A Fresh Start: Moving to Drupal 11 and Ubuntu 24.04

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The site has moved again. I can barely recall the last time this happened, let alone when the site truly began. The first entry mentions a previous move to Drupal 4.7. I suspect the very beginning was a simple web board or something similar. For context, my last two servers ran Ubuntu 18.04 (with Drupal 8) and before that, Ubuntu 16.04 (I believe with Drupal 6). My most recent post was in 2018.

Anyway, this latest move was prompted by an impending hardware failure: the HDD on the old Ubuntu 18.04 server is dying. So, here we are in 2025, and it's time to migrate the entire server to Drupal 11 on Ubuntu 24.04.

This content migration was a considerable effort. I chose a fresh install and migration over a standard upgrade because the old server had been compromised, and I couldn't risk carrying over any hidden malicious code.

Server Setup & Tooling

To manage the new environment, I've adopted DDEV. It's an excellent, convenient open-source wrapper and configuration tool that orchestrates Docker images for Drupal development, providing a clean, containerized setup.

  • DDEV Configuration: I followed the standard instructions, which resulted in the project folder being inside my home directory. DDEV's Docker image then maps this directory to its internal filesystem path, typically /var/www/html.
  • Management: All command-line operations are now handled through DDEV's prefix, specifically using ddev drush xxx for all drush commands.
  • Multi-site Setup: Implementing a Drupal multi-site was straightforward. I simply created a new directory at $DRUPAL_ROOT/web/sites/xxxx (where xxxx is the site's hostname) and placed the required settings.php file inside it.

Migration

I made a deliberate choice to import only the title and body fields of all existing content, ignoring the previous site structure entirely. The process was roughly as follows:

  1. Database Dump: The old content was directly dumped from the MySQL database into a CSV file. I used the SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE command to ensure that all fields were properly enclosed by double quotes ("), which is crucial for handling complex, multi-line data.
  2. CSV Character Fix: I ran into an issue where MySQL's dump process generated carriage return characters (^M) that the migrate_plus module couldn't handle, causing the import to fail. I had to use sed to remove them (the slurp command reads the whole file before substitution): sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\r\\//g'
  3. Custom Migration Module: The corrected CSV was then imported using the migrate_plus module. All migration configuration details are contained within a simple custom module: $DRUPAL_ROOT/web/modules/custom/xxx_content_migration.
  4. Configuration Workflow: Crucially, whenever I modify the configuration files inside the custom migration module, it must be purged and reloaded to take effect. This is the command sequence I use for a complete rollback, reload, and re-import:
ddev drush --uri=www.nattee.net pmu dae_content_migration
ddev drush --uri=www.nattee.net cr
ddev drush --uri=www.nattee.net en dae_content_migration
ddev drush --uri=www.nattee.net migrate:rollback --all
ddev drush --uri=www.nattee.net migrate:import --all

Important Migration Notes

  • Required Fields: The CSV must include values for the content_type and body_format. If these values are missing, or if they reference a content type or text format that doesn't exist on the new Drupal 11 site, the migration will crash the site entirely.
  • Recovery: If the site crashes, a simple rollback of the migration will usually bring the site back to life, allowing you to debug your CSV or migration configuration.

Grad Seminar

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Download the slide & related material here

Grad Seminar 2015

apache mod evasive

admin

My server has been attacked for weeks. They were brute force trying to login to MoinMoin. MoinMoin is still fine, but the server load is too high and there are too many traffic.

mod_evasive and mod-security are life savers

mod-status and awstats are also helpful in debugging and detecting the problem.

Moving to FreeBSD desktop

admin

Again, my desktop somehow stop working, so I reinstall with FreeBSD and kde4.

This is what I have to do

Ports

x system

after that edit rc.conf and add dbus_enable="YES" hald_enable="YES" kdm4_enable="YES" linux_enable="YES"

reboot to kde4 and install these ports

Fix Firefox

Firefox is ugly in the Default FreeBSD ports. This is what I have to do.

ports

after that, go to start menu --> system setting --> gtk style and fonts --> choose qtcurve as widget

I got these from http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?t=17786

Flash Plugins

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/desktop-browsers.html

Vim

Initially, I cannot get gvim to work. See these

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=ports/180417 http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=40610

It works when I compiled the port with "make -DWITH_OPTIONS install clean"

KeePass

Have to install mono and /usr/ports/x11-toolkits/libgdiplus

new OpenVPN

admin

มีเพิ่มเติม 2 บรรทัด ให้ push routing ไปยัง client บรรทัดแรกบอกว่าทั้งหมดในจุฬาให้ใช้ผ่าน vpn บรรทัดที่สองบอกว่าต่อเข้า server ovpn ผ่านทาง network ปรกติ

push route 161.200.0.0 255.255.0.0
push route remote_host 255.255.255.255 net_gateway 1

Desktop linux again

admin

openSUSE 12.3 and openSUSE 13.1

ปุ่มปรับ backlight ไม่ work

เครื่อง asus zenbook ให้แก้โดยเพิ่ม kernel option

acpi_backlight=none acpi_osi=

ทำโดย

sudo vi /etc/default/grub

แล้วแก้โดยเปลี่ยน

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=\"resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts\"

เป็น

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=\"resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts acpi_backlight=none acpi_osi=\"

แล้วสั่ง sudo update-grub

Fix YaST2 and rvm

YaST is ported to ruby and out-of-the-box DOES NOT work with rvm. I have to

gem install fast_gettext

to fix this.

network not working

check this http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/network-internet/485115-12-3-internet-connection-confusion.html Stop the service first

systemctl is-active network.service && \\
systemctl stop network.service

Enable NetworkManager

systemctl --force enable NetworkManager.service

Enable the service again

systemctl start network.service

repositories

  • add packman repositories

package

  • via communities repositories (PackMan, etc.)

sudo zypper install git subversion mercurial gcc-c++ kate emacs gvim gnucash filezilla krusader texlive gimp inkscape wine smb4k artha vlc comix keepass dropbox wine wine-mp3 virtualbox sysstat lsb htop iotop

We also needs other lib for development libxslt-devel libxml2-devel libmysqlclient-devel python-devel

  • Other packages
    • codeblock
    • steam
    • synergy

VirtualBox

LibreOffice 4

my widget looks ugly, have to install package libreoffice-gnome

Codec

http://opensuse-guide.org/codecs.php

Font Config

ต้องใช้ไฟล์ ~/.fonts.conf (มีอยู่ใน hg linux-file แล้ว) อย่าลืม ln -s linux-file/.fonts.conf

อย่าลืมติดตั้ง font ต่าง ๆ อ่าน http://www.binarytides.com/gorgeous-looking-fonts-ubuntu-linux/

Mouse Problem

  • vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf
  • add

to the InputClass of synaptics, making the section become Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad catchall" Driver "synaptics" MatchIsTouchpad "on"

This option is recommend on all Linux systems using evdev, but cannot be enabled by default. See the following link for details: who-t.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-ignore-configuration-errors.html 
    MatchDevicePath \"/dev/input/event*\"
    Option  \"HorizScrollDelta\"      \"0\"
enable tap-to-click as default (bnc#722457) 
    Option \"TapButton1\" \"1\"
    Option \"TapButton3\" \"2\"
    Option \"TapButton2\" \"3\"
    Option \"VertResolution\" \"100\"
    Option \"HorizResolution\" \"65\"
    # disable synaptics driver pointer acceleration
    Option \"MinSpeed\" \"3\"
    Option \"MaxSpeed\" \"20\"
    # tweak the X-server pointer acceleration
    #Option \"AccelerationProfile\" \"2\"
    Option \"AdaptiveDeceleration\" \"1\"
    Option \"ConstantDeceleration\" \"16\"
    Option \"VelocityScale\" \"32\"

EndSection

Samba

Set the Promp

use http://www.kirsle.net/wizards/ps1.html read this as well http://www.fvue.nl/wiki/Bash:_How_to_change_tab_and_window_title_of_console check this two for 256 colors as well

the current prompt is

mount ntfs

Pimp my Firefox

on HiDPI display, the ui element is very small. Fix by following option in about:config

[code] layout.css.devPixelsPerPx=2 [/code]

also we need to add font size to ~/.mozilla/firefox/XXXX.default/chrome/userContent.css [code lang='css'] @namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* set default namespace to XUL */

  • {font-size: 14px !important; } [/code]

I love my KDE in black but firefox won't agree with this. Create this file ~/.mozilla/firefox/XXXX.default/chrome/userContent.css

[code lang="css"] input { border: 2px inset white ; background-color: white ;
color: black ;
}

textarea {
border: 2px inset white ;
background-color: white ;
color: black ;
}

select {
border: 2px inset white;
background-color: white; color: black; }

input[type="radio"], input[type="checkbox"] { border: 2px inset white ; background-color: white; color: ThreeDFace l }

|::-moz-radio { background-color: white; }

button, input[type="reset"], input[type="button"], input[type="submit"] { border: 2px outset white; background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; }

body { background-color: white; color: black; display: block; margin: 8px; } [/code]

Misc.

HG repo

.hgrc เริ่มต้น [code] [ui] username=Nattee Niparnan [email protected]

[hostfingerprints] isl2-dev.cp.eng.chula.ac.th=26:7f:97:cc:de:4c:fa:b8:60:3b:31:96:62:3a:5d:02:00:7f:ce:ed

[auth] isl2-dev.prefix=https://isl2-dev.cp.eng.chula.ac.th/hg isl2-dev.username=ไม่บอก isl2-dev.password=ไม่บอก [/code]

RDC 2013

admin

Programming iRobot Create

[code lang="c++"]

#include <stdio.h> #include

#include "RobotConnector.h"

#include "cv.h" #include "highgui.h"

using namespace std;

#define Create_Comport "COM4"

bool isRecord = false;

int main() { CreateData robotData; RobotConnector robot;

ofstream	record;
record.open(\"../data/robot.txt\");

if( !robot.Connect(Create_Comport) )
{
	cout << \"Error : Can't connect to robot @\" << Create_Comport << endl;
	return -1;
}

robot.DriveDirect(0, 0);
cvNamedWindow(\"Robot\");


while(true)
{
	cvWaitKey(30);
	double vx, vz;
	vx = vz = 0;


	if (robotData.bumper[0]) {
		cout << \"bump left\" << endl;
	}
	if (robotData.bumper[1]) {
		cout << \"bump right\" << endl;
	}


	double vl = vx - vz;
	double vr = vx + vz;

	int velL = (int)(vl*Create_MaxVel);
	int velR = (int)(vr*Create_MaxVel);

	int color = (abs(velL)+abs(velR))/4;
	color = (color < 0) ? 0 : (color > 255) ? 255 : color;

	int inten = (robotData.cliffSignal[1] + robotData.cliffSignal[2])/8 - 63;
	inten = (inten < 0) ? 0 : (inten > 255) ? 255 : inten;

	//cout << color << \" \" << inten << \" \" << robotData.cliffSignal[1] << \" \" << robotData.cliffSignal[2] << endl;

	robot.LEDs(velL > 0, velR > 0, color, inten);
	
	if( !robot.DriveDirect(velL, velR) )
		cout << \"SetControl Fail\" << endl;

	if( !robot.ReadData(robotData) ) {
		//cout << \"ReadData Fail\" << endl;
	}

	if( isRecord )
		record << robotData.cliffSignal[0] << \"\\t\" << robotData.cliffSignal[1] << \"\\t\" << robotData.cliffSignal[2] << \"\\t\" << robotData.cliffSignal[3] << endl;
	
	cout << \"Robot \" << robotData.cliffSignal[0] << endl;
}

robot.Disconnect();

return 0;

} [/code]

Drupal feed importer

admin

Recently, I have a chance to use drupal commerce with feed importer. Feed importer is very good because I can easily transfer data from MySQL to the website.

However, sometime the import process crash and I am stuck with importing page with xx% status and nothing can be done via UI.

To fix this, I have to manually edit the status of the import. Basically, all I have to do is to

update feeds_source set state = 'b:0;'; update feeds_source set fetcher_result='b:0;';

Check this .

rant

admin

My friend has an auto shop, QCT Auto. there are tips for flooded car here

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