Cornerstone Software Ltd

This was very frustrating - so I’m writing this in case someone else uses Google to find the answer, and finds me. My problem: RBL checks in my mail gateway weren’t working, and a missing Net::DNS turned out to be the cause. (more…)

A few weeks ago I let my kids loose on a newly-setup computer running Kubuntu (a flavour of Linux). This is a shared computer between the two of them, and unlike any previous linux desktop I’ve configured, the primary users are not logging in with the account name entered into the nice Kubuntu setup program.

The problem was the silence. More specifically the silence of any of the programs running on either kid’s desktops. (more…)

I found myself needing a way to convert a colour some of the way toward another colour. Possible use cases include

• Lightening or darkening a shade
• Recolouring a palette to match a colour scheme
• Gradients and blends

Now, this is probably a specialised sort of function. With GDI+ (or the .NET System.Drawing) there are better ways to do gradient fills, and transparency may be a more understandable way of doing blending or merging. Still, it was a short function that took a deceptively long time to write, so you might find it useful. (more…)

Today is Father’s Day in New Zealand. Read from this month’s newsletter from somebody:

Daddy (n): a man who has photos in his wallet where his money used to be.

I check my wallet. The princely sum of $5.80 and photos. Yup.

On the upside - a handcrafted “Happy Father’s Day” card (complete with the helpful warning “be careful!”), and handmade daddy wrapping paper enclosing .. my very own set of colouring pens. I mean, what could be more valuable, really?

The problem to solve is this: given a date (eg 1st September 2006), what financial year does it belong in?

A January to December financial year would make things simple, but this actually unusual. In New Zealand most common is the year ending 31st March, although many companies follow other conventions especially if they are part of a multinational corporation. See the Wikipedia article for more details.

I was surprised to not find a function for this in our company’s standard libraries, but I needed it, so I dusted off my brain and set out. And it wasn’t entirely obvious! (more…)

I often find myself wanting a number of command-line utilities for fixing problems, applying patches etc without having to be physically there. I might be on the phone to someone, or accessing a PC remotely, so I can’t copy them on via a CD or USB stick. Small, reliable programs that do the job well, with a minimum of fuss - thinks like editing configuration files, viewing logs, getting patches, zipping or unzipping files.

I’ve collected a few over the years, and some of them I’ve packaged up and put on this website. Mostly for my benefit, but you might have a use for them too. (more…)