Technology and design in plain language.

So Thursday AM is “The Big Day”, the day when we all get to experience Movable Type 3.2, sans beta.

My entries are slow-in-coming for a few days while I launch my brand new design site. The current site is truly ghastly. I’m also currently slogging my way through 12 rounds in the ring with a couple of ornary problems:

Headache#1: .htaccess

First, I’m trying to get my server to process my .html files as .php files so I can use includes for my sidebar. I’m up to my neck in .htaccess, and I’ve tried adding the simple AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .html with no luck. The site keeps returning a happy 500 error any time I try to view a .php file or whenever I type the domain name alone—but mydomain.com/index.html works fine. Also, interestingly enough, the .php files in this site (which is a subdomain off my main account) work. I have a hunch it has something to do with the line in my .htaccess file: RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /mtview.php [L,QSA]. I wonder if that absolute references causes any problems when installing multiple dynamic blogs under several “add-on” subdirectories.

UPDATE: Seems as though it was a permissions issue. Server wouldn’t let me run a 666 file, so I changed it to 644 and all’s well. Now I just have to figure out how to ensure MT publishes the files with the 644 mods. AHA: Elise saves the day, again.

Headache#2: Microsoft

Second, and far worse. Running Movable Type on a Windows 2003 Server with IIS. :orchestra_stab: I followed all the instructions (and they were thorough) from Movable Type, but no go. Seems as though there was a general rule setup in IIS under Web Services that prohibited all .cgi from running, so I needed to add MT as a trusted application. That and a day’s worth of permissions headache’s and it’s now up and running (slowly), but…

Every so often, probably every 40 or 50 queries to the MySQL database (listing entries, saving entries, saving templates, etc.), I get a mysterious message:

Got an error: DBD driver has not implemented the AutoCommit attribute at C:/Perl/site/lib/DBI.pm line 645.

And yes, I’ve installed and built all of the required modules, and again, it works correctly for a while, but every so often it happens and I have to either wait an hour or so, or login to the server and manual reboot the MySQL server—a hassle to be sure, especially for the clients. I don’t know enough about SQL to fully understand the error, but I’m wondering if there is a variable I need to set to correct this AutoCommit problem.

Did I mention that I AM A DESIGNER?!?

But I digress. Well, at least I have 3.2 Beta to wake up to. (For those of you up before noon, enjoy!)