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+Title: Everything Is Broken (Elm Install Edition)
+Author: bnewbold
+Date: 2016-05-06
+Status: draft
+
+*This post is mostly a rant about my problems getting a fancy new programming
+language to work on my laptop.*
+
+A few folks at the Recurse Center had nice things to say about the [Elm
+programming language](https://elm-lang.org), and after watching Evan
+Czaplicki's ["Let's Be Mainstream" talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYk8CKH7OhE)
+I got pretty excited also.
+
+So, I thought, Let's try elm! First place to head is the install page:
+
+[http://elm-lang.org/install]()
+
+Hrm, i've had painful experiences with `npm` in the past, so i'll try build from
+source.
+
+[https://github.com/elm-lang/elm-platform]()
+
+Weird, build from source directions involve some curl-to-file thing. Why not
+just clone the repo and have a makefile? If you don't know how to clone a repo,
+are you really going to know how to get cabal set up, open a terminal and paste
+a command, etc? Anyways, I clone repo and run the script from there instead.
+I'm on debian stable (jessie), so installing Haskell (GHC) is easy, and there
+is a good chance things will just work because this Debian stable is a
+reasonably popular developer platform. I seem to have a recent version of
+cabal:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ cabal --version
+cabal-install version 1.20.0.3
+using version 1.20.0.2 of the Cabal library 
+</pre>
+
+so I run the `BuildFromSource.hs` script:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ runhaskell ~/src/elm-platform/installers/BuildFromSource.hs 0.16
+
+GHCi runtime linker: fatal error: I found a duplicate definition for symbol
+_hs_bytestring_long_long_uint_hex
+whilst processing object file
+/home/bnewbold/.cabal/lib/x86_64-linux-ghc-7.6.3/bytestring-0.10.6.0/HSbytestring-0.10.6.0.o
+This could be caused by:
+* Loading two different object files which export the same symbol
+* Specifying the same object file twice on the GHCi command line
+* An incorrect `package.conf' entry, causing some object to be
+    loaded twice.
+GHCi cannot safely continue in this situation.  Exiting now.  Sorry.
+</pre>
+
+Uh-oh! Not sure what that means. A search returns this:
+
+[https://wiki.haskell.org/GHC/FAQ#Duplicate_Definitions]()
+    
+Doesn't seem like *I* have done anything wrong. I'll update `cabal`:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ cabal update
+Downloading the latest package list from hackage.haskell.org
+cabal: Failed to download
+http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/00-index.tar.gz : ErrorMisc "Error
+HTTP code: 502"
+</pre>
+
+I assumed I was doing something wrong, but it turns out that the Hackage
+package repository [is down](https://status.haskell.org/):
+
+    hackage.haskell.org down    Full Service Disruption
+    [Investigating] The hackage server is in an out of memory condition. We're investigating.
+
+Hrm. Well, wasn't even sure if that would fix the problem. I'll give up and try
+`npm`, which these days has been "partially" packaged in Debian. I'll just
+uninstall `npm` when i'm done installing Elm. I install with apt (which pulls
+in a huge list of nodejs packages), but then can finally run:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ npm install elm
+|
+> elm@0.16.0 install /home/bnewbold/bin/node_modules/elm
+> node install.js
+
+sh: 1: node: not found
+npm WARN This failure might be due to the use of legacy binary "node"
+npm WARN For further explanations, please read
+/usr/share/doc/nodejs/README.Debian
+
+npm ERR! elm@0.16.0 install: `node install.js`
+npm ERR! Exit status 127
+npm ERR! 
+npm ERR! Failed at the elm@0.16.0 install script.
+npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the elm package,
+npm ERR! not with npm itself.
+npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
+npm ERR!     node install.js
+npm ERR! You can get their info via:
+npm ERR!     npm owner ls elm
+npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
+
+npm ERR! System Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64
+npm ERR! command "/usr/bin/nodejs" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "elm"
+npm ERR! cwd /home/bnewbold/bin
+npm ERR! node -v v0.10.29
+npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.21
+npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
+npm ERR! 
+npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
+npm ERR!     /home/bnewbold/bin/npm-debug.log
+npm ERR! not ok code 0
+</pre>
+
+Looks like Debian wants to call node.js `nodejs` while npm/Elm expects it to be
+called `node`. Ok, I create this shim named `node` in my ~/bin directory (which
+is on my $PATH), and make it executable[1]:
+
+    #!/bin/sh
+    nodejs $*
+
+Now I can do things like:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ node --version
+v0.10.29
+</pre>
+
+Great! Now let's install elm:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ npm install elm
+
+> elm@0.16.0 install /home/bnewbold/bin/node_modules/elm
+> node install.js
+
+Downloading Elm Reactor assets from https://dl.bintray.com/elmlang/elm-platform/0.16.0/elm-reactor-assets.tar.gz
+Error communicating with URL https://dl.bintray.com/elmlang/elm-platform/0.16.0/linux-x64.tar.gz Error: CERT_UNTRUSTED
+npm WARN This failure might be due to the use of legacy binary "node"
+npm WARN For further explanations, please read
+/usr/share/doc/nodejs/README.Debian
+
+npm ERR! elm@0.16.0 install: `node install.js`
+npm ERR! Exit status 1
+npm ERR! 
+npm ERR! Failed at the elm@0.16.0 install script.
+npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the elm package,
+npm ERR! not with npm itself.
+npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
+npm ERR!     node install.js
+npm ERR! You can get their info via:
+npm ERR!     npm owner ls elm
+npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
+
+npm ERR! System Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64
+npm ERR! command "/usr/bin/nodejs" "/usr/bin/npm" "install" "elm"
+npm ERR! cwd /home/bnewbold/bin
+npm ERR! node -v v0.10.29
+npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.21
+npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
+npm ERR! 
+npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
+npm ERR!     /home/bnewbold/bin/npm-debug.log
+npm ERR! not ok code 0
+</pre>
+
+This github issue seems to have some tips:
+
+    https://github.com/elm-lang/elm-platform/issues/100
+
+The recommended solutions online are basically "upgrade node.js and npm" or
+"disable SSL security". That doesn't sound great, but i'm feeling very
+impatient at this point so I try disabling SSL checks with `npm config set ca
+null`, but even with that I get the same certificate error. Enough of that
+approach:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+sudo apt remove npm nodejs-legacy nodejs
+rm ~/bin/node
+</pre>
+
+Poking around a bit more, I find the `fubar.sh` script in the `elm-platform`
+repo, which seems to nuke the local user's Haskell (cabal) stuff (not
+system-wide package, eg apt managed GHC libraries). After running that the
+`BuildFromSource.hs` seems to start working, though Hackage is still down (now,
+an hour after I started this process, at 5 hours total downtime), so I can't
+install dependencies.
+
+I search for a hackage mirror and find that [FPComplete runs
+one](https://www.fpcomplete.com/blog/2015/03/hackage-mirror).  In addition to
+their directions I had to set `remote-repo-cache` in my `~/.cabal/config`, like
+so:
+
+    remote-repo: hackage.fpcomplete.com:http://hackage.fpcomplete.com/
+    remote-repo-cache: /home/bnewbold/.cabal/packages-fpcomplete
+
+After that I `cabal update` and run the `BuildFromSource.hs` script again. It
+fails to build the dependency `websockets-snap`, but I try installing that
+regularly (`cabal install websockets-snap`) and that works, then all the
+dependencies with BuildFromSource.hs build. Yay!
+
+I still get an error with compiling Elm itself though::
+
+    src/Elm/Package.hs:60:25:
+        Not in scope: `<$>'
+        Perhaps you meant `</>' (imported from System.FilePath)
+
+It [sounds like](https://github.com/elm-lang/elm-platform/issues/30) I am using
+an out of date version of GHC (the Haskell compiler): I have 7.6.3 (the version
+that comes with Debian), and Elm wants 7.10. Fair enough: unlike a package
+manager, I can see how new features in the compiler would be helpful, and when
+I go back and look this is in the README. Fortunately there is a new version of
+GHC in the jessie-backports repo, so:
+
+    sudo apt install -t jessie-backports ghc
+   
+And now::
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ cabal --version
+cabal-install version 1.22.6.0
+using version 1.22.5.0 of the Cabal library 
+bnewbold@eschaton$ ghc --version
+The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 7.10.3
+</pre>
+
+After that, i'm miraculously able to compile. Horray! I add
+`~/bin/Elm-Platform/0.16/.cabal-sandbox/bin` to my `$PATH` and I can run:
+
+<pre class="terminal">
+bnewbold@eschaton$ elm-repl 
+---- elm repl 0.16.0 -----------------------------------------------------------
+:help for help, :exit to exit, more at <https://github.com/elm-lang/elm-repl>
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+> 
+</pre>
+
+
+Also, through out this debugging experience i've had problems with my external
+Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard glitching (workaround: unplug and replug) and with
+WiFi here at the Recurse Center disconnecting (other have the same problem,
+something to do with wireless regulatory zones, but we don't have a fix yet).
+
+It's not all hard though; installing the `elm.vim` syntax highlighting plugin
+is very easy, just a single `git clone` into ~/.vim/bundle/`.
+
+[1]: later I learn that I could instead have installed the `nodejs-legacy`
+     package, which just installs a symlink `/usr/bin/node` which points to
+     `/usr/bin/nodejs`.
+
+================
+
+- ironically, elm packaging seems to have some nice features to prevent
+  breakage
+- also, rust packaing seems good (link to cargo post)
+
+================
+
+**Follow up June 18th, 2016:**
+
+A new version of Elm (0.17) was 
+[released](http://elm-lang.org/blog/farewell-to-frp)
+was released a few days after writing this post. The new version made some big
+changes, like abandoning the Functional Reactive paradigm. I found that many of
+the new tutorials weren't working with my 0.16 install, so I tried to upgrade.
+After an hour or two of following the directions above, I gave up and installed
+`npm` on a temporary Debian unstable ("sid") virtual machine. Once I added a
+`node` symlink to `nodejs`, I was able to install `elm` with `npm` and develop
+remotely using `screen` and `elm-react`. Frustrating!
+
+Also, `https://status.haskell.org` seems to be broken again today, though
+hackage itself seems to work.
+
diff --git a/posts/first-post.md b/posts/first-post.md
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+++ /dev/null
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-Title: First Post!
-Author: bnewbold
-Date: 2016-05-01
-
-This is a first post! Just a test of URL system.
diff --git a/posts/new-server-2016.md b/posts/new-server-2016.md
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+++ b/posts/new-server-2016.md
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+Title: New Web Server (2016)
+Author: bnewbold
+Date: 2016-05-01
+
+This is a stub posting to note that i've transitioned this website
+(`bnewbold.net`) from a custom dynamic Django setup that I wrote [back in 2007](http://git.bnewbold.net/bnewnet/commit/?id=5b31039d4c581048959dc51436f6918f29fbf9ea)
+to a simple [Pelican](http://blog.getpelican.com/) based static site generator.
+
+This shift co-incides with my transition from hosting on `adelie` (last
+upgraded to Ubuntu lucid 10.04!) to `adze` (Debian stable, currently jessie).
+Some of this transition was made easier by using
+[ansible scripts](http://git.bnewbold.net/infra/) to automate the common basics
+of server configuration.