I struggled for a while when I first started using Linux and programming Python to figure out exactly how the Python path worked and how to add my own custom modules to the path. Inevitably I ended up either starting the shell I was programming from in the directory I wanted to import modules from (I never really understood why this worked), or going through the rather lengthy (programmers love elegant shortcuts!) process of appending directories to my PYTHONPATH. I’d say I did this for a really long time, but the process I went through was valuable because we learn through practise, not merely being told how something works. I encourage you to follow along and attempt these examples on your own machine.

Please note that
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$:
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is used to indicate your system shell (I use bash), and
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>>>
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indicates the Python interpreter prompt.

Here’s how you can find and set your python path:
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$:python
>>> _
>>> import sys
>>> print sys.path
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On my machine, I get the following output:
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['', '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pip-1.0.1-py2.7.egg', '/usr/lib/python2.7', '/usr/lib/python2.7/plat-linux2', '/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-old', '/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload', '/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages', '/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/PIL', '/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/gtk-2.0', '/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gst-0.10', '/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gtk-2.0', '/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7', '/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ubuntuone-storage-protocol', '/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ubuntuone-client', '/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/ubuntuone-control-panel', '/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/wx-2.8-gtk2-unicode']
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As you can see, my sys.path is quite bare (the only modules I have installed are the ones required for my Ubuntu installation), because I use virtualenv to manage my dependencies — more about that in a future post.

The data structure above is called a list, identified by the square brackets. We have also solved the mystery of why you can import from the current directory; the first entry, the empty string, tells the interpreter to look in the current directory.

So, to add a directory to the Python path, you can do:
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>>> sys.path.append('<path_to_your_module_directory>')
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Remember to make sure that <path_to_your_module_directory> has an empty file called __init__.py in it. This lets the Python interpreter know that the directory is a Python module.

As a useful aside, to create an empty file quickly from the terminal:
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$: touch __init__.py
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Say you appended '/home/nikhil/src/mymodules/' to sys.path. The directory structure could look something like this:
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mymodules/
__init__.py
mytools.py
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You could now do something like this:
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>>> from mytools import *
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to use all the functions, variables and classes in mytools.

However, if you restart the shell (CTRL+D to quit), and check out the Python path, you will notice that the sys.path that you set is not persistent across sessions. To remedy this for the time being, you could add the following to your Python files to ensure you are including the required modules on your path:
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import sys
sys.path.append('<path_to_your_module_directory>')
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Now you have a rudimentary solution as to how to include directories to the python path. You could even use this for libraries that you download.

In the next post, we will be looking at a handy bash script to automate this process, and link and unlink directories quickly.

This is a guest post by Nikhil Somaru. Nikhil is tech-head open-source junkie with a spiritual edge. He left South Africa in search of Truth (if any  and is currently imbibing a system of philosophy known as Vedanta in India. In his spare time, he listens to Wagner and wonders just what he’s gotten himself in to. He can be contacted on twitter or facebook.

Last week we discussed issues around piracy and theft. I mentioned in that post that content creators do not really suffer the consequences of piracy, and I’d like to expand that argument in this post.

There are a few points to consider:
People pay for value that they perceive

I’m going to make a philosophical proposition here that human beings are inherently good. This is an ideal that we all tend towards and is reflected by the common themes found in most systems of law, morals and ethics around the world.

Most people do not pirate content with an idea of getting something for nothing. In most cases, it is simple a situation where “you have that, I want that, easiest way to get that from you is to copy it.” The solution then is not to make your content harder to copy, as this can often hurt sales, but rather to make things as easy as possible for the customer to purchase what they want. That’s it.

Exposure via distribution is more important than the sale

Yes, for U2 and the like, exposure no longer means much. Their achievements are propagated by a vast network of paid marketing experts, fans on social networks and passive word of mouth on the street.

But for the smaller guys, exposure is what determines your positioning in an industry. It’s through exposure that you build a market for your creations. Creation of a market is equivalent to the perception of value mentioned above. People now value your creation and are willing to pay for it. It’s just up to you to get it to them efficiently, to choose a distribution model that is easy and accessible.

Even on a bigger scale, companies such as Microsoft encourage the piracy of their own software. Even when Windows XP knows that you have a pirated version, it never ever locks you out. They would rather keep you in their market than lock you out. Forward thinkers are able to recognise the value of having market share rather than the primitive idea of just looking for a sale.

Sharing can increase sales

A case in point is an elaborate research study conducted by The Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). The study aimed to look at the effect of file-sharing on a specific series of Japanese animation. It concludes:

Estimated equations of 105 anime episodes show that (1) Youtube viewing does not negatively affect DVD rentals, and it appears to help raise DVD sales; and (2) although Winny file sharing negatively affects DVD rentals, it does not affect DVD sales. Youtube’s effect of boosting DVD sales can be seen after the TV’s broadcasting of the series has concluded, which suggests that not just a few people learned about the program via a Youtube viewing. In other words YouTube can be interpreted as a promotion tool for DVD sales.

Similar trends can be observed in the music and book industries too.

Thieves do not pay

We must admit that there are real pirates out there who want to get something for nothing. They are a rare breed of parasite, but they do exist. But these are the people who go to elaborate measures to avoid paying for things. These are the people who would not have bought/accessed your content if they could not pirate it. These are the people who will pass your content on and help create a market for your products. You have lost nothing from them and are probably gaining exposure from them.

The bottom line is, if you’re a creator, just concentrate on doing what you aught to. Make the best possible stuff you can make. The best in any industry will tell you that it was consistency in action in a particular direction that brought them success, not time wasted in worrying whether they were going to lose money as a result of piracy. Any true artist (in the broader sense of the word) will tell you that at the point of inspiration, he has no thought of benefiting from his creation. In fact, such a thought will probably impair the quality of his creative impulse, and thus his creation.

It’s time for a paradigm shift into an open, idea exchanging society. It’s time for humans to live up to their humanity, and stop sacrificing our freedoms for the sake of selfish, money driven ends of a select few.

Your thoughts, comments and ideas, as always, are welcome.

This is a guest post by Nikhil Somaru. Nikhil is tech-head open-source junkie with a spiritual edge. He left South Africa in search of Truth (if any and is currently imbibing a system of philosophy known as Vedanta in India. In his spare time, he listens to Wagner and wonders just what he’s gotten himself in to. He can be contacted on twitter or facebook.

That means piracy is not equal to theft in programmer-speak.

It speaks of our society that we have made copying something into an act of theft. Theft and copying something are not the same thing. Theft is a criminal act in which property belonging to another is taken without that person’s consent (source). In other words, if I have stolen something from you, I have deprived you of your property. If deprive you of your bread, you must go and buy some rice to make up for it, or go hungry.
Now, when I copy something, you still have what you originally had, and now I have something too. This is not an act of deprivation.

I can already feel you saying “but how am I going to get paid for what I make?” and “then where is the incentive for people to create stuff?” I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, that when you’re an artist, your incentive is the creation itself. If your incentive is money, then you’re not an artist, you are a businessman, and there are many ways to make money that do not involve creation. Go do that. Sure, many artists do support themselves by their creations. But even then, the argument that piracy reduces income just doesn’t hold any water (sorry, I had to). Ask Paulo Coelho.

People pay for things they perceive value in. They also value their own time and convenience. For many, it used to be just easier to download a single mp3 track from a website than going to the store to buy an album. However, those who perceived a greater value in receiving album art, lyrics and a nice box would go through that effort to buy the album from the store. I’m sure those people still do.
That the intention was not “something for free” is proved by the popularity of online music distribution systems such as iTunes that have been crafted for the Web AddiCT(s); of today. The majority people would rather not go through the effort of searching around the web for a song. Instead, they have one place where they can click, be charged, and get the music that they want. It’s all about accessibility, getting people what they want, when they want it.

How do you feel about copying something?

Wikileaks Search Engine

Wikileaks is very popular at the moment, they have just over a million documents and are releasing

The FLOSSInclude project provided much needed insight into the way that FLOSS functions and the also highlighted the needs inherent within the different target regions. These results will be used to inform and augment current EU research into FLOSS within these regions. The research will also be used to compile a FLOSS roadmap for future EU FLOSS research.

The following areas were covered in the study.

1. Analysis of available data to identify key problem areas and areas of blocked potential for FLOSS in the target regions. Dissemination and networking, to identify and federate local and regional initiatives
2. Requirements analysis, to show with concrete cases the specific technical, business and socio-political needs for the growth of FLOSS use, deployment and development in target regions
3. Validation and pilots, to ensure that FLOSS solutions, tools and services can be cost-effective and practical
4. Prepare a cooperation roadmap, supported by regional initiatives, concrete cases for clearly identified requirements, with solution areas proposed that have been validated through pilots.

The case study conducted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) was on e-learning at UWC and included a range of issues from e-learning structures to development problems of the world class, locally developed e-learning platform (Chisimba) to the challenges faced by the e-learning team at UWC in implementing a sound e-learning policy at UWC and placing UWC at the vanguard of e-learning innovation. It also documented the use of e-learning outside of the University within the regional context. For more information on the case study and project please mail Enver Ravat at eravat2@gmail.com

One of the most fantastic collections of educational and inspirational videos in the world is located at TED.com. The videos are Creative Commons licensed which means they can be freely copied and distributed. There is also an RSS feed on the site containing direct links to the various videos which means they can be downloaded and mirrored easily.

Having a locally hosted (official or unofficial) mirror of TED videos would mean South Africans using local-only ADSL can get access to these videos which, due to international bandwidth limitations, would normally be too expensive to download for many. It would also save on international bandwidth as the videos only have to be brought into the country once and can then be distributed locally.

Do you agree with this? I believe this is a project well worth supporting. Show your support to get a locally hosted repository of all the awesome TEDtalks available in South Africa by voting here.

However, this doesn’t mean we should get complacent about checking incoming email attachments or web downloads, for two reasons. Firstly, there’s no guarantee that we Mac users will continue to enjoy the status quo, but more importantly, the majority of the computing world use machines running MS Windows, for which an enormous quantity of viruses exist, so we must be vigilant in checking the files we pass on to our friends and colleagues etc.

Do you, as a Mac user, use any anti-spyware or anti-virus programs? Would love to know how many of you there are out there who use anti-virus for mac. Do we just trust that the server that host our email to scan and block the messages with their own anti-virus before we download them and are we smart enough in our browsing patterns to stay away from spyware infected sites?

CalmWin Anti-Virus

Anti-Virus is needed if your runs any Windows operating system. Both Windows XP or Windows 7 require an anti-virus program to protect your computer from email viruses, malicious malware, worms or spy ware.

There are various anti-virus programs available for your windows operating system that are free or open source that will protect your computer from the many threats that can compromise your computer and personal information security.

The most popular open source anti-virus must be Clam Win.
Clam Win runs on any Windows operating systems and will protect your computer from any virus out on the internet. This anti-virus is available for free download from clamwin.com. Read more about the ClamWin open source anti-virus.

However, if you’ve been given the task of setting up that same environment and open source application on your internal company website, on a server that has absolutely nothing on it except for the operating system, you’ve probably spent many long hours, even days cracking your brain over technical details and configuration quirks you’re required to know in setting these systems up. Especially if you’re new to the whole LAMP platform and open source applications in general. This stuff is supposed to be simple right.

Well, there is an easy way to get everything setup.

BitNami allows you to download pre-setup open source applications very quickly and easily. Here is there introduction from their website.

We created BitNami as a place to help spread the adoption of freely available, high quality Open Source web applications. BitNami will make it easier than ever to discover, download and install Open Source software such as document and content management systems, wikis and blogging software. We’ve built several BitNami Stacks that allow you to get applications such as Joomla!, Drupal, Mediawiki, and WordPress up and running in just a few clicks on Linux, Windows or OS X. They are so easy to install, anyone can do it!

They’re called Stacks, because that’s what they are, you stack one system on top of the other that eventually gives you the right environment for the open source application to run smoothly.

You can choose to download a simple install file that sets up only the environment for certain (most) open source applications to function, called LAMP , WAMP or MAMP Stacks, which is the abbreviation for Linux/Windows/Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP.

Or, you can also download an Application Stack, which is the whole environment plus the open source application, which makes things even more simple. Anything from forums to wikis to enterprise blogging platforms or portals. Everything is done for you. All you have to do is download the install file, go through the setup wizard and you’re setup and ready to roll. Neat huh.