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PHP e-Fax requires valid SSL certificates (failed with code 1)

As e-Fax is updating their systems further to be compliant with various security systems, some new problems may arise on your servers.

The main one is an SSL error that is quite unclear.

Warning: stream_socket_client(): SSL operation failed with code 1. OpenSSL Error messages: error:14090086:SSL routines:ssl3_get_server_certificate:certificate verify failed in /path-to-php-efax/http_request.php on line 294

As we can see, the error mentions a server certificate function and says it could not verify a certificate.

If your server is not 100% up to date with newest SSL versions or your web ...

Upgrade to PHP 5.3.3 or newer because of security issue

If you are responsible for a Debian or Ubuntu server and run PHP on it, make sure to run the following command to fix several security issues found in PHP:

sudo apt-get install php5-suhosin

This will make the necessary and your PHP version (security wise) will look like you have PHP 5.3.3.

What I found quite annoying in regard to this issue is the fact that it was very difficult to find a mention of this upgrade. All I could find in large number were people saying that you'd have to get an upgrade using the source code of PHP. Somehow, I did not feel like upgrading PHP from ...

Protected Node Installation

The basics of the Protected Node installation are easy:

  1. Get one of the tarball from Drupal.org
  2. Extract the files under sites/all/modules or some other modules folder
  3. Go to Administer » Site building » Modules and install the module (package Access)
  4. As the administrator (UID = 1) you are done.

Once you have installed the module, you probably want to change the permissions. Permissions allow your users to access the Protected Node functionality based on their roles. Please, see the point about Permissions for more information about those.

Now, you're ready ...

jsMath Security Issue

Security Issue

A security issue was found in all versions of jsMath before 2.x-dev for Drupal 6.x of Jul 29, 2010.

You may still securely use older versions of jsMath on private websites and websites were you are the only user (as in, the only one who can log in.)

The Drupal Security Advisory issue is here: https://www.drupal.org/node/854402

Other Problem

There is another problem: jsMath offers a JavaScript function that parses entire web pages (although there are ways to circumvent that problem, the module does not currently make use of those.) The jsMath Drupal module uses the ...

SimpleMenu Custom Theme

Introduction

The newer versions of SimpleMenu allows for an easy way of adding custom themes.

There are two main ways to add new SimpleMenu themes:

1. In the simplemenu themes folder;

2. In your theme folder.

SimpleMenu themes folder

CSS

If you look under the simplemenu folder, you will see a sub-folder named themes. You can place your own specialized themes in that folder to make them available system-wide (i.e. if you are using many themes or use one Drupal installation for many websites.) In other words, this folder is viewed as a global theme folder.

The themes folder ...

Table of Contents tags and parameters

Syntax

Supported Tags

The module supports 3 tags that all generate a Table of Contents.

The most popular is now [toc] since it is easy to type and works in WYSIWYG editors.

Handling of Pop-up Windows by SimpleMenu

Feature

By default, SimpleMenu is not shown on pop-up windows. There is a flag in the SimpleMenu settings that can be unchecked to avoid this side effect. The pop-up capability is often detected when you open a new tab from the current window. It will depend on the browser and the link being clicked1.

Quick Fix

When the menu is only used by the administrators, it is possible to simply open a new tab and copy and paste the URL from the existing window with the missing menu to the ...

  • 1. We are trying to ameliorate the code, but it is not easy to make it work properly 100% of the time.

Cell Phones now open to telemarketers!

That's it! The phone commissioners have finally decided that it's OK for telemarketers to call cell phones and try to sell you their products and services.

Personally, I do not think that, in itself, it is a bad thing... except that if I receive even just 1 call a day and have to spend 1 minute each time, I will be burning 30 minutes a month for nothing. (Okay, with 1,000 minutes a month, it wouldn't matter that much, but that's like text messaging... if you receive spam via your phone and you have to pay 20 cents for each spam email you receive, the bill goes up quickly ...

Appendix A — The geometry in SWF — Gradient Fills

It is possible in SWF to use gradient fills. The gradient definitions are pretty raw and require you to draw large objects (that you can scale down later if you wish). A radial fill will usually be used to draw a round corner or a big & smooth dot. A linear fill can be used to draw objects which go from one color to another. The linear fill goes from left to right by default. It can be rotation as required though. Yet, in either case what is drawn in the shape object needs to be at the right scale and in the right direction. This may not always prove easy to deal with!

Appendix A — The geometry in SWF — Edges

Edges are used to define a shape vector based and also coordinates where images need to be drawn. The edges are always coordinates from where ever your last point was to where ever you want the next point to be (a little like a turtle in LOGO).