DIG

Here’s a simple approach to verifying DNS records during set-up/transfer. It includes steps for checking various record types, expected outputs.

dig <Record Type> <hostname/domain>

Additional Tools

For a GUI-based verification:

• MXToolbox: https://mxtoolbox.com/
• DNS Checker: https://dnschecker.org/
• Google Toolbox: https://toolbox.googleapps.com/apps/dig/

If the code . command is not working in your terminal, it’s likely that Visual Studio Code’s command-line tool isn’t properly installed or linked. Here’s how you can fix it:

Verify VSCode Installation

Open Finder.
Navigate to /Applications and confirm that Visual Studio Code is listed there.

Install the Command-Line Tool

Make sure that VSCode is properly installed.

Open VSCode.

Press CMD + Shift + P to open the Command Palette.

Type Shell Command: Install ‘code’ command in PATH and select it.
This should create a symbolic link in /usr/local/bin pointing to the VS Code binary.

Manually Create the Symlink (if Command-Line Tool installation fails)

Open Terminal

Run this command to create the symlink:

sudo ln -s "/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code" /usr/local/bin/code

Enter your password when prompted.

Add /usr/local/bin to Your PATH (if not already)

If the command still isn’t found, it could be that /usr/local/bin isn’t in your PATH.

Open your .zshrc (or .bashrc, etc.)

Add the following line, and then save:

export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin"

Reload your Terminal

source ~/.zshrc

Verify Installation

Check if the code command is now available:

Should return /usr/local/bin/code

docker images --format "{{.ID}} {{.CreatedAt}} {{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}" | grep "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs docker rmi

This command finds and removes Docker images created today in a single step by chaining multiple commands together. Let’s look at each part in detail:

1. docker images --format "{{.ID}} {{.CreatedAt}} {{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}"

This part lists all Docker images currently available on your machine.

• The --format flag customises the output to show:
• Image ID: {{.ID}}
• Creation Date: {{.CreatedAt}}
• Repository Name and Tag: {{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}

This produces a neat list with important details about each image.

2. grep "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"

This filters the list to show only images created today.

$(date +%Y-%m-%d) generates today’s date in the format YYYY-MM-DD to match the CreatedAt field.

3. awk '{print $1}'

This extracts only the Image ID (the first column from the formatted output).

We need the Image ID for the next step, which involves deleting these images.

4. xargs docker rmi

• xargs takes the Image IDs generated by awk and passes them to the docker rmi command.
• docker rmi removes the specified images from your local system.

This ensures that all images created today are deleted in a batch process.

⚙️ How It Works:

1. The command finds all Docker images created today.
2. It extracts the relevant Image IDs.
3. It removes those images by passing the IDs to docker rmi.

⚠️ Caution:

• Images in use: If any of the images are currently running or referenced by other containers, the command may fail for those images.
• Use with care: Make sure you don’t need the images before running the command, as this will permanently delete them.

Flowcharts are indispensable tools for visualising complex processes, but why settle for static diagrams when you can create dynamic, interactive masterpieces? In this article, we will guide you through incorporating animation into your flowcharts using Draw.IO, elevating your presentations and engaging your audience like never before.

Tools:

1. Google Chrome Browser
2. Chrome Capture Extension
3. Draw.IO

Step 1: Begin by opening the Google Chrome browser.

Step 2: Installing Chrome Capture Extension

Visit https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions, search and install the Chrome Capture extension. A practical tool to capture our creations in GIF format. Draw.IO lacks native GIF export functionality, making this extension invaluable for our purposes.

Step 4: Open Draw.IO

Step 5: Create a New Diagram Initiate a new diagram.

You can either create from scratch or take a sample flow chart template.

Step 6. Installing Flow plugin

1. Click “Extras”, then “Plugins…”
2. Click “Add”, then select “Flow” from the drop-down menu.
3. Click “Ok”, then “Apply”
4. Step 11: Design Your Diagram

Step 7: Create your diagram

Craft a straightforward diagram using lines to connect elements and establish the foundation for your interactive masterpiece.

Step 8: Enabling Animation

To animate all lines simultaneously, click “Edit” and then “Select Edges,” preparing your diagram for animation.

Step 13: Formatting Options

In the format pane on the right, access “Properties” from the Style tab, then tick “Flow Animation” to enable the feature.

Step 15: Capture the Animation

Record the animated flowchart using the Chrome Capture Plugin. Navigate to the “Record” tab to initiate the process.

Step 16: Define the Area

Choose the area you wish to capture by selecting “Selected Area” and carefully specifying the boundaries.

Step 17: Commence Recording

Commence recording by pressing the “Record” button, capturing the dynamic essence of your flowchart for a brief duration.

Step 18: Preserve the Magic

Save your recording by clicking the “Save” icon, preserving this captivating moment in GIF format.

Step 19: Save in GIF Format

Select the GIF format as the medium for preserving your animated flowchart.

Congratulations on your Animated Flowchart!

With this enchanting approach, you have transformed your flowchart into an interactive journey, captivating your audience with its animated allure. By embracing the features of Draw.IO and the Chrome Capture extension, you have elevated your flowchart presentations to new heights. Your imaginative diagrams will now hold the power to captivate and engage viewers like never before. Unleash your creativity, and let your flowcharts transcend the ordinary!

I just installed pipenv and I’m being blocked by this issue when creating a virtual environment for my coding practice.

It seems that the errors are related to encoding.

I can’t even use the pipenv — help

After a few minutes of surfing, setting the locale made it work.

Here’s how I did it:

1. I uninstalled pipenv, although I haven’t tried if this is necessary.

pip uninstall pipenv

2. Set the locale. This is a key step.

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

3. Reinstall pipenv.

pip install pipenv

Pipenv — help is now working. :)

We will likely encounter version conflicts if we’re working on multiple projects and just using the system Python. It’s a common and best practice to use a sandboxed environment (virtualenv) to prevent conflicting version requirements of packages and for us not to worry about messing up our system’s Python.

What I will be using:
- macOS Catalina (10.15.7)
- Python 2.7
- Terminal

Steps:

1. Open your Terminal.

2. Install pip.

curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py | python

3. Install virtualenv using pip — we will create virtual environments under our user profile.

pip install --user virtualenv

4. Create a VirtualEnv (or any name you prefer) folder where we will put our virtual environments for each project.

mkdir VirtualEnv

5. Now, let’s create our first virtual environment and name it project1.

virtualenv VirtualEnv/project1

Upon creation of the virtual environment, it will initially have installed three (3) packages: pip, setuptools, and wheel.

6. To use the virtual environment, we have to activate it.

source VirtualEnv/project1/bin/activate

We now have a usable Python virtual environment. 🤝

7. To exit, all you have to do is deactivate.

deactivate

To show a little more, I created another virtual environment named project2 with more packages installed.

I am running them concurrently, and as you can see, you can install packages in a virtual environment without affecting the other.

If you already tried restarting your mac, changing the file permission via Get Info, and deleting the file by force through terminal, then you may also try disabling the SIP (System Integrity Protection) temporarily.

Steps:

I. Disable the System Integrity Protection

1. Shutdown your mac.
2. Boot into Recovery mode.
   Click the power button and hold down Command + R until you see the Apple Logo.
3. Click Utilities.
4. Select Terminal.
5. Type csrutil status, it should be enabled by the default.
6. Type csrutil disable, it will disable the SIP.
7. Restart your machine and let it boot normally.

II. Empty Trash

1. Login to your account.
2. Empty your Trash.

III. Restore/Enable the System Integrity Protection

1. Restart your mac.
2. Boot into Recovery mode.
3. Click Utilities.
4. Select Terminal.
5. Type csrutil enable.
6. Type csrutil status, to check if it’s enabled.
7. Restart your mac.

A few years back I posted a guide on how to create a macOS OSX USB installer. The steps are basically the same even after a few iterations, so for today, I will just create a walkthrough on how to download full installers.

Steps:

1. Open the terminal.

2. Check the available OSX versions using this command:

softwareupdate --list-full-installers

3. To start the download use this:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version <OSX Version>

4. Wait for it to finish.

You can now access your Full Installer in the Applications folder.

With the recent macOS Catalina update, we can now finally use the picture-in-picture mode while watching videos in Safari in just a few clicks. Meaning you can keep doing what you’re doing while still watching videos from websites like YouTube, Facebook, and the likes.

To enable the picture-in-picture mode, you can either right-click or hold the ctrl (control) button and left click the volume icon and then select the Enter Picture in Picture option.

This is how picture-in-picture looks like:

The video box is persistent, it floats on top and it will follow you to any workspace you go.

Keychain is really a convenient tool for managing passwords even for terminal users, specifically for those people who uses passphrase in their private key. For newer versions of OSX, Catalina in my case, there’s an additional step to add and being able to use it.

I will be assuming that you already have your private key with you and just want to make things more convenient.

Step 1 — Add your Private Key to Keychain

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/[name of your private key]

Enter your passphrase, then hit enter.

Step 2 — Allow SSH to use always your keychain

Modify your SSH configuration file ~/.ssh/config and add the following lines:

Host *
  UseKeychain yes
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/[name of your private key]

Note: If you are using multiple private keys, just add a new IdentityFile entry in your SSH config.