I ran into an interesting issue when installing Wordpress on my re-installed server, I could not get a database connection during installation. I added some debugging and discovered that I had a "Can't connect to MySQL server on" error returned after the call to mysql_connect() in PHP.

To check the source of the issue I then tried to connect on the command-line using the mysql client, which occurred successfully, confirming that I was using the correct credentials and host address (this was a remote MySQL server).

I next created a test PHP script with a simple mysql_connect() call, and executed it with "php test.php" from the command-line, which was also successful.

Finally I accessed test.php through a browser, where again the connection failed.

So I was dealing with a situation where it was Apache in particular that was unable to connect to the remote MySQL server. Thanks to …

Regular visitors to the 451 CAOS Theory blog will be well aware of The 451 Group’s CAOS (Commercial Adoption of Open Source) research service and our CAOS long-form reports.

They are probably less aware of the open source coverage that The 451 Group provides on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, however, and I thought it would be worthwhile to provide some examples of The 451 Group’s ongoing open source coverage by highlighting a few recent reports.

The company’s core services are 451 Market Insight Service, which delivers daily insight into emerging enterprise IT markets, and 451 TechDealmaker, a forward-looking weekly …

Eclipse adds OSGi server. VMware-Zimbra deal due today? And more.

Follow 451 CAOS Links live @caostheory on Twitter and Identi.ca
“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

For the latest on Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL via Sun, see Everything you always wanted to know about MySQL but were afraid to ask

# VMware’s SpringSource proposed that its dm Server OSGi-based app server become an Eclipse.org community project, while SAP proposed the Graphiti project.

# All …

A recent pitch from the folks opposing Oracle’s ownership of MySQL via acquisition of Sun Microsystems got me thinking. The plea, ‘Oracle can have Sun, but not MySQL’ may make sense to some, but to me it speaks to the irony of closing out Oracle or any company or anyone from open source. Upon further reflection and given 2010 is off to a roaring pace of M&A, I also began to wonder what the impact of the ‘Save MySQL’ campaign could be on open source in M&A, particularly if it was to successfully derail the acquisition or somehow decouple MySQL from Sun under Oracle?

What would it mean to carve out the open source projects, components, teams and support from companies involved in mergers and acquisitions over …

If you are one of the few unfortunate blokes that’s pulling your hair out over random File Menu popups on OpenOffice — Word or Spreadsheet — and have been hitting your head against a brick wall trying to find the solution, I hear you.

I intially thought there was some interaction with Skype, but now I have to retract that statement. In all honesty, I have no clue what the problem is.

But I decided to just watch the “random” File Menu problem and time it. And now I am more confused than ever.

On my computer running 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic), I noticed that the File Menu toggles twice a second when OpenOffice has the focus. One toggle event happens precisely on the 11th second; the other toggle event happens around 35th to the 45th second. The second toggle seems to be related to when I launch OpenOffice; the first is always precisely on the 11th second.

And this is something peculiar to …

Google unveils the Nexus One. RMS explains his position on dual licensing. And more.

Follow 451 CAOS Links live @caostheory on Twitter and Identi.ca
“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

For the latest on Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL via Sun, see Everything you always wanted to know about MySQL but were afraid to ask

# Google launched the Nexus One Android phone.

# Richard Stallman explained his position on selling exceptions to the GNU GPL.

# Novell’s chief technology and …

A couple of posts have been published recently worrying about the impact of more open source specialist vendors being acquired by proprietary vendors.

This is an issue that crops up occasionally. Usually when a major acquisition has been announced, and the current questioning seems to be driven by the ongoing saga of Oracle-Sun-MySQL, as well as the rumoured purchase of Zimbra by VMware.

While fear of the unknown is understandable, to my mind the concern about open source specialists being acquired by proprietary vendors is driven by parochialism and misplaced assumptions about the rate of acquisitions and the acquiring company’s intentions.

For a start the statistics suggest that acquisitions involving …

To get a quick idea of what ports you have open on your local box, you can use nmap.

~ jhaddad$ nmap localhost
Starting Nmap 5.00 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2010-01-05 11:06 PST
Interesting ports on localhost (127.0.0.1):
Not shown: 499 closed ports, 492 filtered ports
PORT STATE SERVICE
80/tcp open http
88/tcp open kerberos-sec
548/tcp open afp
631/tcp open ipp
3306/tcp open mysql
3325/tcp open unknown
5900/tcp open vnc
9000/tcp open cslistener
10000/tcp open snet-sensor-mgmt

For more detailed information, try netstat:

netstat -an

You’ll get a breakdown of every socket open on your machine – useful for figuring out who’s connected and from where.

The OSX version of netstat lacks a few options – such as the useful ‘-p’ option to display the process id (PID) – which can be useful combined with kill to get …

VMware to acquire Zimbra? 2009’s open source legal developments. And more.

Follow 451 CAOS Links live @caostheory on Twitter and Identi.ca
“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

For the latest on Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL via Sun, see Everything you always wanted to know about MySQL but were afraid to ask

# All Things D reported that VMware is buying Zimbra from Yahoo.

# Mike Hogan speculated on what else would be missing from VMware’s virtualized software stack.

# …

Since the European Commission announced it was opening an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems by Oracle with a focus on MySQL there has been no shortage of opinion written about Oracle’s impending ownership of MySQL and its impact on MySQL users and commercial partners, as well as MySQL’s business model, dual licensing and the GPL.

In order to try and bring some order to the conversation, we have brought together some of the most referenced blog posts and news stories in chronological order.

Part one took us from the announcement of the EC’s in-depth investigation up to the eve of the communication of the EC’s Statement of Objections.

…