David McNett :: Software and Projects

I hope this stuff is useful to you. . .

Below you'll find a listing of various tools and packages that I've coded over the years. All of the items on this page are comfortably in "scratch an itch" territory. I'd like to think that others might find them useful as well, so I've published them here

Much of this code is also maintained in the public macnugget.org cvs repository.

Unless otherwise noted, all items below are BSD licensed. Do what you want and enjoy. I'd appreciate a nod or a note if you put any of this to good use, but you're certainly not obligated.

Using Public Key Authentication with SSH

Learning how to use ssh public key authentication can be a life-changing experience for Unix and Windows users. Once you learn to use public keys you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. A brief but comprehensive HOWTO.

SSL Certificate Generation

I wrote up a short cheat sheet for ssl certificates because I was disappointed in the existing documentation available on the net.

SlackerDKP - World of Warcraft Loot Mongering

SlackerDKP is a tool which automates the tasks involved when using Nurfed DKP to manage loot and DKP in a World of Warcraft raiding guild.

Airport Extreme NAT+DHCP Tweaks

I've had to force my Apple Airport Extreme Base Station to do something it doesn't want to do. Documented in case anyone else has similar needs.

Subscribing to an Exchange Server calendar with Apple's iCal

This perl script will allow a Microsoft Exchange user to subscribe to their Exchange calendar using Apple's iCal or Mozilla Sunbird (or any other .ics enabled calendar application. It's read-only, which means that all additions and updates need to be performed from Outlook or OWA, but the convenience of being able to see your events and alarms in another platform is substantial. [exchange_calendar_dump]

Asterisk PBX - my thoughts and experiences

Yay complicated software to do simple things. :) I set up my own home pbx using free software.

Monitor Size Comparisons

Considering one of those sweet Apple 30" Cinema Displays? Do it! Here's how to convince yourself.

Logbook Online (LOL)

A web-based pilot's logbook for general aviation pilots to track their flight activity, ongoing training, and flight currency. Currently deployed peer-networked on several sites, both personal and commercial. [lolsite info]

mutt configuration file

There's no question about it, mutt is the best mail app in the world. Much of its appeal is because it is to incredibly configurable. I've spent a while getting mutt to behave exactly as I prefer, and here's the result. While this is not as comprehensive as some other mutt config files on the net, I like to think that it's useful. [.muttrc]

bitchx configuration file

BitchX sucks. Really. It sucks. If you don't use BitchX, don't even consider starting. I highly recommend you use irssi as an alternative. If, however, you are like me and stuck in BitchX out of sheer inertia, then here's a sample .bitchxrc which is kinda nice on those days when BitchX decides to execute it properly. [.bitchxrc]

irssi configuration set

If you take my advice above, you might find it useful to grope though my irssi config and scripts. [config directory]

postfix backup mx relay map automation

A script and instructions on how to set up your backup mx mail hosts to be able to reject or accept emails for your domain using a current map of valid recipient addresses for the domain. [instructions]

pgp autohandler for procmail/mutt

This script and procmail recipe, when combined, will use a send-hook in your mutt configuration file which will automatically pgp-encrypt emails that you are sending to users who have, in the past, sent you emails which were either pgp-encrypted or pgp-signed. Users are automatically added to the auto-encrypt list and are sent an email describing the activity when they are added. [auto_add_pgpkey]

netskel

Netskel is a client/server mechanism for automatically distributing a user's homedirectory environment to all the machines they use. A master repository is created to contain the user's skeleton environment (ssh keys, login scripts, common config files, etc...) and then the netskel client is installed on each shell they use which will then automatically keep the shells in sync with the master repository. [netskel site]

nugget finger

I hacked up the standard BSD finger to obscure personal information for remote inquiries. We run this on nodezero.distributed.net as part of the dnet-finger stuff. [nugget_finger.tar.gz]

pageparse

This is a little filter which can be referenced by a .qmail or aliases file to turn an email into an alphanumeric page. [pageparse]

url, the wonder-bot

I'm the current babysitter for url, the longest-running and most well-known infobot on the efnet IRC network. You can access factoid snapshots and any other url-related information from the link to the left. [url]