Geeklog

I've often needed access to my error.log from a machine that did not have an SSH client installed. I created this little hack that can live within a static page:

1. Go to the staticpage admin screen and hit the "Create New" button.
2. In the PHP drop-down be sure to select "execute PHP"
3. For the group down-down, be sure to select "Root" and be sure to uncheck teh Read flag for Members and Anonymous (NOTE: this is important for security)
4. In the "content" textarea add the following:

   global $_CONF;
   require_once $_CONF['path_system'] . 'classes/downloader.class.php';
   $dMgr = new downloader();
   $dMgr->setPath($_CONF['path_log']);
   $dMgr->_setAvailableExtensions(array('log' => 'text/plain'));
   $dMgr->setAllowedExtensions(array('log' => 'text/plain'));
   $dMgr->downloadFile('error.log');
   if ($dMgr->areErrors()) {
       $dMgr->printErrors();
   }
   

5. Save the page

That's it. Simple, elegant and as secure as Geeklog is.

So you've just published a new article on your Geeklog site and now you're eagerly awaiting the world to take notice. But it takes so long ... Sure, your regular readers will be notified through the RSS feed within the hour. But GoogleBot and friends will only come visit at their own pace and it will take even longer for your post to show up in their search engines. Isn't there some way to get the word out faster?

And indeed there is: As of Geeklog 1.4, you can send a Ping to weblog directory services, i.e. websites that specialise in listing the newest posts of blogs around the world. So by sending a Ping, you tell them "Hey, look! My new article is up!!!" and the sites send their spiders to index them. And within minutes, your post can be found on those sites. Nifty, eh?

Trackback and Pingback both provide a convenient solution for the same problem: Making connections between posts on different sites. And since they are standardized, they can be sent to sites running other weblog / CMS software.

So let's say you've read about the release of Geeklog 1.4.0b1, proceeded to download it, tried it out, and then posted a review on your own site. How can you let people visiting geeklog.net know about your review? Sure, you could post a comment under the announcement, adding a link back to your site. But with Trackback and Pingback, you can do the same in a semi-automatic way without having to visit geeklog.net.

In other words: A Trackback comment is an automatically created comment, added to a post on some other site and pointing back to a post on your own site.

Technical details aside, the differences between Trackback and Pingback boil down to this: A Trackback contains, in addition to the link back to your post, the title of the post, the name of your site, and an excerpt of your post while Pingbacks contain only the link. Since they are much simpler Pingbacks can be sent mostly automatic while a Trackback comment requires some interaction, especially for the excerpt.