.6.37.tar.gz

$ tar xpf nginx-0.6.37.tar.gz

$ cd nginx-0.6.37

$ sudo ./configure --add-module=/opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.5/ext/nginx/ \
  --with-http_ssl_module --user=nobody --group=nobody --with-http_gzip_static_module \
  --with-poll_module --prefix=/opt/local --with-pcre

Configuration summary
+ using system PCRE library
+ using system OpenSSL library
+ md5: using OpenSSL library
+ sha1 library is not used
+ using system zlib library

nginx path prefix: "/opt/local"
nginx binary file: "/opt/local/sbin/nginx"
nginx configuration prefix: "/opt/local/conf"
nginx configuration file: "/opt/local/conf/nginx.conf"
nginx pid file: "/opt/local/logs/nginx.pid"
nginx error log file: "/opt/local/logs/error.log"
nginx http access log file: "/opt/local/logs/access.log"
nginx http client request body temporary files: "client_body_temp"
nginx http proxy temporary files: "proxy_temp"
nginx http fastcgi temporary files: "fastcgi_temp"

$ sudo make

$ sudo make install

$ cd /opt/local/conf

$ sudo cp mime.types.default mime.types

$ sudo cp nginx.conf.default nginx.conf

Edit nginx.conf

$ mate nginx.conf

or

$ sudo vi nginx.conf

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user nobody;
worker_processes  2;
 
#error_log  logs/error.log;
#error_log  logs/error.log  notice;
error_log  logs/error.log  info;
 
# Pid
pid  logs/nginx.pid;
 
events {
worker_connections 1024;
}
 
http {
include       mime.types;
default_type  application/octet-stream;
 
sendfile        on;
#tcp_nopush     on;
 
#keepalive_timeout  0;
keepalive_timeout  65;
 
gzip  on;
# if a precompiled gzip of the file exists, use it and force http proxies
# to use separate cache's based on User-Agent
gzip_static on;
gzip_min_length 2000;
gzip_buffers    16 8k;
gzip_types      text/plain text/html text/css image/x-icon application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;
gzip_disable    "MSIE [1-6] \.";
gzip_vary         on;
gzip_comp_level   2;
 
gzip_proxied any;
 
server {
listen       80;
server_name  localhost;
location / {
root   /Users/fred/Sites ;
autoindex on;
index  index.html index.htm;
}
}
 
passenger_root /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.2;
passenger_max_pool_size 8;
passenger_max_instances_per_app 1;
# The maximum number of seconds that an application instance may be idle.
# That is, if an application instance hasn’t received any traffic after the given number of seconds,
# then it will be shutdown in order to conserve memory.
passenger_pool_idle_time 3600;
 
# Project 1
server {
listen 80;
client_max_body_size 250M;
server_name project1.local;
root /Users/fred/rails/project1/public;
passenger_enabled on;
rails_env development;
access_log  /Users/fred/rails/project1/log/nginx.access.log;
error_log  /Users/fred/rails/project1/log/nginx.error.log info;
}
 
# Project 2
server {
listen 80;
client_max_body_size 250M;
server_name project2.local;
root /Users/fred/rails/project2/public;
passenger_enabled on;
rails_env development;
access_log  /Users/fred/rails/project2/log/nginx.access.log;
error_log  /Users/fred/rails/project2/log/nginx.error.log info;
}
 
# Project 3
server {
listen 80;
client_max_body_size 250M;
server_name project3.local;
root /Users/fred/rails/project3/public;
passenger_enabled on;
rails_env development;
access_log  /Users/fred/rails/project3/log/nginx.access.log;
error_log  /Users/fred/rails/project3/log/nginx.error.log info;
}
 
# And so on... as many projects as you want
 
}

Now edit your /etc/hosts and add the hosts for your local project

$ mate /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1   project1.local

127.0.0.1   project2.local

127.0.0.1   project3.local

3. Start nginx

sudo nginx

4. go to your browser and open project1.local

5. Easy start/restart/stop

add this to your ~/.bash_profile file

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function nginx_reload() {
FILE="/opt/local/logs/nginx.pid"
if [ -e $FILE ]; then
echo "Reloading NGINX..."
PID=`cat /opt/local/logs/nginx.pid`
sudo kill -HUP $PID
else
echo "Nginx pid file not found"
return 0
fi
}
 
function nginx_stop() {
FILE="/opt/local/logs/nginx.pid"
if [ -e $FILE ]; then
echo "Stopping NGINX..."
PID=`cat /opt/local/logs/nginx.pid`
sudo kill -INT $PID
else
echo "Nginx pid file not found"
return 0
fi
}
 
function nginx_restart() {
FILE="/opt/local/logs/nginx.pid"
if [ -e $FILE ]; then
echo "Stopping NGINX..."
PID=`cat /opt/local/logs/nginx.pid`
sudo kill -INT $PID
sleep 1
echo "Starting NGINX..."
sudo nginx
else
echo "Nginx pid file not found"
return 0
fi
}

Troubleshooting

1. Nginx is not running

- check the logs

- check if it is really not running:

$ ps aux | grep nginx

2. you see the nginx error “502 Bad Gateway”

- may there is a problem with the /var/folders/ permissions on OSX:

2009/06/13 16:14:33 [crit] 1106#0: *1 connect() to unix:/var/folders/xl/xlSRYvzFHH8Fcehc51ciyE+++TI/-Tmp-//passenger.1091/master/helper_server.sock failed (13: Permission denied) while connecting to upstream, client: 127.0.0.1, server: hassan.local, request: "GET / HTTP/1.1", upstream: "unix:/var/folders/xl/xlSRYvzFHH8Fcehc51ciyE+++TI/-Tmp-//passenger.1091/master/helper_server.sock:", host: "hassan.local"

to fix it I did this:

$ sudo find /var/folders/xl/ -name “master” -exec chmod 755 {} \;

$ sudo find /var/folders/xl/ -name “-Tmp-” -exec chmod 755 {} \;

everytime I reboot my mac I had to do that… I still dont know how to fix it…

anybody knows?

That is it for now.

To make Firefox faster is to store the whole profile folder into a Ram Disk.
RamDisk in Linux are called TmpFS. You can also use shared memory folder /dev/shm if you have it in your fstab.

This post in the gentoo forums explains how to do it in Gentoo linux.

I made a similar script to make it work in OSX Leopard.

The Script have 2 parts, Start.sh and Stop.sh
Here are the Scripts:

Start.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Run this script to enable the Ramdisk for Firefox profiles
VolumeName="Mozilla"
 
# Size in MB, make sure is not too low or not too high
SizeInMB=220
 
NumSectors=$((2*1024*SizeInMB))
 
DeviceName=`hdid -nomount ram://$NumSectors`
 
echo $DeviceName
 
diskutil eraseVolume HFS+ RAMDisk $DeviceName
 
# move the current profiles folder
mv Profiles Profiles_ &&
 
# make a symlink to the ramdisk
ln -s /Volumes/RAMDisk ./Profiles &&
 
# then copy it to the ramdisk
/bin/cp -r Profiles_/* Profiles

Stop.sh

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/Library/Cache/Firefox/
 
# clean the cache
rm -rf  Profiles/*/Cache/* &&
 
# will save your modifications back to the DISK
/usr/bin/rsync -av --delete ./Profiles/ ./Profiles_/ &&
 
# sometimes during unmount it will say disk is in use.
# make sure you close firefox before.
umount /Volumes/RAMDisk &&
rm -rf Profiles &&
mv Profiles_ Profiles

You can also use ‘tar’ instead of ‘rsync’. I just love rsync more.

* Warning: The ramdisk contents will be erased after you umount the ramdisk.

Have fun.

Gentoo Linux ROCKS

Update:

To speed up firefox even more  run these commands:

cd ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles
 
for i in */*.sqlite; do sqlite3 $i VACUUM;done;
 
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Firefox/Profiles
 
for i in */*.sqlite; do sqlite3 $i VACUUM;done;

But there is a trick, when creating a “new” clean user it will allow you to enable filevault for that new user.

So, here is how you do it.

But before you try, make sure you have enough free space, try to get rid of huge files and folders, backup your data. (in this case, we will copy your data, so you will have 2 copies for safety)

Also clean your applications cache, such as firefox cache, camino, opera,
~/Library/caches/com.apple.Safari/Webpage\ Previews/ , etc…: and close most of your applications.

$ cd ~/Library/Caches

$ find ./ -name “Cache” -exec rm -rf {} \;

$ rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Webpage\ Previews/Incoming/*

Steps

1. Create another admin user, for example “admin”, with administrator privileges

2. login as that user.

3. move your old user folder.

$ cd /Users/

$ sudo mv myusername myusername.bak

3. delete your old user from the “Accounts” preferences pane.

4. then create it again and check the option to use filevault

5. Logout from “admin” and login again as newuser.

6. Now copy the old data to your home folder. ( will take a very long time for that)
update: You must use rsync instead of cp, so that you also copy your VERY important hidden files. such as .ssh .gnupg .vimrc .gem .gitconfig etc..

$ sudo /usr/bin/rsync -av /Users/myusername.bak/ /Users/myusername/

# watch out if you have files that should not change the ownership, such as server backups.
$ sudo chown -R myusername ~/

7. Logout and login again, for your preferences to take effect

8. If everything looks fine, you might just delete the backup folder.

$ sudo rm -rf /Users/myusername.bak

if you have any confusions let me know in comments.

Safe sleep is the way OSX sleeps to RAM and as well create a sleepimage (which is the size of your RAM). In case you run out of battery, so you can still resume from the image if the battery is dead, (and you have plugged it in   Provides very fast wake up, uses the battery while sleeping.

Fast Sleep is just sleep to RAM, same as safe sleep but no image creation, and if your battery is dead, the mac will cold boot. Provides very fast wake up same as safe sleep, uses the battery while sleeping.

Hibernate is when it uses the sleepimage all the time. Slower sleep and slow wake up, but it does not use battery at all…

So…

I found in this website http://alt.cc/jk/2007/08/07/safe-sleep-addendum/ this nice script that handles when to FastSleep or when to Hibernate.

you can get safe sleep with the command “$ sudo pmset hibernate 3″

I have modified the script it little :

#!/bin/sh
MODE=`/usr/bin/pmset -g | grep hibernatemode | awk '{ print $2 }'`
LEFT=`/usr/bin/pmset -g batt | grep Internal | awk '{ print $2 }' | awk -F % '{ print $1 }'`
HIBERNATE=20
FASTSLEEP=50
echo "Running safesleep.sh => MODE: ${MODE} LEFT: ${LEFT}" >> /var/log/system.log
if [ $LEFT -lt $HIBERNATE ] && [ $MODE != 3 ] ; then
	{
		echo "Less than ${HIBERNATE}% remains" >> /var/log/system.log
		echo "Setting Hibernate (hibernate mode 1)" >> /var/log/system.log
		`/usr/bin/pmset -a hibernatemode 1`
		LS=`ls -al /private/var/vm/sleepimage`
		echo "The sleepimage should be created:" >> /var/log/system.log
		echo "${LS}" >> /var/log/system.log
	}
elif  [ $LEFT -gt $FASTSLEEP ] && [ $MODE != 0 ]; then
	{
		echo "Greater than ${FASTSLEEP}% remains" >> /var/log/system.log
		echo "Setting FastSleep (hibernate mode 0)" >> /var/log/system.log
		`/usr/bin/pmset -a hibernatemode 0`
		`rm -rf /var/vm/sleepimage`
	}
fi

save it as /Users/your_user_name/.crons/safesleep.sh

now make it permanent in a crontab to run every 10 minutes, but wait, anacron (osx default cron) only supports daily/weekly/monthly jobs! (unless you patch it)

I guess we’ll have to install fcron:

$ sudo port -d install fcron

$ sudo vi /opt/local/etc/fcrontab


@,runas(root) 10 sh /Users/your_user_name/.crons/safesleep.sh


$ sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.fcron.plist

$ sudo launchctl start org.macports.fcron

that’s it.

enjoy

OSX already include the File Vault functionality that allows you to encrypt your whole Home Folder.
Thou the storage overhead is so small, the time to encrypt it the first time is very very long.
if you have Videos, and big files, it takes even longer.

What if I don’t want to encrypt my big folders like Movies, Music, Pictures, Pdfs?

I only want to encrypt my Documents folder.
Be aware that VMWARE stored the virtual machine files under this folder, you should move it to outside Documents.

WARNING:

Be careful with this tutorial,
Write down your password somewhere and BACKUP your data before going further these steps.

if you forget your password, say good bye to your data.

THERE IS NO WAY TO GET YOUR DATA BACK!!!

TOOLS required:


# update your ports to get the latest encfs that runs ok on OSX10.5
$ sudo port selfupdate

# install encfs
$ sudo port install encfs

or Download macfuse and encfs from google:

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

and

http://code.google.com/p/encfs/

Lets move The Documents folder contents to another folder:


$ cd
$ mkdir temp_documents
$ mv Documents/* temp_documents/


Create the directory to hold the encrypted files, it can be any name.

Run this only one time. The first time to setup the folder...

$ mkdir .documents


Setup the encryption

$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/


you will see this:

fred@Macintosh ~ $ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/
Creating new encrypted volume.
Please choose from one of the following options:
enter "x" for expert configuration mode,
enter "p" for pre-configured paranoia mode,
anything else, or an empty line will select standard mode.

now, after you pass this step, the file system will be mounted as well.

encfs uses FuseFS, so it behaves just like a mount point

to unmount it you do


$ unmount ~/Documents


to mount it again issue this command:

$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/
# or this way, which will look with better names and a folder icon on Desktop:
$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/ -- -o fsname=Documents -o volname=Documents -o local


to check mounted filesystems


$ mount


you should be able to see:


encfs@fuse2 on /Users/fred/Documents (fusefs, nodev, nosuid, synchronous, mounted by fred)


or this if you used the longer command.

Documents on /Users/fred/Documents (fusefs, local, nodev, nosuid, synchronous, mounted by fred)


Now, with the encrypted folder "mounted", mv the data from that temp folder to the new encrypted folder:

WARNING: be carefull here


$ cp temp_documents/* Documents/
$ rm -rf temp_documents/


that's it folks.

Final overview:


# to create the encrypted folder:
$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/
#to Mount it (enable)
$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/
#or
$ encfs ~/.documents/ ~/Documents/ -- -o fsname=Documents -o volname=Documents -o local
#to Umount it (disable)
$ umount ~/Documents


don't change anything inside .documents
remember the dot in the front means the folder is invisible
you won't see it in Finder.

This also should work for Linux.