„Do not use Linux, please, pirate our software” - Microsoft

It seems that Microsoft wants You to pirate it's software. According to The Register, Jeff Raikes, Microsoft business group president, said that if You have to pirate, You should pirate Microsoft software. The idea behind it is that some percentage of pirates become paying customers. Microsoft wants You to:

• pay and use MS software,
• use MS software not paying for it; might be in future you will pay,
• not use other software. Microsoft does not want You to switch to competing software, especially legal royalty-free FLOSS software such as Linux, OpenOffice.org or Mozilla.org

So why they implemented Windows Genuine Advantage Programme, if they do not want to push You to be legal? Paweł

Polish Students won ACM Programming Contest

Today students from Warsaw University won ACM-International Collegiate Programming Contest. They solved 8 tasks out of 10, see Final results.

Congratulations to my compatriot,
Paweł

Moving/Adding Control file when using SPFile

Adding controlfile or moving to new location is tricky when your database was started with server parameter file (spfile). It is because You cannot edit spfile when database is not running.
Method 1 – preferred by me:

1. alter system parameter to point to new (planed) location of controlfiles

   alter system set control_files
   = '/dir1/CONTROL01.CTL'
   , '/dir2/CONTROL02.CTL'
   , '/dir3/CONTROL03.CTL'
   scope=spfile;

2. shutdown database,
3. copy one of controlfile to new locations,
4. startup database.

Method 2:

1. shutdown database,
2. copy one of controlfile to new locations,
3. copy spfile to pfile:

   create pfile from spfile;

4. manually edit pfile,
5. copy pfile back to spfile:

   create spfile from pfile;

6. startup database.

Cheers, Paweł

Technorati

I've just created my Technorati Profile, so this post is just to interrelate this blog with my Technorati account.
Paweł

the Month of PHP Bugs

For all PHP developers, web admins and users this might be very interesting. the Month of PHP Bugs is an initiative to improve the security of PHP. It focuses on PHP Core vulnerabilities that are dangerous for web servers with applications written in PHP. It is done in hope that flaws that are publicly disclosed will get fixed quickly.

Cheers, Paweł

Yet another tokenizer in Oracle

I was in need to have function that transforms string into table of words. Also words can be separated by many different chars. For this purpose i've created function:

create or replace function tokenizer
  (p_string in varchar2
  ,p_separators in varchar2
  ) return dbms_sql.varchar2s
is
  v_strs dbms_sql.varchar2s;
begin
  with sel_string as 
      (select p_string fullstring 
         from dual)
  select substr(fullstring, beg+1, end_p-beg-1) token
   bulk collect into v_strs
   from (select beg, lead(beg) over (order by beg) end_p, fullstring
           from (select beg, fullstring
                   from (select level beg, fullstring
                           from sel_string
                         connect by level <= length(fullstring))
                   where instr(p_separators ,substr(fullstring,beg,1)) >0
                 union all
                 select 0, fullstring from sel_string
                 union all
                 select length(fullstring)+1, fullstring from sel_string))
    where end_p is not null
      and end_p>beg+1;
  return v_strs;
end;

Usage is very simple. First parameter is string that should be tokenized, second parameter is string with characters that should be treated as word separators. Example:

SQL> set serveroutput on
SQL> declare v_strs dbms_sql.varchar2s;
  2  begin
  3    v_strs := tokenizer('I was in need to have function that transforms string into table of words.'
  4        , ' ,:;.<>[]{}()');
  5    for i in v_strs.first..v_strs.last loop
  6      dbms_output.put_line(v_strs(i));
  7    end loop;
  8  end;
  9  /
I                                                                               
was                                                                             
in                                                                              
need                                                                            
to                                                                              
have                                                                            
function                                                                        
that                                                                            
transforms                                                                      
string                                                                          
into                                                                            
table                                                                           
of                                                                              
words                                                                           

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Let me explain some elements

  with sel_string as 
      (select p_string fullstring 
         from dual)

is just to bind string parameter into SQL just once. Otherwise it will have to be binded in many places.

                 select beg, fullstring
                   from (select level beg, fullstring
                           from sel_string
                         connect by level <= length(fullstring))
                   where instr(p_separators ,substr(fullstring,beg,1)) >0

Internal select generates numbers from 1 to length of string. Outer select chooses only these rows (numbers) that are separators in string.

                 union all
                 select 0, fullstring from sel_string
                 union all
                 select length(fullstring)+1, fullstring from sel_string))

adds separator at beginning and end of string, so first and last work can be recognized.

 select beg, lead(beg) over (order by beg) end_p

gives as positions of two consecutive separators, and finally

  select substr(fullstring, beg+1, end_p-beg-1) token
   bulk collect into v_strs
   ...
    where end_p is not null
      and end_p>beg+1;

select words.

Might be you find it useful,
Paweł

Bug 5705795 - AMAZON-LIKE ?

Today I've reviewed list of 10.2.0.3 patch 1 for Windows and i've noticed bug with name: 5705795 - MANY CHILD CURSORS CREATED FOR AMAZON-LIKE WORKLOAD IN 10.2.0.3. I was aware of this bug as it was mentioned in note 403616.1 on Metalink. I do not think it's good idea to use customer name in bug description. From this I can assume:

• Amazon is using latest Oracle Database,

• Amazon is running on Linux or Windows (as this bug is only for these platforms),

• probably Amazon is using Linux as patch for linux was released earlier,

• it gives some inside view of software design used at Amazon,

I do not think Amazon is happy with these reveals.

At least bug 5705795 is not public on Metalink.

Cheers, Paweł