For those of you using nginx and debian-based distributions such as Ubuntu, Mepis, Mint, etc. you may have noticed that the init script on nginx's wiki doesn't work very well with newer distributions such as Ubuntu 10.04/11.10, etc. I forked it and made some changes that should make it run nicely.

First, add this to /etc/init.d/nginx:

#! /bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          nginx
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: nginx init.d bash script for debian/ubuntu
# Description:       nginx init.d bash script for debian/ubuntu
### END INIT INFO
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# nginx - This is a bash script for starting/stopping/restarting nginx on 
#		  debian-based distributions such as Ubuntu, Mint, Mepis, etc.
#
# description:  Nginx is an HTTP(S) server, HTTP(S) reverse 
#               proxy and IMAP/POP3 proxy server.  This 
#				script will manage the initiation of the 
#				server and it's process state.
#
# processname: nginx
# Provides:    nginx
#
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               Author
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Copyright (c) 2012 Dave Hulihan, www.hulihanapplications.com
#   * Fork this at https://github.com/hulihanapplications/nginx-init-debian
#   * Based on Jason Giedymin's nginx-init-ubuntu: http://code.google.com/p/nginx-init-ubuntu/
#
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               MIT X11 License
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
# a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
# "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
# permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
# the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
# included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
# EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
# MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
# NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
# LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
# OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
# WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
#
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               Functions
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
 
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               Consts
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Change these to match your nginx configuration
DAEMON=/opt/nginx/sbin/nginx
NGINX_CONF_FILE="/opt/nginx/conf/nginx.conf"
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
PS="nginx"								# process name
PIDNAME="nginx"							# lets you do $PS-slave
DESCRIPTION="Nginx Server..."			#
PIDFILE=$PIDNAME.pid                    # pid file
PIDSPATH=/var/run						# 
RUNAS=root                              # user to run as
SCRIPT_OK=0                             # ala error codes
SCRIPT_ERROR=1                          # ala error codes
TRUE=1                                  # boolean
FALSE=0                                 # boolean
 
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               Simple Tests
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
#test if nginx is a file and executable
test -x $DAEMON || exit 0
 
# Include nginx defaults if available
if [ -f /etc/default/nginx ] ; then
        . /etc/default/nginx
fi
 
#set exit condition
#set -e
 
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#                               Functions
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
setFilePerms(){
 
        if [ -f $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE ]; then
                chmod 400 $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE
        fi
}
 
configtest() {
	$DAEMON -t -c $NGINX_CONF_FILE
}
 
getPSCount() {
	return `pgrep -f $PS | wc -l`
}
 
isRunning() {
        if [ $1 ]; then
                pidof_daemon $1
                PID=$?
 
                if [ $PID -gt 0 ]; then
                        return 1
                else
                        return 0
                fi
        else
                pidof_daemon
                PID=$?
 
                if [ $PID -gt 0 ]; then
                        return 1
                else
                        return 0
                fi
        fi
}
 
#courtesy of php-fpm
wait_for_pid () {
        try=0
 
        while test $try -lt 35 ; do
 
                case "$1" in
                        'created')
                        if [ -f "$2" ] ; then
                                try=''
                                break
                        fi
                        ;;
 
                        'removed')
                        if [ ! -f "$2" ] ; then
                                try=''
                                break
                        fi
                        ;;
                esac
 
                #echo -n .
                try=`expr $try + 1`
                sleep 1
        done
}
 
status(){
	isRunning
	isAlive=$?
 
	if [ "${isAlive}" -eq $TRUE ]; then
                echo "$PIDNAME found running with processes:  `pidof $PS`"
        else
                echo "$PIDNAME is NOT running."
        fi
 
 
}
 
removePIDFile(){
	if [ $1 ]; then
                if [ -f $1 ]; then
        	        rm -f $1
	        fi
        else
		#Do default removal
		if [ -f $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE ]; then
        	        rm -f $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE
	        fi
        fi
}
 
start() {
    log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESCRIPTION"

	#isRunning
	#isAlive=$?
 
    #if [ "${isAlive}" -eq $TRUE ]; then
    #        log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ERROR
    #else
    #        #start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --chuid $RUNAS --make-pidfile --pidfile $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- -
c $NGINX_CONF_FILE
	#		start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --chuid $RUNAS --name $PS --exec $DAEMON -- -c $NGINX_CONF_FILE                
    #        setFilePerms
    #        log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
    #fi

    start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --chuid $RUNAS --exec $DAEMON -- -c $NGINX_CONF_FILE
    log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK    
    return 0
}
 
stop() {
	log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESCRIPTION" 

	#log_daemon_msg "Checking if $PS is running..." 
	#isRunning
	#isAlive=$?
	
    #if [ "${isAlive}" -eq $TRUE ]; then
    # 	log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
    # else
    #    log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ERROR
    #    log_daemon_msg "Cannot tell if $PS is running. Trying to stop anyway..."
    # fi
    
    log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
    start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --exec $DAEMON          
    return 0
}
 
reload() {
	configtest || return $?
 
	log_daemon_msg "Reloading (via HUP) $DESCRIPTION"
 
        isRunning
        if [ $? -eq $TRUE ]; then
		`killall -HUP $PS` #to be safe
 
                log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
        else
                log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ERROR
        fi
}
 
quietupgrade() {
	log_daemon_msg "Peforming Quiet Upgrade $DESCRIPTION"
 
        isRunning
        isAlive=$?
        if [ "${isAlive}" -eq $TRUE ]; then
		kill -USR2 `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE`
		kill -WINCH `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin`
 
		isRunning
		isAlive=$?
		if [ "${isAlive}" -eq $TRUE ]; then
			kill -QUIT `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin`
			wait_for_pid 'removed' $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin
                        removePIDFile $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin
 
			log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
		else
			log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ERROR
 
			log_daemon_msg "ERROR! Reverting back to original $DESCRIPTION"
 
			kill -HUP `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE`
			kill -TERM `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin`
			kill -QUIT `cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin`
 
			wait_for_pid 'removed' $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin
                        removePIDFile $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE.oldbin
 
			log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ok
		fi
        else
                log_end_msg $SCRIPT_ERROR
        fi
}
 
terminate() {
    log_daemon_msg "Force terminating (via KILL) $DESCRIPTION"
 
	PIDS=`pidof $PS` || true
 
	[ -e $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE ] && PIDS2=`cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE`
 
	for i in $PIDS; do
		if [ "$i" = "$PIDS2" ]; then
	        	kill $i
                        wait_for_pid 'removed' $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE
			removePIDFile
		fi
	done
 
	log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
}
 
destroy() {
	log_daemon_msg "Force terminating and may include self (via KILLALL) $DESCRIPTION"
	killall $PS -q >> /dev/null 2>&1
	log_end_msg $SCRIPT_OK
}
 
pidof_daemon() {
    PIDS=`pidof $PS` || true
 
    [ -e $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE ] && PIDS2=`cat $PIDSPATH/$PIDFILE`
 
    for i in $PIDS; do
        if [ "$i" = "$PIDS2" ]; then
            return 1
        fi
    done
    return 0
}
 
  
# Handle signals
#trap "echo 'Exiting Prematurely.'; exit 1" SIGTERM
 
case "$1" in
  start)
	start
        ;;
  stop)
	stop
        ;;
  restart|force-reload)
	stop
	sleep 1
	start
        ;;
  reload)
	$1
	;;
  status) 
	status
	;;
  configtest)
        $1
        ;;
  quietupgrade)
	$1
	;;
  terminate)
	$1
	;;
  destroy)
	$1
	;;
  *)
	FULLPATH=/etc/init.d/$PS
	echo "Usage: $FULLPATH {start|stop|restart|force-reload|status|configtest|quietupgrade|terminate|destroy}"
	echo "       The 'destroy' command should only be used as a last resort." 
	exit 1
	;;
esac

exit 0

Note: By default, this script thinks nginx is in /opt/nginx. If your nginx configuration is different, change it to specify the correct location:

DAEMON=/opt/nginx/sbin/nginx
NGINX_CONF_FILE="/opt/nginx/conf/nginx.conf"

Next, make the init script executable with...

sudo chmod 700 /etc/init.d/nginx

...now start 'er up:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start
 * Starting Nginx Server...                                                                             [ OK ]
 
$ sudo /etc/init.d/nginx stop
 * Stopping Nginx Server...                                                                             [ OK ]

$ sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
 * Stopping Nginx Server...                                                                             [ OK ]
 * Starting Nginx Server...                                                                             [ OK ]

That's all there is to it. You can fork this script over at github if you want to make any changes or suggestions.

Kudos

This script is based off of Jason Giedymin's original nginx-init- ubuntu.

For those of you Linux users using Gnome, KDE, or Unity, here's a desktop entry file that you can use to create a shortcut/launcher icon to Aptana Studio 3. Just add this to /usr/share/applications or ~/.local/share/applications.

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Name=Aptana Studio 3
Comment=The professional, open source development tool for the open web
Icon=/opt/aptana-studio-3/icon.xpm
GenericName=Aptana Studio
Type=Application
Exec=/opt/aptana-studio-3/AptanaStudio3
MimeType=text/plain;
Categories=Development;IDE;

This assumes you've installed Aptana to /opt/aptana-studio-3, so if yours is in a different directory, be sure to change it.

Kudos

Credit goes to Willington Vega for supplying the original desktop entry file. 

We recently created a new ruby gem called fletcher. It's a cross- website product/item information fetcher. To use fletcher, all you have to do it pass it a url to a product on one of favorite websites. You'll get back an easy-to-use ActiveRecord-like object(a Hashie::Mash) that contains useful information about that product, including its name, description, images, etc. Let's see it in action.

item = Fletcher.fetch

item.name # => "Avenir Deluxe Unicycle (20-Inch Wheel)"

item.description # => "A wonderful unicycle"

item.image # => {:url => "http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41b3TNb3uCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg", :alt => "Picture of 
Unicycle"}

item.image.url # => "http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41b3TNb3uCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg"

We originally wrote fletcher for use in our wishlist-sharing website, WishlistFactory, so you would only need to enter the url of a gift you want, and the gift information would automatically be fetched and included on your wishlist. We thought other people might find this useful, so we packaged it up as a gem and released it to the public.

The source code of fletcher is also on github, so if you'd like to add a supported website to fletcher, or make any other changes, feel free to fork it!