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Stop Python urllib2 following HTTP redirects

By default calling a URL via urllib2 will follow any 30X responses returned, often not what you want.

We can correct this behavior by adding a custom "opener" class to the urllib2 module like so:

import urllib
import urllib2

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Install tig CLI Git repository browser tool

Without the need for Xcode bloat (yay!).

What is tig?: https://github.com/jonas/tig

# install gcc/make/etc.
# note: this will *not* install Xcode - don't be fooled by xcode in CLI command name
$ xcode-select --install

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Install VirtualBox guest additions onto Ubuntu server guests

Note

The following steps have been successfully tested with Ubuntu guests of:

• 24.04LTS
• 22.04LTS
• 18.04LTS
• 16.04LTS

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Enable LDAP over SSL (LDAPS) for Microsoft Active Directory servers

Tip

Microsoft active directory servers by default provide LDAP connections over unencrypted connections (boo!).

The steps below will create a new self signed certificate appropriate for use with and thus enabling LDAPS for an AD server. Of course the "self-signed" portion of this guide can be swapped out with a real vendor purchased certificate if required.

Steps have been tested successfully with Windows Server 2012R2, but should work with Windows Server 2008 without modification. Requires a working OpenSSL install (ideally Linux/OSX) and (obviously) a Windows Active Directory server.

• Create root certificate

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PowerShell execute command with arguments safely

In my opinion this is the best way for executing external commands from PowerShell with arguments in a safe manner - via the use of an array to hold the arguments.

Consider this one a PowerShell gem to keep in the toolbox.

Note

The example below makes use of EchoArgs.exe - a small utility that simply echoes back arguments passed to it. Utility is part of the PowerShell Community Extensions, or the exe alone can be downloaded at https://ss64.com/ps/EchoArgs.exe.

Example

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PowerShell copy local files recursively to target server

A PowerShell script which provides the following:

• Mount remote/target server share with given username/password credentials.
• Copy all $SourcePath files to target share ($TargetServer / $TargetShare) recursively.
• Finally, clean up all orphaned directories/files from target share.

Usage example

./remotecopy.ps1 `
	-SourcePath "." `

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PowerShell Import-Module with .ps1 quirk

Well, not so much a quirk - but an interesting anti-pattern I found in some (poor quality) PowerShell. Documenting the "how and why" so I can refer to it again if needed!

• Example
• Running
• In conclusion

Example

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FLAC -> MP3 VBR with ffmpeg

Convert source FLAC files in a directory to MP3 VBR (around 220-260 kbps).

#!/bin/bash -e

FLAC_SRC_DIR="/path/to/flac/files"

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Kodi media player - update video database file paths

• The Kodi databases are all SQLite3 based.
• For Linux, the video database will be located at: ~/.kodi/userdata/Database/MyVideosXX.db, where XX is the version number. You will most likely want the highest number available for edit.

Install SQLite CLI tools, open database

$ sudo apt-get install libsqlite3-dev sqlite3
$ sqlite3 MyVideosXX.db

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Python AWS CloudTrail parser

Python parser class for CloudTrail event archives, previously dumped to an S3 bucket. Class provides an iterator which will:

• Scan a given directory for archive files matching the required pattern.
• Decompress each archive in memory.
• Parse JSON payload and return each event in turn.

Parser contained in cloudtrailparser.py, with timezone.py used as a simple datetime.tzinfo concrete class implement to provide UTC timezone.