Ivy + Maven 2 snapshot respositories

Ivy has some support for Maven repositories which is a great thing. I can easily use libraries that are stored on http://repository.jboss.org/maven2 for example.
But i also need to use snapshot versions of some libraries. Maven2 deal with snapshot version is a different way and add a timestamp to the library names. For example:
http://snapshots.jboss.org/maven2/org/jboss/portal/common/jboss-portal-modules-common/1.1.0-SNAPSHOT/jboss-portal-modules-common-1.1.0-20071217.115828-11.jar

Ivy doesn't know how to deal with that (see this thread). And there is an open Jira for it: IVY-243 (Please vote for it).

So i'm trying to create my own resolver by extending the ibiblio one, i was able to do most of it. I'm now stuck, ivy only gets the latest pom from the snapshot but silently ignores the jar files.

This is how i configured it:

<snapshots name="snapshots" m2compatible="true" pattern="[organisation]/[module]/[revision]/[artifact]-[snapshotrevision](-[classifier]).[ext]" root="http://snapshots.jboss.org/maven2"></snapshots>

After i wrote a new pattern for [snapshotrevision] which grabs the version number with the latest timestamp and build number taken from:
http://snapshots.jboss.org/maven2/[organisation]/[module]/[revision]/maven-metadata.xml

There is no magic in my code, so I am still wondering what i'm doing wrong...

EDIT: December 19th
I got it to work now. Cool i can access the snapshot repository of JBoss from Ivy.

Canon EOS 450D / Rebel XTii rumors

I'm in the market for a new Digital SLR Camera, i currently have an old Canon D30 (not the more recent 30D) bought in 2001.

If you look at the release dates for the past Canon cameras of the entry-level family:

1. August 2003: Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel (6 mp)
2. February 2005: Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT (8 mp) -- 16 months after previous model
   
3. August 2006: Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi (10 mp) -- 18 months after previous model
   

About the more expensive releases:

1. April 2000: Canon EOS D30 (3 mp)
2. February 2002: Canon EOS D60 (6 mp) -- 22 months after previous model
3. February 2003: Canon EOS 10D (6 mp) -- 12 months after previous model
4. August 2004: Canon EOS 20D (8 mp) -- 18 months after previous model
5. February 2006 Canon EOS 30D (8 mp) -- 18 months after previous model
   
6. August 2007: Canon EOS 40D (10 mp) LV -- 18 months after previous model

About the most expensive ones:

1. Sep 2001: Canon EOS 1D (4 mp)
2. Sep 2002: Canon EOS 1Ds (11mp) -- 12 months after previous model
3. Jan 2004: Canon EOS 1D Mark II (8 mp) -- 16 months after previous model
4. Sep 2004: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II (16 mp) -- 8 months after previous model
5. Aug 2005: Canon EOS 1D Mark II N (8 mp) -- 11 months after previous model
   
6. Feb 2007: Canon EOS 1D Mark III (10 mp) -- 18 months after previous model
7. Aug 2007: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III (20 mp) LV -- 6 months after previous model

By looking at the numbers, 18 months sounds reasonable between 2 releases, so the next entry level could appear on August 2006 + 18 months, which gives February 2007 as release date. The good news is that i will be in the US at that time ! With the cheap dollar, that's pretty cool. My guess is that it will officially be announced at the PMA 2008 which will be held at the end of January.

Now for the name, after EOS 300D, 350D, 400D it sounds natural to expect EOS 450D in Europe. The US name is not that obvious, maybe Rebel XTii, that's also just a guess it could also be XTi2.

About the features, it will probably still embed a 10mp CMOS sensor (even though Canon already embedded a higher resolution in the entry models before the medium range cameras i don't see that happening now). It could be the sensor from the 40D instead (the Digic III).
We can definitely expect a live view mode like on the new 40D (mentioned with LV). Live View (so you see what you will capture) is probably an important feature for the targeted market.

What else ? Hard to tell... Some rumors are talking about a movie mode, we'll see...

Wifi rabbit

I got myself a Wifi rabbit, also known as Nabaztag.
The newer version has a (useless) RFID reader and a (useful) microphone, i can ask him about the weather forecast by telling him "Meteo" while i press the button on his head.

There are several Nabcast and Nabgets you can subscribe too. Here is the list of elements i use:
- Avent calendar, every day a Christmas song is played
- Speaking clock (on every hour you get the time)
- News, breaking french news as they happen
- Meteo, twice a day
- Techcrunch news as they arrive
- Tai Chi, Rabbit doing tai chi once in a while
- Van Damme attitude, Jean Claude Van Damme quotes

There are also two Facebook applications that i use:
- One is supposed to tell me the new status of my Facebook friends, it stopped working recently
- Send me a message from my facebook profile, unluckily sending messages is a paying option of Nabaztag, without paying you are limited to few messages a month... Another drawback is that the messages are displayed with a French voice (accent)...

Javapolis hangover and release

I'm still stuck in Antwerp waiting to go back home and have some time waiting in the lobby while Julien is sleeping on the floor.

This year was really good for me, professionally and personally. We had the chance to meet JBoss Portal users, some claiming how impressed they were about the performance testing they did on our product compare to other similar open source solutions. I was also able to explain to a few what we are doing and what is our focus.

On a personal note, i really had a lot of fun. Some memories will stay forever, like this belgium-mexican restaurant (Anchiladas with Fries) running out of water so they couldn't serve water anymore ("Water is finished") or other things that i cannot mention on a blog (came back with Emmanuel B and Julien at 5am i think, crashing (literally) in my room)

We were able to do the release of 2.6.3 despite several hiccups (last minute bug, and last minute API change from a third party providing some online services...) and a hangover (last minute drinks, but don't worry the binaries were done, it was just a matter of announcing it).