Vinod Singh: m2eclipse plugin makes M2_REPO variable non modifiable in Eclipse

After installation of m2eclipse plugin Eclipse was not able to resolve the absolute path of the jars in classpath.

The value of the M2_REPO variable was changed itself to some path other than what I configured. When I tried to fix that, to my surprise I can't edit it any longer. It was marked with this text "M2_REPO (non modifiable)".

via blog.vinodsingh.com

i experienced the same as this guy, but my solution was not quite the same.

i got eclipse to use an external maven's settings.xml (eclipse preferences -> maven -> user settings), which had a value set to the right location.

Testing Email Notifications with Apache James 3.0

Enter Apache James. Not long ago I came across this wonderful blog posting below about using Apache James 2.x in order to test application email notifications:


http://livingtao.blogspot.com/2007/05/testing-application-generated-emails.html

IT is amazing to see that this is pretty much the only dedicated blog posting on the internet regarding a seemingly very common issue. You would think that almost every serious enterprise application has to sent out email notifications, and be it solely for the "forgot password" feature

....
Anyway, the steps illustrated in the blog above also work nicely for James 3.0
....
Here are the simple steps to get things set up for Apache James 3.0:

via hillert.blogspot.com

sw dev, design: iterating, incrementing vs backlog mapping

Jeff Patton illustrates iterating and incrementing well:

incremental development - we build a piece at a time, having a finished design upfront, expecting no changes.

iterative development - we build something, then evaluate, then make changes to it, i.e., we expect to change it.

however, i don't quite like that both illustrations end up in the exact same Mona Lisa... :)

i just saw a very nice description of a backlog mapping by Energized Work, described by Simon Baker. Lisa Crispin also blogged about it after a visit - The Whole Team Approach in Practice.

what i like about this is the support for starting small, iterate+ increment, while keeping the whole picture of functionality and customer value visible.

 

 

 

cross-functional enough? (from old article by @henrikkniberg)

"Cross-functional team doesn’t mean everybody has to know everything - this seems to be a common misinterpretation though. Cross-functional just means that the team as a whole has all skills needed to build the product, and that each team member is willing to do more than just their own thing."

(my emphasis)

interesting tool from Henrik Kniberg: Is your team cross-functional enough...

do this excercise against your top backlog items.

....

I like this exercise because:

• It’s quick & easy.
• It triggers valuable discussions.
• It helps visualize the team's strengths and weaknesses.
• It encourages teamwork (“how can we help each other succeed”)
• It counteracts pidgeon-holing (attitudes such as “I’m the Java guy and you’re the DB guy, so the DB stuff is your job!”).
• It helps people get to know each other better.
• It takes into account the fact that people can (and often like to) broaden their skills.

 

note to self: get maven nature on projects in (my)eclipse

myeclipse: v8.6
plugins/ software:
mavensupport for myeclipse (m4e)
maven integration for eclipse (m2)

now, if a project wasn't "maven-enabled", i often had to manually edit the .project file to make it so, even with mavensupport installed.

but if you also install "maven integration for eclipse", you can right-click a project without maven nature and select "(m2) myeclipse maven -> enable dependency management".

a last piece of the puzzle seems to be needed - i think i enabled some advanced option in m4e (might even have been seemingly unrelated, like advanced tabs in pom).  but a coworker disabled m4e after installing m2 and then got the right-click option to enable maven for a project...

edit: it seems i only had to enter the maven settings (myeclipse -> maven), and then exit (apply).  without changing anything... then the "(m2) myeclipse maven -> enable dependency management" option emerged...