2024-12-01T12:52:29+02:00 foo.zone feed To be in the .zone! gemini://foo.zone/ f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-11-17-f3s-kubernetes-with-freebsd-part-1.gmi 2024-11-16T23:20:14+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This is the first blog post about my f3s series for my self-hosting demands in my home lab. f3s? The 'f' stands for FreeBSD, and the '3s' stands for k3s, the Kubernetes distribution I will use on FreeBSD-based physical machines.

f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage



Published at 2024-11-16T23:20:14+02:00

This is the first blog post about my f3s series for my self-hosting demands in my home lab. f3s? The "f" stands for FreeBSD, and the "3s" stands for k3s, the Kubernetes distribution I will use on FreeBSD-based physical machines.

I will post a new entry every month or so (there are too many other side projects for more frequent updates—I bet you can understand).

2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage (You are currently reading this)

f3s logo

Logo was generated by ChatGPT.

Let's begin...

Table of Contents




Why this setup?



My previous setup was great for learning Terraform and AWS, but it is too expensive. Costs are under control there, but only because I am shutting down all containers after use (so they are offline ninety percent of the time and still cost around $20 monthly). With the new setup, I could run all containers 24/7 at home, which would still be cheaper in terms of electricity consumption. I have a 50 MBit/s uplink (I could have more if I wanted, but it is plenty for my use case already).

From babylon5.buetow.org to .cloud

Migrating off all my containers from AWS ECS means I need a reliable and scalable environment to host my workloads. I wanted something:

  • To self-host all my open-source apps (Docker containers).
  • Fully under my control (goodbye cloud vendor lock-in).
  • Secure and redundant.
  • Cost-efficient (after the initial hardware investment).
  • Something I can poke around with and also pick up new skills.

The infrastructure



This is still in progress, and I need to own the hardware. But in this first part of the blog series, I will outline what I intend to do.

Diagram

Physical FreeBSD nodes and Linux VMs



The setup starts with three physical FreeBSD nodes deployed into my home LAN. On these, I'm going to run Rocky Linux virtual machines with bhyve. Why Linux VMs in FreeBSD and not Linux directly? I want to leverage the great ZFS integration in FreeBSD (among other features), and I have been using FreeBSD for a while in my home lab. And with bhyve, there is a very performant hypervisor available which makes the Linux VMs de-facto run at native speed (another use case of mine would be maybe running a Windows bhyve VM on one of the nodes - but out of scope for this blog series).

https://www.freebsd.org/
https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve

I selected Rocky Linux because it comes with long-term support (I don't want to upgrade the VMs every 6 months). Rocky Linux 9 will reach its end of life in 2032, which is plenty of time! Of course, there will be minor upgrades, but nothing will significantly break my setup.

https://rockylinux.org/
https://wiki.rockylinux.org/rocky/version/

Furthermore, I am already using "RHEL-family" related distros at work and Fedora on my main personal laptop. Rocky Linux belongs to the same type of Linux distribution family, so I already feel at home here. I also used Rocky 9 before I switched to AWS ECS. Now, I am switching back in one sense or another ;-)

Kubernetes with k3s



These Linux VMs form a three-node k3s Kubernetes cluster, where my containers will reside moving forward. The 3-node k3s cluster will be highly available (in etcd mode), and all apps will probably be deployed with Helm. Prometheus will also be running in k3s, collecting time-series metrics and handling monitoring. Additionally, a private Docker registry will be deployed into the k3s cluster, where I will store some of my self-created Docker images. k3s is the perfect distribution of Kubernetes for homelabbers due to its simplicity and the inclusion of the most useful features out of the box!

https://k3s.io/

HA volumes for k3s with HAST/ZFS and NFS



Persistent storage for the k3s cluster will be handled by highly available (HA) NFS shares backed by ZFS on the FreeBSD hosts.

On two of the three physical FreeBSD nodes, I will add a second SSD drive to each and dedicate it to a zhast ZFS pool. With HAST (FreeBSD's solution for highly available storage), this pool will be replicated at the byte level to a standby node.

A virtual IP (VIP) will point to the master node. When the master node goes down, the VIP will failover to the standby node, where the ZFS pool will be mounted. An NFS server will listen to both nodes. k3s will use the VIP to access the NFS shares.

FreeBSD Wiki: Highly Available Storage

You can think of DRBD being the Linux equivalent to FreeBSD's HAST.

OpenBSD/relayd to the rescue for external connectivity



All apps should be reachable through the internet (e.g., from my phone or computer when travelling). For external connectivity and TLS management, I've got two OpenBSD VMs (one hosted by OpenBSD Amsterdam and another hosted by Hetzner) handling public-facing services like DNS, relaying traffic, and automating Let's Encrypt certificates.

All of this (every Linux VM to every OpenBSD box) will be connected via WireGuard tunnels, keeping everything private and secure. There will be 6 WireGuard tunnels (3 k3s nodes times two OpenBSD VMs).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WireGuard

So, when I want to access a service running in k3s, I will hit an external DNS endpoint (with the authoritative DNS servers being the OpenBSD boxes). The DNS will resolve to the master OpenBSD VM (see my KISS highly-available with OpenBSD blog post), and from there, the relayd process (with a Let's Encrypt certificate—see my Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex blog post) will accept the TCP connection and forward it through the WireGuard tunnel to a reachable node port of one of the k3s nodes, thus serving the traffic.

KISS high-availability with OpenBSD
Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex

The OpenBSD setup described here already exists and is ready to use. The only thing that does not yet exist is the configuration of relayd to forward requests to k3s through the WireGuard tunnel(s).

Data integrity



Periodic backups



Let's face it, backups are non-negotiable.

On the HAST master node, incremental and encrypted ZFS snapshots are created daily and automatically backed up to AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive via CRON. I have a bunch of scripts already available, which I currently use for a similar purpose on my FreeBSD Home NAS server (an old ThinkPad T440 with an external USB drive enclosure, which I will eventually retire when the HAST setup is ready). I will copy them and slightly modify them to fit the purpose.

There's also zfstools in the ports, which helps set up an automatic snapshot regime:

https://www.freshports.org/sysutils/zfstools

The backup scripts also perform some zpool scrubbing now and then. A scrub once in a while keeps the trouble away.

Power protection



Power outages are regularly in my area, so a UPS keeps the infrastructure running during short outages and protects the hardware. I'm still trying to decide which hardware to get, and I still need one, as my previous NAS is simply an older laptop that already has a battery for power outages. However, there are plenty of options to choose from. My main criterion is that the UPS should be silent, as the whole setup will be installed in an upper shelf unit in my daughter's room. ;-)

Monitoring: Keeping an eye on everything



Robust monitoring is vital to any infrastructure, especially one as distributed as mine. I've thought about a setup that ensures I'll always be aware of what's happening in my environment.

Prometheus and Grafana



Inside the k3s cluster, Prometheus will be deployed to handle metrics collection. It will be configured to scrape data from my Kubernetes workloads, nodes, and any services I monitor. Prometheus also integrates with Alertmanager to generate alerts based on predefined thresholds or conditions.

https://prometheus.io

For visualization, Grafana will be deployed alongside Prometheus. Grafana lets me build dynamic, customizable dashboards that provide a real-time view of everything from resource utilization to application performance. Whether it's keeping track of CPU load, memory usage, or the health of Kubernetes pods, Grafana has it covered. This will also make troubleshooting easier, as I can quickly pinpoint where issues are arising.

https://grafana.com

Gogios: My custom alerting system



Alerts generated by Prometheus are forwarded to Alertmanager, which I will configure to work with Gogios, a lightweight monitoring and alerting system I wrote myself. Gogios runs on one of my OpenBSD VMs. At regular intervals, Gogios scrapes the alerts generated in the k3s cluster and notifies me via Email.

KISS server monitoring with Gogios

Ironically, I implemented Gogios to avoid using more complex alerting systems like Prometheus, but here we go—it integrates well now.

What's after this all?



This setup may be just the beginning. Some ideas I'm thinking about for the future:

  • Adding more FreeBSD nodes (in different physical locations, maybe at my wider family's places? WireGuard would make it possible!) for better redundancy. (HA storage then might be trickier)
  • Deploying more Docker apps (data-intensive ones, like a picture gallery, my entire audiobook catalogue, or even a music server) to k3s.

For now, though, I'm focused on completing the migration from AWS ECS and getting all my Docker containers running smoothly in k3s.

What's your take on self-hosting? Are you planning to move away from managed cloud services? Stay tuned for the second part of this series, where I will likely write about the hardware and the OS setups.

Other *BSD-related posts:

2016-04-09 Jails and ZFS with Puppet on FreeBSD
2022-07-30 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2024-01-13 One reason why I love OpenBSD
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD
2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage (You are currently reading this)

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

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 'Staff Engineer' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-10-24-staff-engineer-book-notes.gmi 2024-10-24T20:57:44+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'Staff Engineer' by Will Larson. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

"Staff Engineer" book notes



Published at 2024-10-24T20:57:44+03:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "Staff Engineer" by Will Larson. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

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Table of Contents




The Four Archetypes of a Staff Engineer



Larson breaks down the role of a Staff Engineer into four main archetypes, which can help frame how you approach the role:

  • Tech Lead: Focuses on the technical direction of a team, ensuring high-quality execution, architecture, and aligning the team around shared goals.
  • Solver: Gets pulled into complex, high-impact problems that often involve many teams or systems, operating as a fixer or troubleshooter.
  • Architect: Works on the long-term technical vision for an organization, setting standards and designing systems that will scale and last over time.
  • Right Hand: Functions as a trusted technical advisor to leadership, providing input on strategy, long-term decisions, and navigating organizational politics.

Influence and Impact over Authority



As a Staff Engineer, influence is often more important than formal authority. You’ll rarely have direct control over teams or projects but will need to drive outcomes by influencing peers, other teams, and leadership. It’s about understanding how to persuade, align, and mentor others to achieve technical outcomes.

Breadth and Depth of Knowledge



Staff Engineers often need to maintain a breadth of knowledge across various areas while maintaining depth in a few. This can mean keeping a high-level understanding of several domains (e.g., infrastructure, security, product development) but being able to dive deep when needed in certain core areas.

Mentorship and Sponsorship



An important part of a Staff Engineer’s role is mentoring others, not just in technical matters but in career development as well. Sponsorship goes a step beyond mentorship, where you actively advocate for others, create opportunities for them, and push them toward growth.

Managing Up and Across



Success as a Staff Engineer often depends on managing up (influencing leadership and setting expectations) and managing across (working effectively with peers and other teams). This is often tied to communication skills, the ability to advocate for technical needs, and fostering alignment across departments or organizations.

Strategic Thinking



While Senior Engineers may focus on execution, Staff Engineers are expected to think strategically, making decisions that will affect the company or product months or years down the line. This means balancing short-term execution needs with long-term architectural decisions, which may require challenging short-term pressures.

Emotional Intelligence



The higher you go in engineering roles, the more soft skills, particularly emotional intelligence (EQ), come into play. Building relationships, resolving conflicts, and understanding the broader emotional dynamics of the team and organization become key parts of your role.



Staff Engineers are often placed in situations with high ambiguity—whether in defining the problem space, coming up with a solution, or aligning stakeholders. The ability to operate effectively in these unclear areas is critical to success.

Visible and Invisible Work



Much of the work done by Staff Engineers is invisible. Solving complex problems, creating alignment, or influencing decisions doesn’t always result in tangible code, but it can have a massive impact. Larson emphasizes that part of the role is being comfortable with this type of invisible contribution.

Scaling Yourself



At the Staff Engineer level, you must scale your impact beyond direct contribution. This can involve improving documentation, developing repeatable processes, mentoring others, or automating parts of the workflow. The idea is to enable teams and individuals to be more effective, even when you’re not directly involved.

Career Progression and Title Inflation



Larson touches on how different companies have varying definitions of "Staff Engineer," and titles don’t always correlate directly with responsibility or skill. He emphasizes the importance of focusing more on the work you're doing and the impact you're having, rather than the title itself.

These additional points reflect more of the strategic, interpersonal, and leadership aspects that go beyond the technical expertise expected at this level. The role of a Staff Engineer is often about balancing high-level strategy with technical execution, while influencing teams and projects in a sustainable, long-term way.

Not a faster Senior Engineer



  • A Staff engineer is more than just a faster Senior.
  • A staff engineer is not a senior engineer but a bit better.

It's important to know what work or which role most energizes you. A Staff engineer is not a more senior engineer. A Staff engineer also fits into another archetype.

As a staff engineer, you are always expected to go beyond your comfort zone and learn new things.

Your job sometimes will feel like an SEM and sometimes strangely similar to your senior roles.

A Staff engineer is, like a Manager, a leader. However, being a Manager is a specific job. Leaders can apply to any job, especially to Staff engineers.

The Balance



The more senior you become, the more responsibility you will have to cope with them in less time. Balance your speed of progress with your personal life, don't work late hours and don't skip these personal care events.

Do fewer things but do them better. Everything done will accelerate the organization. Everything else will drag it down—quality over quantity.

Don't work at ten things and progress slowly; focus on one thing and finish it.

Only spend some of the time firefighting. Have time for deep thinking. Only deep think some of the time. Otherwise, you lose touch with reality.

Sebactical: Take at least six months. Otherwise, it won't be as restored.

More things



  • Provide simple but widely used tools. Complex and powerful tools will have power users but only a very few. All others will not use the tool.
  • In meetings, when someone is inactive, try to pull him in. Pull in max one person at a time. Don't open the discussion to multiple people.
  • Get used to writing things down and repeating yourself. You will scale yourself much more.
  • Title inflation: skills correspond to work, but the titles don't.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes (You are currently reading this)

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 Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴ gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-10-02-gemtexter-3.0.0-lets-gemtext-again-4.gmi 2024-10-01T21:46:26+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version `3.0.0`. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown, written in GNU Bash.

Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴



Published at 2024-10-01T21:46:26+03:00

I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version 3.0.0. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown, written in GNU Bash.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gemtexter

-=[ typewriters ]=-  1/98
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      _|~~ ~~  |_       .-------.  =(_|_______|_)
    =(_|_______|_)=    _|~~ ~~  |_   |:::::::::|    .-------.
      |:::::::::|    =(_|_______|_)  |:::::::[]|   _|~~ ~~  |_
      |:::::::[]|      |:::::::::|   |o=======.| =(_|_______|_)
      |o=======.|      |:::::::[]|   `"""""""""`   |:::::::::|
 jgs  `"""""""""`      |o=======.|                 |:::::::[]|
  mod. by Paul Buetow  `"""""""""`                 |o=======.|
                                                   `"""""""""`

Table of Contents




Why Bash?



This project is too complex for a Bash script. Writing it in Bash was to try out how maintainable a "larger" Bash script could be. It's still pretty maintainable and helps me try new Bash tricks here and then!

Let's list what's new!

HTML exact variant is the only variant



The last version of Gemtexter introduced the HTML exact variant, which wasn't enabled by default. This version of Gemtexter removes the previous (inexact) variant and makes the exact variant the default. This is a breaking change, which is why there is a major version bump of Gemtexter. Here is a reminder of what the exact variant was:

Gemtexter is there to convert your Gemini Capsule into other formats, such as HTML and Markdown. An HTML exact variant can now be enabled in the gemtexter.conf by adding the line declare -rx HTML_VARIANT=exact. The HTML/CSS output changed to reflect a more exact Gemtext appearance and to respect the same spacing as you would see in the Geminispace.

Table of Contents auto-generation



Just add...

 << template::inline::toc

...into a Gemtexter template file and Gemtexter will automatically generate a table of contents for the page based on the headings (see this page's ToC for example). The ToC will also have links to the relevant sections in HTML and Markdown output. The Gemtext format does not support links, so the ToC will simply be displayed as a bullet list.

Configurable themes



It was always possible to customize the style of a Gemtexter's resulting HTML page, but all the config options were scattered across multiple files. Now, the CSS style, web fonts, etc., are all configurable via themes.

Simply configure HTML_THEME_DIR in the gemtexter.conf file to the corresponding directory. For example:

declare -xr HTML_THEME_DIR=./extras/html/themes/simple

To customize the theme or create your own, simply copy the theme directory and modify it as needed. This makes it also much easier to switch between layouts.

No use of webfonts by default



The default theme is now "back to the basics" and does not utilize any web fonts. The previous themes are still part of the release and can be easily configured. These are currently the future and business themes. You can check them out from the themes directory.

More



Additionally, there were a couple of bug fixes, refactorings and overall improvements in the documentation made.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-24 Welcome to the Geminispace
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2022-08-27 Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again
2023-03-25 Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again²
2023-07-21 Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³
2024-10-02 Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴ (You are currently reading this)

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 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-09-07-site-reliability-engineering-part-4.gmi 2024-09-07T16:27:58+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Welcome to Part 4 of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I'm currently working as a Site Reliability Engineer, and I’m here to share what SRE is all about in this blog series.

Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers



Published at 2024-09-07T16:27:58+03:00

Welcome to Part 4 of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I'm currently working as a Site Reliability Engineer, and I’m here to share what SRE is all about in this blog series.

2023-08-18 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture
2023-11-19 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance
2024-01-09 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture
2024-09-07 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers (You are currently reading this)

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This time, I want to share some tips on how to onboard software engineers, QA engineers, and Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) to the primary on-call rotation. Traditionally, onboarding might take half a year (depending on the complexity of the infrastructure), but with a bit of strategy and structured sessions, we've managed to reduce it to just six weeks per person. Let's dive in!

Setting the Scene: Tier-1 On-Call Rotation



First things first, let's talk about Tier-1. This is where the magic begins. Tier-1 covers over 80% of the common on-call cases and is the perfect breeding ground for new on-call engineers to get their feet wet. It's designed to be manageable training ground.

Why Tier-1?



  • Easy to Understand: Every on-call engineer should be familiar with Tier-1 tasks.
  • Training Ground: This is where engineers start their on-call career. It's purposefully kept simple so that it's not overwhelming right off the bat.
  • Runbook/recipe driven: Every alert is attached to a comprehensive runbook, making it easy for every engineer to follow.

Onboarding Process: From 6 Months to 6 Weeks



So how did we cut down the onboarding time so drastically? Here’s the breakdown of our process:

Knowledge Transfer (KT) Sessions: We kicked things off with more than 10 KT sessions, complete with video recordings. These sessions are comprehensive and cover everything from the basics to some more advanced topics. The recorded sessions mean that new engineers can revisit them anytime they need a refresher.

Shadowing Sessions: Each new engineer undergoes two on-call week shadowing sessions. This hands-on experience is invaluable. They get to see real-time incident handling and resolution, gaining practical knowledge that's hard to get from just reading docs.

Comprehensive Runbooks: We created 64 runbooks (by the time writing this probably more than 100) that are composable like Lego bricks. Each runbook covers a specific scenario and guides the engineer step-by-step to resolution. Pairing these with monitoring alerts linked directly to Confluence docs, and from there to the respective runbooks, ensures every alert can be navigated with ease (well, there are always exceptions to the rule...).

Self-Sufficiency & Confidence Building: With all these resources at their fingertips, our on-call engineers become self-sufficient for most of the common issues they'll face (new starters can now handle around 80% of the most common issue after 6 weeks they had joined the company). This boosts their confidence and ensures they can handle Tier-1 incidents independently.

Documentation and Feedback Loop: Continuous improvement is key. We regularly update our documentation based on feedback from the engineers. This makes our process even more robust and user-friendly.

It's All About the Tiers



Let’s briefly touch on the Tier levels:

  • Tier 1: Easy and foundational tasks. Perfect for getting new engineers started. This covers around 80% of all on-call cases we face. This is what we trained on.
  • Tier 2: Slightly more complex, requiring more background knowledge. We trained on some of the topics but not all.
  • Tier 3: Requires a good understanding of the platform/architecture. Likely needs KT sessions with domain experts.
  • Tier DE (Domain Expert): The heavy hitters. Domain experts are required for these tasks.

Growing into Higher Tiers



From Tier-1, engineers naturally grow into Tier-2 and beyond. The structured training and gradual increase in complexity help ensure a smooth transition as they gain experience and confidence. The key here is that engineers stay curous and engaged in the on-call, so that they always keep learning.

Keeping Runbooks Up to Date



It is important that runbooks are not a "project to be finished"; runbooks have to be maintained and updated over time. Sections may change, new runbooks need to be added, and old ones can be deleted. So the acceptance criteria of an on-call shift would not just be reacting to alerts and incidents, but also reviewing and updating the current runbooks.

Conclusion



By structuring the onboarding process with KT sessions, shadowing, comprehensive runbooks, and a feedback loop, we've been able to fast-track the process from six months to just six weeks. This not only prepares our engineers for the on-call rotation quicker but also ensures they're confident and capable when handling incidents.

If you're looking to optimize your on-call onboarding process, these strategies could be your ticket to a more efficient and effective transition. Happy on-calling!

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 Projects I financially support gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-09-07-projects-i-support.gmi 2024-09-07T16:04:19+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This is the list of projects and initiatives I support/sponsor.

Projects I financially support



Published at 2024-09-07T16:04:19+03:00

This is the list of projects and initiatives I support/sponsor. 

||====================================================================||
||//$\\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\//$\\||
||(100)==================| FEDERAL SPONSOR NOTE |================(100)||
||\\$//        ~         '------========--------'                \\$//||
||<< /        /$\              // ____ \\                         \ >>||
||>>|  12    //L\\            // ///..) \\         L38036133B   12 |<<||
||<<|        \\ //           || <||  >\  ||                        |>>||
||>>|         \$/            ||  $$ --/  ||        One Hundred     |<<||
||<<|      L38036133B        *\\  |\_/  //* series                 |>>||
||>>|  12                     *\\/___\_//*   1989                  |<<||
||<<\      Open Source   ______/Franklin\________     Supporting   />>||
||//$\                 ~| SPONSORING AND FUNDING |~               /$\\||
||(100)===================  AWESOME OPEN SOURCE =================(100)||
||\\$//\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\$//||
||====================================================================||

Table of Contents




Motivation



Sponsoring free and open-source projects, even for personal use, is important to ensure the sustainability, security, and continuous improvement of the software. It supports developers who often maintain these projects without compensation, helping them provide updates, new features, and security patches. By contributing, you recognize their efforts, foster a culture of innovation, and benefit from perks like early access or support, all while ensuring the long-term viability of the tools you rely on.

Albeit I am not putting a lot of money into my sponsoring efforts, it still helps the open-source maintainers because the more little sponsors there are, the higher the total sum.

OSnews



I am a silver Patreon member of OSnews. I have been following this site since my student years. It's always been a great source of independent and slightly alternative IT news.

https://osnews.com

Cup o' Go Podcast



I am a Patreon of the Cup o' Go Podcast. The podcast helps me stay updated with the Go community for around 15 minutes per week. I am not a full-time software developer, but my long-term ambition is to become better in Go every week by working on personal projects and tools for work.

https://cupogo.dev

Codeberg



Codeberg e.V. is a nonprofit organization that provides online resources for software development and collaboration. I am a user and a supporting member, paying an annual membership of €24. I didn't have to pay that membership fee, as Codeberg offers all the services I use for free.

https://codeberg.org
https://codeberg.org/snonux - My Codeberg page

GrapheneOS



GrapheneOS is an open-source project that improves Android's privacy and security with sandboxing, exploit mitigations, and a permission model. It does not include Google apps or services but offers a sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer and its own apps and services.

I've made a one-off €100 donation because I really like this, and I run GrapheneOS on my personal Phone as my main daily driver.

https://grapheneos.org/
Why GrapheneOS Rox

AnkiDroid



AnkiDroid is an app that lets you learn flashcards efficiently with spaced repetition. It is compatible with Anki software and supports various flashcard content, syncing, statistics, and more.

I've been learning vocabulary with this free app, and it is, in my opinion, the best flashcard app I know. I've made a 20$ one-off donation to this project.

https://opencollective.com/ankidroid

OpenBSD through OpenBSD.Amsterdam



The OpenBSD project produces a FREE, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. Our efforts emphasize portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security and integrated cryptography. As an example of the effect OpenBSD has, the popular OpenSSH software comes from OpenBSD. OpenBSD is freely available from their download sites.

I implicitly support the OpenBSD project through a VM I have rented at OpenBSD Amsterdam. They donate €10 per VM and €15 per VM for every renewal to the OpenBSD Foundation, with dedicated servers running vmm(4)/vmd(8) to host opinionated VMs.

https://www.OpenBSD.org
https://OpenBSD.Amsterdam

ProtonMail



I am not directly funding this project, but I am a very happy paying customer, and I am listing it here as an alternative to big tech if you don't want to run your own mail infrastructure. I am listing ProtonMail here as it is a non-profit organization, and I want to emphasize the importance of considering alternatives to big tech.

https://proton.me/

Libro.fm



This is the alternative to Audible if you are into audiobooks (like I am). For every book or every month of membership, I am also supporting a local bookstore I selected. Their catalog is not as large as Audible's, but it's still pretty decent.

Libro.fm began as a conversation among friends at Third Place Books, a local bookstore in Seattle, Washington, about the growing popularity of audiobooks and the lack of a way for readers to purchase them from independent bookstores. Flash forward, and Libro.fm was founded in 2014.

https://libro.fm

E-mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Typing `127.1` words per minute (`>100wpm average`) gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-08-05-typing-127.1-words-per-minute.gmi 2024-08-05T17:39:30+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org After work one day, I noticed some discomfort in my right wrist. Upon research, it appeared to be a mild case of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Initially, I thought that this would go away after a while, but after a week it became even worse. This led me to consider potential causes such as poor posture or keyboard use habits. As an enthusiast of keyboards, I experimented with ergonomic concave ortholinear split keyboards. Wait, what?...

Typing 127.1 words per minute (>100wpm average)



Published at 2024-08-05T17:39:30+03:00

,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,---,-------,
|1/2| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | + | ' | <-    |
|---'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-----|
| ->| | Q | W | E | R | T | Y | U | I | O | P | ] | ^ |     |
|-----',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--',--'|    |
| Caps | A | S | D | F | G | H | J | K | L | \ | [ | * |    |
|----,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'-,-'---'----|
|    | < | Z | X | C | V | B | N | M | , | . | - |          |
|----'-,-',--'--,'---'---'---'---'---'---'-,-'---',--,------|
| ctrl |  | alt |                          |altgr |  | ctrl |
'------'  '-----'--------------------------'------'  '------'
      Nieminen Mika

Table of Contents




Introduction



After work one day, I noticed some discomfort in my right wrist. Upon research, it appeared to be a mild case of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Initially, I thought that this would go away after a while, but after a week it became even worse. This led me to consider potential causes such as poor posture or keyboard use habits. As an enthusiast of keyboards, I experimented with ergonomic concave ortholinear split keyboards. Wait, what?...

  • Concave: Some fingers are longer than others. A concave keyboard makes it so that the keycaps meant to be pressed by the longer fingers are further down (e.g., left middle finger for e on a Qwerty layout), and keycaps meant to be pressed by shorter fingers are further up (e.g., right pinky finger for the letter p).
  • Ortholinear: The keys are arranged in a straight vertical line, unlike most conventional keyboards. The conventional keyboards still resemble the old typewriters, where the placement of the keys was optimized so that the typewriter would not jam. There is no such requirement anymore.
  • Split: The keyboard is split into two halves (left and right), allowing one to place either hand where it is most ergonomic.

After discovering ThePrimagen (I found him long ago, but I never bothered buying the same keyboard he is on) on YouTube and reading/watching a couple of reviews, I thought that as a computer professional, the equipment could be expensive anyway (laptop, adjustable desk, comfortable chair), so why not invest a bit more into the keyboard? I purchased myself the Kinesis Advantage360 Professional keyboard.

Kinesis review



For an in-depth review, have a look at this great article:

Review of the Kinesis Advantage360 Professional keyboard

Top build quality



Overall, the keyboard feels excellent quality and robust. It has got some weight to it. Because of that, it is not ideally suited for travel, though. But I have a different keyboard to solve this (see later in this post). Overall, I love how it is built and how it feels.

Kinesis Adv.360 Pro at home

Bluetooth connectivity



Despite encountering concerns about Bluetooth connectivity issues with the Kinesis keyboard during my research, I purchased one anyway as I intended to use it only via USB. However, I discovered that the firmware updates available afterwards had addressed these reported Bluetooth issues, and as a result, I did not experience any difficulties with the Bluetooth functionality. This positive outcome allowed me to enjoy using the keyboard also wirelessly.

Gateron Brown key switches



Many voices on the internet seem to dislike the Gateron Brown switches, the only official choice for non-clicky tactile switches in the Kinesis, so I was also a bit concerned. I almost went with Cherry MX Browns for my Kinesis (a custom build from a 3rd party provider that is partnershipping with Kinesis). Still, I decided on Gateron Browns to try different switches than the Cherry MX Browns I already have on my ZSA Moonlander keyboard (another ortho-linear split keyboard, but without a concave keycap layout).

At first, I was disappointed by the Gaterons, as they initially felt a bit meshy compared to the Cherries. Still, over the weeks I grew to prefer them because of their smoothness. Over time, the tactile bumps also became more noticeable (as my perception of them improved). Because of their less pronounced tactile feedback, the Gaterons are less tiring for long typing sessions and better suited for a relaxed typing experience.

So, the Cherry MX feel sharper but are more tiring in the long run, and the Gaterons are easier to write on and the tactile Feedback is slightly less pronounced.

Keycaps



If you ever purchase a Kinesis keyboard, go with the PCB keycaps. They upgrade the typing experience a lot. The only thing you will lose is that the backlighting won't shine through them. But that is a reasonable tradeoff. When do I need backlighting? I am supposed to look at the screen and not the keyboard while typing.

I went with the blank keycaps, by the way.

Kinesis Adv.360 Pro at home

Keymap editor



There is no official keymap editor. You have to edit a configuration file manually, build the firmware from scratch, and upload the firmware with the new keymap to both keyboard halves. The Professional version of his keyboard, by the way, runs on the ZMK open-source firmware.

Many users find the need for an easy-to-use keymap editor an issue. But this is the Pro model. You can also go with the non-Pro, which runs on non-open-source firmware and has no Bluetooth (it must be operated entirely on USB).

There is a 3rd party solution which is supposed to configure the keymap for the Professional model as bliss, but I have never used it. As a part-time programmer and full-time Site Reliability Engineer, I am okay configuring the keymap in my text editor and building it in a local docker container. This is one of the standard ways of doing it here. You could also use a GitHub pipeline for the firmware build, but I prefer building it locally on my machine. This all seems natural to me, but this may be an issue for "the average Joe" user.

First steps



I didn't measure the usual words per minute (wpm) on my previous keyboard, the ZSA Moonlander, but I guess that it was around 40-50wpm. Once the Kinesis arrived, I started practising. The experience was quite different due to the concave keycaps, so I barely managed 10wpm on the first day.

I quickly noticed that I could not continue using the freestyle 6-finger typing system I was used to on my Moonlander or any previous keyboards I worked with. I learned ten-finger touch typing from scratch to be more efficient with the Kinesis keyboard. The keyboard forces you to embrace touch typing.

Sometimes, there were brain farts, and I couldn't type at all. The trick was not to freak out about it, but to move on. If your average goes down a bit for a day, it doesn't matter; the long-term trend over several days and weeks matters, not the one-off wpm high score.

Although my wrist pain seemed to go away aftre the first week of using the Kinesis, my fingers became tired of adjusting to the new way of typing. My hands were stiff, as if I had been training for the Olympics. Only after three weeks did I start to feel comfortable with it. If it weren't for the comments I read online, I would have sent it back after week 2.

I also had a problem with the left pinky finger, where I could not comfortably reach the p key. This involved moving the whole hand. An easy fix was to swap p with ; on the keyboard layout.

Considering alternate layouts



As I was going to learn 10-finger touch typing from scratch, I also played with the thought of switching from the Qwerty to the Dvorak or Colemak keymap, but after reading some comments on the internet, I decided against it:

  • These layouts (Dvorak and Colemak) will minimize the finger travel for the most commonly used English words, but they necessarily don't give you a better wpm score.
  • One comment on Redit also mentioned that getting stiffer fingers with these layouts is more likely than with Qwerty, as in Qwerty, he had to stretch out his fingers more often, which helps here.
  • There are also many applications and websites with keyboard shortcuts and are Qwerty-optimized.
  • You won't be able to use someone else's computer as there will be likely Qwerty. Some report that after using an alternative layout for a while, they forget how to use Qwerty.

Training how to type



Tools



One of the most influential tools in my touch typing journey has been keybr.com. This site/app helped me learn 10-finger touch typing, and I practice daily for 30 minutes (in the first two weeks, up to an hour every day). The key is persistence and focus on technique rather than speed; the latter naturally improves with regular practice. Precision matters, too, so I always correct my errors using the backspace key.

https://keybr.com

I also used a command-line tool called tt, which is written in Go. It has a feature that I found very helpful: the ability to practice typing by piping custom text into it. Additionally, I appreciated its customization options, such as choosing a colour theme and specifying how statistics are displayed.

https://github.com/lemnos/tt

I wrote myself a small Ruby script that would randomly select a paragraph from one of my eBooks or book notes and pipe it to tt. This helped me remember some of the books I read and also practice touch typing.

My keybr.com statistics



Overall, I trained for around 4 months in more than 5,000 sessions. My top speed in a session was 127.1wpm (up from barely 10wpm at the beginning).

All time stats

My overall average speed over those 5,000 sessions was 80wpm. The average speed over the last week was over 100wpm. The green line represents the wpm average (increasing trend), the purple line represents the number of keys in the practices (not much movement there, as all keys are unlocked), and the red line represents the average typing accuracy.

Typing speed over leson

Around the middle, you see a break-in of the wpm average value. This was where I swapped the p and ; keys, but after some retraining, I came back to the previous level and beyond.

Tips and tricks



These are some tips and tricks I learned along the way to improve my typing speed:

Relax



It's easy to get cramped when trying to hit this new wpm mark, but this is just holding you back. Relax and type at a natural pace. Now I also understand why my Katate Sensei back in London kept screaming "RELAAAX" at me during practice.... It didn't help much back then, though, as it is difficult to relax while someone screams at you!

Focus on accuracy first



This goes with the previous point. Instead of trying to speed through sessions as quickly as possible, slow down and try to type the words correctly—so don't rush it. If you aren't fast yet, the reason is that your brain hasn't trained enough. It will come over time, and you will be faster.

Chording



A trick to getting faster is to type by word and pause between each word so you learn the words by chords. From 80wpm and beyond, this makes a real difference.

Punctuation and Capitalization



I included 10% punctuation and 20% capital letters in my keybr.com practice sessions to simulate real typing conditions, which improved my overall working efficiency. I guess I would have gone to 120wpm in average if I didn't include this options...

Reverse shifting



Reverse shifting aka left-right shifting is to...

  • ...use the left shift key for letters on the right keyboard side.
  • ...use the right shift key for letters on the left keyboard side.

This makes using the shift key a blaze.

Enter the flow state



Listening to music helps me enter a flow state during practice sessions, which makes typing training a bit addictive (which is good, or isn't it?).

Repeat every word



There's a setting on keybr.com that makes it so that every word is always repeated, having you type every word twice in a row. I liked this feature very much, and I think it also helped to improve my practice.

Don't use the same finger for two consecutive keystrokes



Apparently, if you want to type fast, avoid using the same finger for two consecutive keystrokes. This means you don't always need to use the same finger for the same keys.
However, there are no hard and fast rules. Thus, everyone develops their system for typing word combinations. An exception would be if you are typing the very same letter in a row (e.g., t in letter)—here, you are using the same finger for both ts.

Warm-up



You can't reach your average typing speed first ting the morning. It would help if you warmed up before the exercise or practice later during the day. Also, some days are good, others not so, e.g., after a bad night's sleep. What matters is the mid- and long-term trend, not the fluctuations here, though.

Travel keyboard



As mentioned, the Kinesis is a great keyboard, but it is not meant for travel.

I guess keyboards will always be my expensive hobby, so I also purchased another ergonomic, ortho-linear, concave split keyboard, the Glove80 (with the Red Pro low-profile switches). This keyboard is much lighter and, in my opinion, much better suited for travel than the Kinesis. It also comes with a great travel case.

Here is a photo of me using it with my Surface Go 2 (it runs Linux, by the way) while waiting for the baggage drop at the airport:

Traveling with the Glove80 using my Surface Go 2

For everyday work, I prefer the tactile Browns on the Kinesis over the Red Pro I have on the Glove80 (normal profile vs. low profile). The Kinesis feels much more premium, whereas the Glove80 is much lighter and easier to store away in a rucksack (the official travel case is a bit bulky, so I wrapped it simply in bubble plastic).

The F-key row is odd at the Glove80. I would have preferred more keys on the sides like the Kinesis, and I use them for [] {} (), which is pretty handy there. However, I like the thumb cluster of the Glove80 more than the one on the Kinesis.

The good thing is that I can switch between both keyboards instantly without retraining my typing memories. I've configured (as much as possible) the same keymaps on both my Kinesis and Glove80, making it easy to switch between them at any occasion.

Interested in the Glove80? I suggest also reading this review:

Review of the Glove80 keyboard

Upcoming custom Kinesis build



As I mentioned, keyboards will remain an expensive hobby of mine. I don't regret anything here, though. After all, I use keyboards at my day job. I've ordered a Kinesis custom build with the Gateron Kangaroo switches, and I'm excited to see how that compares to my current setup. I'm still deciding whether to keep my Gateron Brown-equipped Kinesis as a secondary keyboard or possibly leave it at my in-laws for use when visiting or to sell it.

Conclusion



When I traveled with the Glove80 for work to the London office, a colleague stared at my keyboard and made jokes that it might be broken (split into two halves). But other than that...

Ten-finger touch typing has improved my efficiency and has become a rewarding discipline. Whether it's the keyboards I use, the tools I practice with, or the techniques I've adopted, each step has been a learning experience. I hope sharing my journey provides valuable insights and inspiration for anyone looking to improve their touch typing skills.

I also accidentally started using a 10-finger-like system (maybe still 6 fingers, but better than before) on my regular laptop keyboard. I could be more efficient on the laptop keyboard. The form is different there (not ortholinear, not concave keycaps, etc.), but my typing has improved there too (even if it is only by a little bit).

I don't want to return to a non-concave keyboard as my default. I will use other keyboards still once in a while but only for short periods or when I have to (e.g. travelling with my Laptop and when there is no space to put an external keyboard)

Learning to touch type has been an eye-opening experience for me, not just for work but also for personal projects. Now, writing documentation is so much fun; who could believe that? Furthermore, working with Slack (communicating with colleagues) is more fun now as well.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 'The Stoic Challenge' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-07-07-the-stoic-challenge-book-notes.gmi 2024-07-07T12:46:55+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient' by William B. Irvine.

"The Stoic Challenge" book notes



Published at 2024-07-07T12:46:55+03:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient" by William B. Irvine. 

         ,..........   ..........,
     ,..,'          '.'          ',..,
    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
   ,' ,'             :             ', ',
  ,' ,'              :              ', ',
 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Table of Contents




Got sets you up for a challenge



Gods set you up for a challenge to see how resilient you are. Is getting angry worth the price? If you stay calm then you can find the optimal workaround for the obstacle. Stay calm even with big setbacks. Practice minimalism of negative emotions.

Put a positive spin on everything. What should you do if someone wrong you? Don't get angry, there is no point in that, it just makes you suffer. Do the best what you got now and keep calm and carry on. A resilient person will refuse to play the role of a victim. You can develop the setback response skills. Turn a setback. e.g. a handycap, into a personal triumph.

It is not the things done to you or happen to you what matters but how you take the things and react to these things.

Don't row against the other boats but against your own lazy bill. It doesn't matter if you are first or last, as long as you defeat your lazy self.

Stoics are thankful that they are mortal. As then you can get reminded of how great it is to be alive at all. In dying we are more alive we have ever been as every thing you do could be the last time you do it. Rather than fighting your death you should embrace it if there are no workarounds. Embrace a good death.

Negative visualization



It is easy what we have to take for granted.

  • Imagine the negative and then think that things are actually much better than they seem to be.
  • Close your eyes and imagine you are color blind for a minute, then open the eyes again and see all the colours. You will be grateful for being able to see the colours.
  • Now close your eyes for a minute and imagine you would be blind, so that you will never be able to experience the world again and let it sink in. When you open your eyes again you will feel a lot of gratefulness.
  • Last time meditation. Lets you appreciate the life as it is now. Life gets vitalised again.

Oh, nice trick, you stoic "god"! ;-)



Take setbacks as a challenge. Also take it with some humor.

  • A setback in a setback, how Genius :-)
  • A setback in a setback in a setback: the stoic god's work overtime, eh? :-)

What would the stoic god's do next? This is just a test strategy by them. Don't be frustrated at all but be astonished of what comes next. Thank the stoic gods of testing you. This is comfort zone extension of the stoics aka toughness Training.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 Random Weird Things gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-07-05-random-weird-things.gmi 2024-07-05T10:59:59+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Every so often, I come across random, weird, and unexpected things on the internet. I thought it would be neat to share them here from time to time. As a start, here are ten of them.

Random Weird Things



Published at 2024-07-05T10:59:59+03:00

Every so often, I come across random, weird, and unexpected things on the internet. I thought it would be neat to share them here from time to time. As a start, here are ten of them.

		       /\_/\
WHOA!! 	     ( o.o )
		       > ^ <
		      /  -  \
		    /        \
		   /______\  \

Table of Contents




1. bad.horse traceroute



Run traceroute to get the poem (or song).

% traceroute bad.horse
traceroute to bad.horse (162.252.205.157), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  dsldevice.lan (192.168.1.1)  5.712 ms  5.800 ms  6.466 ms
 2  87-243-116-2.ip.btc-net.bg (87.243.116.2)  8.017 ms  7.506 ms  8.432 ms
 3  * * *
 4  * * *
 5  xe-1-2-0.mpr1.fra4.de.above.net (80.81.194.26)  39.952 ms  40.155 ms  40.139 ms
 6  ae12.cs1.fra6.de.eth.zayo.com (64.125.26.172)  128.014 ms * *
 7  * * *
 8  * * *
 9  ae10.cs1.lhr15.uk.eth.zayo.com (64.125.29.17)  120.625 ms  121.117 ms  121.050 ms
10  * * *
11  * * *
12  * * *
13  ae5.mpr1.tor3.ca.zip.zayo.com (64.125.23.118)  192.605 ms  205.741 ms  203.607 ms
14  64.124.217.237.IDIA-265104-ZYO.zip.zayo.com (64.124.217.237)  204.673 ms  134.674 ms  131.442 ms
15  * * *
16  67.223.96.90 (67.223.96.90)  128.245 ms  127.844 ms  127.843 ms
17  bad.horse (162.252.205.130)  128.194 ms  122.854 ms  121.786 ms
18  bad.horse (162.252.205.131)  128.831 ms  128.341 ms  186.559 ms
19  bad.horse (162.252.205.132)  185.716 ms  180.121 ms  180.042 ms
20  bad.horse (162.252.205.133)  203.170 ms  203.076 ms  203.168 ms
21  he.rides.across.the.nation (162.252.205.134)  203.115 ms  141.830 ms  141.799 ms
22  the.thoroughbred.of.sin (162.252.205.135)  147.965 ms  148.230 ms  170.478 ms
23  he.got.the.application (162.252.205.136)  165.161 ms  164.939 ms  159.085 ms
24  that.you.just.sent.in (162.252.205.137)  162.310 ms  158.569 ms  158.896 ms
25  it.needs.evaluation (162.252.205.138)  162.927 ms  163.046 ms  163.085 ms
26  so.let.the.games.begin (162.252.205.139)  233.363 ms  233.545 ms  233.317 ms
27  a.heinous.crime (162.252.205.140)  237.745 ms  233.614 ms  233.740 ms
28  a.show.of.force (162.252.205.141)  237.974 ms  176.085 ms  175.927 ms
29  a.murder.would.be.nice.of.course (162.252.205.142)  181.838 ms  181.858 ms  182.059 ms
30  bad.horse (162.252.205.143)  187.731 ms  187.416 ms  187.532 ms

2. ASCII cinema



Fancy watching Star Wars Episode IV in ASCII? Head to the ASCII cinema:

https://asciinema.org/a/569727

3. Netflix's Hello World application



Netflix has got the Hello World application run in production 😱

  • https://www.Netflix.com/helloworld

By the time this is posted, it seems that Netflix has taken it offline... I should have created a screenshot!

C programming



4. Indexing an array



In C, you can index an array like this: array[i] (not surprising). But this works as well and is valid C code: i[array], 🤯 It's because after the spec A[B] is equivalent to *(A + B) and the ordering doesn't matter for the + operator. All 3 loops are producing the same output. Would be funny to use i[array] in a merge request of some code base on April Fool's day!

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
  int array[5] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

  for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    printf("%d\n", array[i]);

  for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    printf("%d\n", i[array]);

  for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
    printf("%d\n", *(i + array));
}

5. Variables with prefix $



In C you can prefix variables with $! E.g. the following is valid C code 🫠:

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
  int $array[5] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };

  for (int $i = 0; $i < 5; $i++)
    printf("%d\n", $array[$i]);

  for (int $i = 0; $i < 5; $i++)
    printf("%d\n", $i[$array]);

  for (int $i = 0; $i < 5; $i++)
    printf("%d\n", *($i + $array));
}

6. Object oriented shell scripts using ksh



Experienced software developers are aware that scripting languages like Python, Perl, Ruby, and JavaScript support object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts such as classes and inheritance. However, many might be surprised to learn that the latest version of the Korn shell (Version 93t+) also supports OOP. In ksh93, OOP is implemented using user-defined types:

#!/usr/bin/ksh93
 
typeset -T Point_t=(
    integer -h 'x coordinate' x=0
    integer -h 'y coordinate' y=0
    typeset -h 'point color'  color="red"

    function getcolor {
        print -r ${_.color}
    }

    function setcolor {
        _.color=$1
    }

    setxy() {
        _.x=$1; _.y=$2
    }

    getxy() {
        print -r "(${_.x},${_.y})"
    }
)
 
Point_t point
 
echo "Initial coordinates are (${point.x},${point.y}). Color is ${point.color}"
 
point.setxy 5 6
point.setcolor blue
 
echo "New coordinates are ${point.getxy}. Color is ${point.getcolor}"
 
exit 0

Using types to create object oriented Korn shell 93 scripts

7. This works in Go



There is no pointer arithmetic in Go like in C, but it is still possible to do some brain teasers with pointers 😧:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
	var i int
	f := func() *int {
		return &i
	}
	*f()++
	fmt.Println(i)
}

Go playground

8. "I am a Teapot" HTTP response code



Defined in 1998 as one of the IETF's traditional April Fools' jokes (RFC 2324), the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol specifies an HTTP status code that is not intended for actual HTTP server implementation. According to the RFC, this code should be returned by teapots when asked to brew coffee. This status code also serves as an Easter egg on some websites, such as Google.com's "I'm a teapot" feature. Occasionally, it is used to respond to a blocked request, even though the more appropriate response would be the 403 Forbidden status code.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes#418

9. jq is a functional programming language



Many know of jq, the handy small tool and swiss army knife for JSON parsing.

https://github.com/jqlang/jq

What many don't know that jq is actually a full blown functional programming language jqlang, have a look at the language description:

https://github.com/jqlang/jq/wiki/jq-Language-Description

As a matter of fact, the language is so powerful, that there exists an implementation of jq in jq itself:

https://github.com/wader/jqjq

Here some snipped from jqjq, to get a feel of jqlang:

def _token:
	def _re($re; f):
	  ( . as {$remain, $string_stack}
	  | $remain
	  | match($re; "m").string
	  | f as $token
	  | { result: ($token | del(.string_stack))
	    , remain: $remain[length:]
	    , string_stack:
	        ( if $token.string_stack == null then $string_stack
	          else $token.string_stack
	          end
	        )
	    }
	  );
	if .remain == "" then empty
	else
	  ( . as {$string_stack}
	  | _re("^\\s+"; {whitespace: .})
	  // _re("^#[^\n]*"; {comment: .})
	  // _re("^\\.[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*"; {index: .[1:]})
	  // _re("^[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*"; {ident: .})
	  // _re("^@[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*"; {at_ident: .})
	  // _re("^\\$[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*"; {binding: .})
	  # 1.23, .123, 123e2, 1.23e2, 123E2, 1.23e+2, 1.23E-2 or 123
	  // _re("^(?:[0-9]*\\.[0-9]+|[0-9]+)(?:[eE][-\\+]?[0-9]+)?"; {number: .})
	  // _re("^\"(?:[^\"\\\\]|\\\\.)*?\\\\\\(";
	      ( .[1:-2]
	      | _unescape
	      | {string_start: ., string_stack: ($string_stack+["\\("])}
	      )
	    )
	 .
	 .
	 .

10. Regular expression to verify email addresses



This is a pretty old meme, but still worth posting here (as some may be unaware). The RFC822 Perl regex to validate email addresses is 😱:

(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]
)+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:
\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(
?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ 
\t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\0
31]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\
>(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+
(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:
(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z
|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)
?[ \t])*)*\<(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\
r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[
 \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)
?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]
)*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[
 \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*
)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]
)+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*)
*:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+
|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r
\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:
\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t
>))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031
>+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](
?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?
:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?
:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*\>(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?
:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?
[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)*:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] 
\000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|
\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>
@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"
(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]
)*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\
".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?
:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[
\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-
\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(
?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)*\<(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;
:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([
^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\"
.\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\
>\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\
[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\
r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] 
\000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]
|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*)*:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \0
00-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\
.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,
;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?
:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*
(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".
\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[
^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]
>))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*\>(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:,\s*(
?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\
".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(
?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[
\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t
>)*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t
>)+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?
:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|
\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*|(?:
[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\
>]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)*\<(?:(?:\r\n)
?[ \t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["
()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)
?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>
@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\r\n)?[
 \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,
;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]
)*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\
".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*)*:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)?
(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".
\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\.(?:(?:
\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z|(?=[\[
"()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|"(?:[^\"\r\\]|\\.|(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t]))*"(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])
*))*@(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])
+|\Z|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*)(?:\
.(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\".\[\] \000-\031]+(?:(?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])+|\Z
|(?=[\["()<>@,;:\\".\[\]]))|\[([^\[\]\r\\]|\\.)*\](?:(?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*\>(?:(
?:\r\n)?[ \t])*))*)?;\s*)

https://pdw.ex-parrot.com/Mail-RFC822-Address.html

I hope you had some fun. E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

other related posts are:

Back to the main site
 Terminal multiplexing with `tmux` gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-06-23-terminal-multiplexing-with-tmux.gmi 2024-06-23T22:41:59+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Tmux (Terminal Multiplexer) is a powerful, terminal-based tool that manages multiple terminal sessions within a single window. Here are some of its primary features and functionalities:

Terminal multiplexing with tmux



Published at 2024-06-23T22:41:59+03:00

Tmux (Terminal Multiplexer) is a powerful, terminal-based tool that manages multiple terminal sessions within a single window. Here are some of its primary features and functionalities:

  • Session management
  • Window and Pane management
  • Persistent Workspace
  • Customization

https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki

         _______
        |.-----.|
        || Tmux||
        ||_.-._||
        `--)-(--`
       __[=== o]___
      |:::::::::::|\
jgs   `-=========-`()
    mod. by Paul B.

Table of Contents




Before continuing...



Before continuing to read this post, I encourage you to get familiar with Tmux first (unless you already know the basics). You can go through the official getting started guide:

https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki/Getting-Started

I can also recommend this book (this is the book I got started with with Tmux):

https://pragprog.com/titles/bhtmux2/tmux-2/

Over the years, I have built a couple of shell helper functions to optimize my workflows. Tmux is extensively integrated into my daily workflows (personal and work). I had colleagues asking me about my Tmux config and helper scripts for Tmux several times. It would be neat to blog about it so that everyone interested in it can make a copy of my configuration and scripts.

The configuration and scripts in this blog post are only the non-work-specific parts. There are more helper scripts, which I only use for work (and aren't really useful outside of work due to the way servers and clusters are structured there).

Tmux is highly configurable, and I think I am only scratching the surface of what is possible with it. Nevertheless, it may still be useful for you. I also love that Tmux is part of the OpenBSD base system!

Shell aliases



I am a user of the Z-Shell (zsh), but I believe all the snippets mentioned in this blog post also work with Bash.

https://www.zsh.org

For the most common Tmux commands I use, I have created the following shell aliases:

alias tm=tmux
alias tl='tmux list-sessions'
alias tn=tmux::new
alias ta=tmux::attach
alias tx=tmux::remote
alias ts=tmux::search
alias tssh=tmux::cluster_ssh

Note all tmux::...; those are custom shell functions doing certain things, and they aren't part of the Tmux distribution. But let's run through every aliases one by one.

The first two are pretty straightforward. tm is simply a shorthand for tmux, so I have to type less, and tl lists all Tmux sessions that are currently open. No magic here.

The tn alias - Creating a new session



The tn alias is referencing this function:

# Create new session and if alread exists attach to it
tmux::new () {
    readonly session=$1
    local date=date
    if where gdate &>/dev/null; then
        date=gdate
    fi

    tmux::cleanup_default
    if [ -z "$session" ]; then
        tmux::new T$($date +%s)
    else
        tmux new-session -d -s $session
        tmux -2 attach-session -t $session || tmux -2 switch-client -t $session
    fi
}
alias tn=tmux::new

There is a lot going on here. Let's have a detailed look at what it is doing. As a note, the function relies on GNU Date, so MacOS is looking for the gdate commands to be available. Otherwise, it will fall back to date. You need to install GNU Date for Mac, as it isn't installed by default there. As I use Fedora Linux on my personal Laptop and a MacBook for work, I have to make it work for both.

First, a Tmux session name can be passed to the function as a first argument. That session name is only optional. Without it, Tmux will select a session named T$($date +%s) as a default. Which is T followed by the UNIX epoch, e.g. T1717133796.

Cleaning up default sessions automatically



Note also the call to tmux::cleanup_default; it would clean up all already opened default sessions if they aren't attached. Those sessions were only temporary, and I had too many flying around after a while. So, I decided to auto-delete the sessions if they weren't attached. If I want to keep sessions around, I will rename them with the Tmux command prefix-key $. This is the cleanup function:

tmux::cleanup_default () {
    local s
    tmux list-sessions | grep '^T.*: ' | grep -F -v attached |
    cut -d: -f1 | while read -r s; do
        echo "Killing $s"
        tmux kill-session -t "$s"
    done
}

The cleanup function kills all open Tmux sessions that haven't been renamed properly yet—but only if they aren't attached (e.g., don't run in the foreground in any terminal). Cleaning them up automatically keeps my Tmux sessions as neat and tidy as possible.

Renaming sessions



Whenever I am in a temporary session (named T....), I may decide that I want to keep this session around. I have to rename the session to prevent the cleanup function from doing its thing. That's, as mentioned already, easily accomplished with the standard prefix-key $ Tmux command.

The ta alias - Attaching to a session



This alias refers to the following function, which tries to attach to an already-running Tmux session.

tmux::attach () {
    readonly session=$1

    if [ -z "$session" ]; then
        tmux attach-session || tmux::new
    else
        tmux attach-session -t $session || tmux::new $session
    fi
}
alias ta=tmux::attach

If no session is specified (as the argument of the function), it will try to attach to the first open session. If no Tmux server is running, it will create a new one with tmux::new. Otherwise, with a session name given as the argument, it will attach to it. If unsuccessful (e.g., the session doesn't exist), it will be created and attached to.

The tr alias - For a nested remote session



This SSHs into the remote server specified and then, remotely on the server itself, starts a nested Tmux session. So we have one Tmux session on the local computer and, inside of it, an SSH connection to a remote server with a Tmux session running again. The benefit of this is that, in case my network connection breaks down, the next time I connect, I can continue my work on the remote server exactly where I left off. The session name is the name of the server being SSHed into. If a session like this already exists, it simply attaches to it.

tmux::remote () {
    readonly server=$1
    tmux new -s $server "ssh -t $server 'tmux attach-session || tmux'" || \
        tmux attach-session -d -t $server
}
alias tr=tmux::remote

Change of the Tmux prefix for better nesting



To make nested Tmux sessions work smoothly, one must change the Tmux prefix key locally or remotely. By default, the Tmux prefix key is Ctrl-b, so Ctrl-b $, for example, renames the current session. To change the prefix key from the standard Ctrl-b to, for example, Ctrl-g, you must add this to the tmux.conf:

set-option -g prefix C-g

This way, when I want to rename the remote Tmux session, I have to use Ctrl-g $, and when I want to rename the local Tmux session, I still have to use Ctrl-b $. In my case, I have this deployed to all remote servers through a configuration management system (out of scope for this blog post).

There might also be another way around this (without reconfiguring the prefix key), but that is cumbersome to use, as far as I remember.

The ts alias - Searching sessions with fuzzy finder



Despite the fact that with tmux::cleanup_default, I don't leave a huge mess with trillions of Tmux sessions flying around all the time, at times, it can become challenging to find exactly the session I am currently interested in. After a busy workday, I often end up with around twenty sessions on my laptop. This is where fuzzy searching for session names comes in handy, as I often don't remember the exact session names.

tmux::search () {
    local -r session=$(tmux list-sessions | fzf | cut -d: -f1)
    if [ -z "$TMUX" ]; then
        tmux attach-session -t $session
    else
        tmux switch -t $session
    fi
}
alias ts=tmux::search

All it does is list all currently open sessions in fzf, where one of them can be searched and selected through fuzzy find, and then either switch (if already inside a session) to the other session or attach to the other session (if not yet in Tmux).

You must install the fzf command on your computer for this to work. This is how it looks like:

Tmux session fuzzy finder

The tssh alias - Cluster SSH replacement



Before I used Tmux, I was a heavy user of ClusterSSH, which allowed me to log in to multiple servers at once in a single terminal window and type and run commands on all of them in parallel.

https://github.com/duncs/clusterssh

However, since I started using Tmux, I retired ClusterSSH, as it came with the benefit that Tmux only needs to be run in the terminal, whereas ClusterSSH spawned terminal windows, which aren't easily portable (e.g., from a Linux desktop to macOS). The tmux::cluster_ssh function can have N arguments, where:

  • ...the first argument will be the session name (see tmux::tssh_from_argument helper function), and all remaining arguments will be server hostnames/FQDNs to connect to simultaneously.
  • ...or, the first argument is a file name, and the file contains a list of hostnames/FQDNs (see tmux::ssh_from_file helper function)

This is the function definition behind the tssh alias:

tmux::cluster_ssh () {
    if [ -f "$1" ]; then
        tmux::tssh_from_file $1
        return
    fi

    tmux::tssh_from_argument $@
}
alias tssh=tmux::cluster_ssh

This function is just a wrapper around the more complex tmux::tssh_from_file and tmux::tssh_from_argument functions, as you have learned already. Most of the magic happens there.

The tmux::tssh_from_argument helper



This is the most magic helper function we will cover in this post. It looks like this:

tmux::tssh_from_argument () {
    local -r session=$1; shift
    local first_server=$1; shift

    tmux new-session -d -s $session "ssh -t $first_server"
    if ! tmux list-session | grep "^$session:"; then
        echo "Could not create session $session"
        return 2
    fi

    for server in "${@[@]}"; do
        tmux split-window -t $session "tmux select-layout tiled; ssh -t $server"
    done

    tmux setw -t $session synchronize-panes on
    tmux -2 attach-session -t $session | tmux -2 switch-client -t $session
}

It expects at least two arguments. The first argument is the session name to create for the clustered SSH session. All other arguments are server hostnames or FQDNs to which to connect. The first one is used to make the initial session. All remaining ones are added to that session with tmux split-window -t $session.... At the end, we enable synchronized panes by default, so whenever you type, the commands will be sent to every SSH connection, thus allowing the neat ClusterSSH feature to run commands on multiple servers simultaneously. Once done, we attach (or switch, if already in Tmux) to it.

Sometimes, I don't want the synchronized panes behavior and want to switch it off temporarily. I can do that with prefix-key p and prefix-key P after adding the following to my local tmux.conf:

bind-key p setw synchronize-panes off
bind-key P setw synchronize-panes on

The tmux::tssh_from_file helper



This one sets the session name to the file name and then reads a list of servers from that file, passing the list of servers to tmux::tssh_from_argument as the arguments. So, this is a neat little wrapper that also enables me to open clustered SSH sessions from an input file.

tmux::tssh_from_file () {
    local -r serverlist=$1; shift
    local -r session=$(basename $serverlist | cut -d. -f1)

    tmux::tssh_from_argument $session $(awk '{ print $1} ' $serverlist | sed 's/.lan./.lan/g')
}

tssh examples



To open a new session named fish and log in to 4 remote hosts, run this command (Note that it is also possible to specify the remote user):

$ tssh fish blowfish.buetow.org fishfinger.buetow.org \
    fishbone.buetow.org user@octopus.buetow.org

To open a new session named manyservers, put many servers (one FQDN per line) into a file called manyservers.txt and simply run:

$ tssh manyservers.txt

Common Tmux commands I use in tssh



These are default Tmux commands that I make heavy use of in a tssh session:

  • Press prefix-key DIRECTION to switch panes. DIRECTION is by default any of the arrow keys, but I also configured Vi keybindings.
  • Press prefix-key <space> to change the pane layout (can be pressed multiple times to cycle through them).
  • Press prefix-key z to zoom in and out of the current active pane.

Copy and paste workflow



As you will see later in this blog post, I have configured a history limit of 1 million items in Tmux so that I can scroll back quite far. One main workflow of mine is to search for text in the Tmux history, select and copy it, and then switch to another window or session and paste it there (e.g., into my text editor to do something with it).

This works by pressing prefix-key [ to enter Tmux copy mode. From there, I can browse the Tmux history of the current window using either the arrow keys or vi-like navigation (see vi configuration later in this blog post) and the Pg-Dn and Pg-Up keys.

I often search the history backwards with prefix-key [ followed by a ?, which opens the Tmux history search prompt.

Once I have identified the terminal text to be copied, I enter visual select mode with v, highlight all the text to be copied (using arrow keys or Vi motions), and press y to yank it (sorry if this all sounds a bit complicated, but Vim/NeoVim users will know this, as it is pretty much how you do it there as well).

For v and y to work, the following has to be added to the Tmux configuration file: 

bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection-and-cancel

Once the text is yanked, I switch to another Tmux window or session where, for example, a text editor is running and paste the yanked text from Tmux into the editor with prefix-key ]. Note that when pasting into a modal text editor like Vi or Helix, you would first need to enter insert mode before prefix-key ] would paste anything.

Tmux configurations



Some features I have configured directly in Tmux don't require an external shell alias to function correctly. Let's walk line by line through my local ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf:

source ~/.config/tmux/tmux.local.conf

set-option -g allow-rename off
set-option -g history-limit 100000
set-option -g status-bg '#444444'
set-option -g status-fg '#ffa500'
set-option -s escape-time 0

There's yet to be much magic happening here. I source a tmux.local.conf, which I sometimes use to override the default configuration that comes from the configuration management system. But it is mostly just an empty file, so it doesn't throw any errors on Tmux startup when I don't use it.

I work with many terminal outputs, which I also like to search within Tmux. So, I added a large enough history-limit, enabling me to search backwards in Tmux for any output up to a million lines of text.

Besides changing some colours (personal taste), I also set escape-time to 0, which is just a workaround. Otherwise, my Helix text editor's ESC key would take ages to trigger within Tmux. I am trying to remember the gory details. You can leave it out; if everything works fine for you, leave it out.

The next lines in the configuration file are:

set-window-option -g mode-keys vi
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'v' send -X begin-selection
bind-key -T copy-mode-vi 'y' send -X copy-selection-and-cancel

I navigate within Tmux using Vi keybindings, so the mode-keys is set to vi. I use the Helix modal text editor, which is close enough to Vi bindings for simple navigation to feel "native" to me. (By the way, I have been a long-time Vim and NeoVim user, but I eventually switched to Helix. It's off-topic here, but it may be worth another blog post once.)

The two bind-key commands make it so that I can use v and y in copy mode, which feels more Vi-like (as already discussed earlier in this post).

The next set of lines in the configuration file are:

bind-key h select-pane -L
bind-key j select-pane -D
bind-key k select-pane -U
bind-key l select-pane -R

bind-key H resize-pane -L 5
bind-key J resize-pane -D 5
bind-key K resize-pane -U 5
bind-key L resize-pane -R 5

These allow me to use prefix-key h, prefix-key j, prefix-key k, and prefix-key l for switching panes and prefix-key H, prefix-key J, prefix-key K, and prefix-key L for resizing the panes. If you don't know Vi/Vim/NeoVim, the letters hjkl are commonly used there for left, down, up, and right, which is also the same for Helix, by the way.

The next set of lines in the configuration file are:

bind-key c new-window -c '#{pane_current_path}'
bind-key F new-window -n "session-switcher" "tmux list-sessions | fzf | cut -d: -f1 | xargs tmux switch-client -t"
bind-key T choose-tree

The first one is that any new window starts in the current directory. The second one is more interesting. I list all open sessions in the fuzzy finder. I rely heavily on this during my daily workflow to switch between various sessions depending on the task. E.g. from a remote cluster SSH session to a local code editor.

The third one, choose-tree, opens a tree view in Tmux listing all sessions and windows. This one is handy to get a better overview of what is currently running in any local Tmux session. It looks like this (it also allows me to press a hotkey to switch to a particular Tmux window):

Tmux sessiont tree view


The last remaining lines in my configuration file are:

bind-key p setw synchronize-panes off
bind-key P setw synchronize-panes on
bind-key r source-file ~/.config/tmux/tmux.conf \; display-message "tmux.conf reloaded"

We discussed synchronized panes earlier. I use it all the time in clustered SSH sessions. When enabled, all panes (remote SSH sessions) receive the same keystrokes. This is very useful when you want to run the same commands on many servers at once, such as navigating to a common directory, restarting a couple of services at once, or running tools like htop to quickly monitor system resources.

The last one reloads my Tmux configuration on the fly.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Projects I currently don't have time for gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-05-03-projects-i-currently-dont-have-time-for.gmi 2024-05-03T16:23:03+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Over the years, I have collected many ideas for my personal projects and noted them down. I am currently in the process of cleaning up all my notes and reviewing those ideas. I don’t have time for the ones listed here and won’t have any soon due to other commitments and personal projects. So, in order to 'get rid of them' from my notes folder, I decided to simply put them in this blog post so that those ideas don't get lost. Maybe I will pick up one or another idea someday in the future, but for now, they are all put on ice in favor of other personal projects or family time.

Projects I currently don't have time for



Published at 2024-05-03T16:23:03+03:00

Over the years, I have collected many ideas for my personal projects and noted them down. I am currently in the process of cleaning up all my notes and reviewing those ideas. I don’t have time for the ones listed here and won’t have any soon due to other commitments and personal projects. So, in order to "get rid of them" from my notes folder, I decided to simply put them in this blog post so that those ideas don't get lost. Maybe I will pick up one or another idea someday in the future, but for now, they are all put on ice in favor of other personal projects or family time.

Art by Laura Brown

.'`~~~~~~~~~~~`'.
(  .'11 12 1'.  )
|  :10 \    2:  |
|  :9   @-> 3:  |
|  :8       4;  |
'. '..7 6 5..' .'
 ~-------------~  ldb

Table of Contents




Hardware projects I don't have time for



I use Arch, btw!



The idea was to build the ultimate Arch Linux setup on an old ThinkPad X200 booting with the open-source LibreBoot firmware, complete with a tiling window manager, dmenu, and all the elite tools. This is mainly for fun, as I am pretty happy (and productive) with my Fedora Linux setup. I ran EndeavourOS (close enough to Arch) on an old ThinkPad for a while, but then I switched back to Fedora because the rolling releases were annoying (there were too many updates).

OpenBSD home router



In my student days, I operated a 486DX PC with OpenBSD as my home DSL internet router. I bought the setup from my brother back then. The router's hostname was fishbone, and it performed very well until it became too slow for larger broadband bandwidth after a few years of use.

I had the idea to revive this concept, implement fishbone2, and place it in front of my proprietary ISP router to add an extra layer of security and control in my home LAN. It would serve as the default gateway for all of my devices, including a Wi-Fi access point, would run a DNS server, Pi-hole proxy, VPN client, and DynDNS client. I would also implement high availability using OpenBSD's CARP protocol.

https://openbsdrouterguide.net
https://pi-hole.net/
https://www.OpenBSD.org
https://www.OpenBSD.org/faq/pf/carp.html

However, I am putting this on hold as I have opted for an OpenWRT-based solution, which was much quicker to set up and runs well enough.

https://OpenWRT.org/

Pi-Hole server



Install Pi-hole on one of my Pis or run it in a container on Freekat. For now, I am putting this on hold as the primary use for this would be ad-blocking, and I am avoiding surfing ad-heavy sites anyway. So there's no significant use for me personally at the moment.

https://pi-hole.net/

Infodash



The idea was to implement my smart info screen using purely open-source software. It would display information such as the health status of my personal infrastructure, my current work tracker balance (I track how much I work to prevent overworking), and my sports balance (I track my workouts to stay within my quotas for general health). The information would be displayed on a small screen in my home office, on my Pine watch, or remotely from any terminal window.

I don't have this, and I haven't missed having it, so I guess it would have been nice to have it but not provide any value other than the "fun of tinkering."

Reading station



I wanted to create the most comfortable setup possible for reading digital notes, articles, and books. This would include a comfy armchair, a silent barebone PC or Raspberry Pi computer running either Linux or *BSD, and an e-Ink display mounted on a flexible arm/stand. There would also be a small table for my paper journal for occasional note-taking. There are a bunch of open-source software available for PDF and ePub reading. It would have been neat, but I am currently using the most straightforward solution: a Kobo Elipsa 2E, which I can use on my sofa.

Retro station



I had an idea to build a computer infused with retro elements. It wouldn't use actual retro hardware but would look and feel like a retro machine. I would call this machine HAL or Retron.

I would use an old ThinkPad laptop placed on a horizontal stand, running NetBSD, and attaching a keyboard from ModelFkeyboards. I use WindowMaker as a window manager and run terminal applications through Retro Term. For the monitor, I would use an older (black) EIZO model with large bezels.

https://www.NetBSD.org
https://www.modelfkeyboards.com
https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term)

The computer would occasionally be used to surf the Gemini space, take notes, blog, or do light coding. However, I have abandoned the project for now because there isn't enough space in my apartment, as my daughter will have a room for herself.

Sound server



My idea involved using a barebone mini PC running FreeBSD with the Navidrome sound server software. I could remotely connect to it from my phone, workstation/laptop to listen to my music collection. The storage would be based on ZFS with at least two drives for redundancy. The app would run in a Linux Docker container under FreeBSD via Bhyve.

https://github.com/navidrome/navidrome
https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve

Project Freekat



My idea involved purchasing the Meerkat mini PC from System76 and installing FreeBSD. Like the sound-server idea (see previous idea), it would run Linux Docker through Bhyve. I would self-host a bunch of applications on it:

  • Wallabag
  • Ankidroid
  • Miniflux & Postgres
  • Audiobookshelf
  • ...

All of this would be within my LAN, but the services would also be accessible from the internet through either Wireguard or SSH reverse tunnels to one of my OpenBSD VMs, for example:

  • wallabag.awesome.buetow.org
  • ankidroid.awesome.buetow.org
  • miniflux.awesome.buetow.org
  • audiobookshelf.awesome.buetow.org
  • ...

I am abandoning this project for now, as I am currently hosting my apps on AWS ECS Fargate under *.cool.buetow.org, which is "good enough" for the time being and also offers the benefit of learning to use AWS and Terraform, knowledge that can be applied at work.

My personal AWS setup

Programming projects I don't have time for



CLI-HIVE



This was a pet project idea that my brother and I had. The concept was to collect all shell history of all servers at work in a central place, apply ML/AI, and return suggestions for commands to type or allow a fuzzy search on all the commands in the history. The recommendations for the commands on a server could be context-based (e.g., past occurrences on the same server type).

You could decide whether to share your command history with others so they would receive better suggestions depending on which server they are on, or you could keep all the history private and secure. The plan was to add hooks into zsh and bash shells so that all commands typed would be pushed to the central location for data mining.

Enhanced KISS home photo albums



I don't use third-party cloud providers such as Google Photos to store/archive my photos. Instead, they are all on a ZFS volume on my home NAS, with regular offsite backups taken. Thus, my project would involve implementing the features I miss most or finding a solution simple enough to host on my LAN:

  • A feature I miss presents me with a random day from the past and some photos from that day. This project would randomly select a day and generate a photo album for me to view and reminisce about memories.
  • Another feature I miss is the ability to automatically deduplicate all the photos, as I am sure there are tons of duplicates on my NAS.
  • Auto-enhancing the photos (perhaps using ImageMagick?)
  • I already have a simple photoalbum.sh script that generates an album based on an input directory. However, it would be great also to have a timeline feature to enable browsing through different dates.

KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh

KISS file sync server with end-to-end encryption



I aimed to have a simple server to which I could sync notes and other documents, ensuring that the data is fully end-to-end encrypted. This way, only the clients could decrypt the data, while an encrypted copy of all the data would be stored on the server side. There are a few solutions (e.g., NextCloud), but they are bloated or complex to set up.

I currently use Syncthing for encrypted file sync across all my devices; however, the data is not end-to-end encrypted. It's a good-enough setup, though, as my Syncthing server is in my home LAN on an encrypted file system.

https://syncthing.net

I also had the idea of using this as a pet project for work and naming it Cryptolake, utilizing post-quantum-safe encryption algorithms and a distributed data store.

A language that compiles to bash



I had an idea to implement a higher-level language with strong typing that could be compiled into native Bash code. This would make all resulting Bash scripts more robust and secure by default. The project would involve developing a parser, lexer, and a Bash code generator. I planned to implement this in Go.

I had previously implemented a tiny scripting language called Fype (For Your Program Execution), which could have served as inspiration.

The Fype Programming Language

A language that compiles to sed



This is similar to the previous idea, but the difference is that the language would compile into a sed script. Sed has many features, but the brief syntax makes scripts challenging to read. The higher-level language would mimic sed but in a form that is easier for humans to read.

Renovate VS-Sim



VS-Sim is an open-source simulator programmed in Java for distributed systems. VS-Sim stands for "Verteilte Systeme Simulator," the German translation for "Distributed Systems Simulator." The VS-Sim project was my diploma thesis at Aachen University of Applied Sciences.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/vs-sim

The ideas I had was:

  • Translate the project into English.
  • Modernise the Java codebase to be compatible with the latest JDK.
  • Make it compile to native binaries using GraalVM.
  • Distribute the project using AppImages.

I have put this project on hold for now, as I want to do more things in Go and fewer in Java in my personal time.

KISS ticketing system



My idea was to program a KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) ticketing system for my personal use. However, I am abandoning this project because I now use the excellent Taskwarrior software. You can learn more about it at:

https://taskwarrior.org/

A domain-specific language (DSL) for work



At work, an internal service allocates storage space for our customers on our storage clusters. It automates many tasks, but many tweaks are accessible through APIs. I had the idea to implement a Ruby-based DSL that would make using all those APIs for ad-hoc changes effortless, e.g.:

Cluster :UK, :uk01 do
  Customer.C1A1.segments.volumes.each do |volume|
    puts volume.usage_stats
    volume.move_off! if volume.over_subscribed?
  end
end

I am abandoning this project because my workplace has stopped the annual pet project competition, and I have other more important projects to work on at the moment.

Creative universe (Work pet project contests)

Self-hosting projects I don't have time for



My own Matrix server



I value privacy. It would be great to run my own Matrix server for communication within my family. I have yet to have time to look into this more closely.

https://matrix.org

Ampache music server



Ampache is an open-source music streaming server that allows you to host and manage your music collection online, accessible via a web interface. Setting it up involves configuring a web server, installing Ampache, and organising your music files, which can be time-consuming.

Librum eBook reader



Librum is a self-hostable e-book reader that allows users to manage and read their e-book collection from a web interface. Designed to be a self-contained platform where users can upload, organise, and access their e-books, Librum emphasises privacy and control over one's digital library.

https://github.com/Librum-Reader/Librum

I am using my Kobo devices or my laptop to read these kinds of things for now.

Memos - Note-taking service



Memos is a note-taking service that simplifies and streamlines information capture and organisation. It focuses on providing users with a minimalistic and intuitive interface, aiming to enhance productivity without the clutter commonly associated with more complex note-taking apps.

https://www.usememos.com

I am abandoning this idea for now, as I am currently using plain Markdown files for notes and syncing them with Syncthing across my devices.

Bepasty server



Bepasty is like a Pastebin for all kinds of files (text, image, audio, video, documents, binary, etc.). It seems very neat, but I only share a little nowadays. When I do, I upload files via SCP to one of my OpenBSD VMs and serve them via vanilla httpd there, keeping it KISS.

https://github.com/bepasty/bepasty-server

Books I don't have time to read



Fluent Python



I consider myself an advanced programmer in Ruby, Bash, and Perl. However, Python seems to be ubiquitous nowadays, and most of my colleagues prefer Python over any other languages. Thus, it makes sense for me to also learn and use Python. After conducting some research, "Fluent Python" appears to be the best book for this purpose.

I don't have time to read this book at the moment, as I am focusing more on Go (Golang) and I know just enough Python to get by (e.g., for code reviews). Additionally, there are still enough colleagues around who can review my Ruby or Bash code.

Programming Ruby



I've read a couple of Ruby books already, but "Programming Ruby," which covers up to Ruby 3.2, was just recently released. I would like to read this to deepen my Ruby knowledge further and to revisit some concepts that I may have forgotten.

As stated in this blog post, I am currently more eager to focus on Go, so I've put the Ruby book on hold. Additionally, there wouldn't be enough colleagues who could "understand" my advanced Ruby skills anyway, as most of them are either Java developers or SREs who don't code a lot.

Peter F. Hamilton science fiction books



I am a big fan of science fiction, but my reading list is currently too long anyway. So, I've put the Hamilton books on the back burner for now. You can see all the novels I've read here:

https://paul.buetow.org/novels.html
gemini://paul.buetow.org/novels.gmi


New websites I don't have time for



Create a "Why Raku Rox" site



The website "Why Raku Rox" would showcase the unique features and benefits of the Raku programming language and highlight why it is an exceptional choice for developers. Raku, originally known as Perl 6, is a dynamic, expressive language designed for flexible and powerful software development.

This would be similar to the "Why OpenBSD rocks" site:

https://why-openbsd.rocks
https://raku.org

I am not working on this for now, as I currently don’t even have time to program in Raku.

Research projects I don't have time for



Project secure



For work: Implement a PoC that dumps Java heaps to extract secrets from memory. Based on the findings, write a Java program that encrypts secrets in the kernel using the memfd_secret() syscall to make it even more secure.

https://lwn.net/Articles/865256/

Due to other priorities, I am putting this on hold for now. The software we have built is pretty damn secure already!

CPU utilisation is all wrong



This research project, based on Brendan Gregg's blog post, could potentially significantly impact my work.

https://brendangregg.com/blog/2017-05-09/cpu-utilization-is-wrong.html

The research project would involve setting up dashboards that display actual CPU usage and the cycles versus waiting time for memory access.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Related and maybe interesting:

Sweating the small stuff - Tiny projects of mine

Back to the main site
 'Slow Productivity' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-05-01-slow-productivity-book-notes.gmi 2024-04-27T14:18:51+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'Slow Productivity - The lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout' by Cal Newport.

"Slow Productivity" book notes



Published at 2024-04-27T14:18:51+03:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "Slow Productivity - The lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout" by Cal Newport.

The case studies in this book were a bit long, but they appeared to be well-researched. I will only highlight the interesting, actionable items in the book notes.

These notes are mainly for my own use, but you may find them helpful.

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    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
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 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Table of Contents




It's not "slow productivity"



"Slow productivity" does not mean being less productive. Cal Newport wants to point out that you can be much more productive with "slow productivity" than you would be without it. It is a different way of working than most of us are used to in the modern workplace, which is hyper-connected and always online.

Pseudo-productivity and Shallow work



People use visible activity instead of real productivity because it's easier to measure. This is called pseudo-productivity.
Pseudo-productivity is used as a proxy for real productivity. If you don't look busy, you are dismissed as lazy or lacking a work ethic.

There is a tendency to perform shallow work because people will otherwise dismiss you as lazy. A lot of shallow work can cause burnout, as multiple things are often being worked on in parallel. The more you have on your plate, the more stressed you will be.

Shallow work usually doesn't help you to accomplish big things. Always have the big picture in mind. Shallow work can't be entirely eliminated, but it can be managed—for example, plan dedicated time slots for certain types of shallow work.

Accomplishments without burnout



The overall perception is that if you want to accomplish something, you must put yourself on the verge of burnout. Cal Newport writes about "The lost Art of Accomplishments without Burnouts", where you can accomplish big things without all the stress usually involved.

There are three principles for the maintenance of a sustainable work life:

  • Do fewer things
  • Work at a natural pace
  • Obsess over quality

Do fewer things



There will always be more work. The faster you finish it, the quicker you will have something new on your plate.

Reduce the overhead tax. The overhead tax is all the administrative work to be done. With every additional project, there will also be more administrative stuff to be done on your work plate. So, doing fewer things leads to more and better output and better quality for the projects you are working on.

Limit the things on your plate. Limit your missions (personal goals, professional goals). Reduce your main objectives in life. More than five missions are usually not sustainable very easily, so you have to really prioritise what is important to you and your professional life.

A mission is an overall objective/goal that can have multiple projects. Limit the projects as well. Some projects need clear endings (e.g., work in support of a never-ending flow of incoming requests). In this case, set limits (e.g., time box your support hours). You can also plan "office hours" for collaborative work with colleagues to avoid ad hoc distractions.

The key point is that after making these commitments, you really deliver on them. This builds trust, and people will leave you alone and not ask for progress all the time.

Doing fever things is essential for modern knowledge workers. Breathing space in your work also makes you more creative and happier overall.

Pushing workers more work can make them less productive, so the better approach is the pull model, where workers pull in new work when the previous task is finished.

If you can quantify how busy you are or how many other projects you already work on, then it is easier to say no to new things. For example, show what you are doing, what's in the roadmap, etc. Transparency is the key here.

You can have your own simulated pull system if the company doesn't agree to a global one:

  • State which additional information you would need.
  • Create a rough estimate of when you will be able to work on it
  • Estimate how long the project would take. Double that estimate, as humans are very bad estimators.
  • Respond to the requester and state that you will let him know when the estimates change.

Sometimes, a little friction is all that is needed to combat incoming work, e.g., when your manager starts seeing the reality of your work plate, and you also request additional information for the task. If you already have too much on your plate, then decline the new project or make room for it in your calendar. If you present a large task list, others will struggle to assign more to you.

Limit your daily goals. A good measure is to focus on one goal per day. You can time block time for deep work on your daily goal. During that time, you won't be easily available to others.

The battle against distractions must be fought to be the master of your time. Nobody will fight this war for you. You have to do it for yourself. (Also, have a look at Cal Newport's "time block planning" method).

Put tasks on autopilot (regular recurring tasks).

Work at a natural pace



We suffer from overambitious timelines, task lists, and business. Focus on what matters. Don't rush your most important work to achieve better results.

Don't rush. If you rush or are under pressure, you will be less effective and eventually burn out. Our brains work better then not rushy. The stress heuristic usually indicates too much work, and it is generally too late to reduce workload. That's why we all typically have dangerously too much to do.

Have the courage to take longer to do things that are important. For example, plan on a yearly and larger scale, like 2 to 5 years.

Find a reasonable time for a project and then double the project timeline against overconfident optimism. Humans are not great at estimating. They gravitate towards best-case estimates. If you have planned more than enough time for your project, then you will fall into a natural work pace. Otherwise, you will struggle with rushing and stress.

Some days will still be intense and stressful, but those are exceptional cases. After those exceptions (e.g., finalizing that thing, etc.), calmer periods will follow again.

Pace yourself over modest results over time. Simplify and reduce the daily task lists. Meetings: Certain hours are protected for work. For each meeting, add a protected block to your calendar, so you attend meetings only half a day max.

Schedule slow seasons (e.g., when on vacation). Disconnect in the slow season. Doing nothing will not satisfy your mind, though. You could read a book on your subject matter to counteract that.

Obsess over quality



Obsess over quality even if you lose short-term opportunities by rejecting other projects. Quality demands you slow down. The two previous two principles (do fewer things and work at a natural pace) are mandatory for this principle to work:

  • Focus on the core activities of your work for your obsession - you will only have the time to obsess over some things.
  • Deliver solid work with good quality.
  • Sharpen the focus to do the best work possible.

Go pro to save time, and don't squeeze everything out that you can from freemium services. Professional software services eliminate administrative work:

  • Pay people who know what they are doing and focus on your stuff.
  • For example, don't repair that car if you know the mechanic can do that much better than you.
  • Or don't use the free version of the music streaming service if it interrupts you with commercials, hindering your ability to concentrate on your work.
  • Hire an accountant for your yearly tax returns. He knows much more about that stuff than you do. And in the end, he will even be cheaper as he knows all the tax laws.
  • ...

Adjust your workplace to what you want to accomplish. You could have dedicated places in your home for different things, e.g., a place where you read and think (armchair) and a place where you collaborate (your desk or whiteboard). Surround yourself with things that inspire you (e.g., your favourite books on your shelf next to you, etc.).

There is the concept of quiet quitting. It doesn't mean quitting your job, but it means that you don't go beyond and above the expectations people have of you. Quiet quitting became popular with modern work, which is often meaningless and full of shallow tasks. If you obsess over quality, you enjoy your craft and want to go beyond and above.

Implement rituals and routines which shift you towards your goals:

  • For example, if you want to be a good Software Engineer, you also have to put in the work regularly. For instance, progress a bit every day in your project at hand, even if it is only one hour daily. Also, a little quality daily work will be more satisfying over time than many shallow tasks.
  • Do you want to be lean and/or healthy? Schedule your daily walks and workouts. They will become habits over time.
  • There's the compounding effect where every small effort made every day will yield significant results in the long run

Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.

It appears to be money thrown out of the window, but you get a $50 expensive paper notebook (and also a good pen). Unconsciously, it will make you take notes more seriously. You will think about what to put into the notebooks more profoundly and have thought through the ideas more intensively. If you used very cheap notebooks, you would scribble a lot of rubbish and wouldn't even recognise your handwriting after a while anymore. So choosing a high-quality notebook will help you to take higher-quality notes, too.

Slow productivity is actionable and can be applied immediately.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-04-01-KISS-high-availability-with-OpenBSD.gmi 2024-03-30T22:12:56+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I have always wanted a highly available setup for my personal websites. I could have used off-the-shelf hosting solutions or hosted my sites in an AWS S3 bucket. I have used technologies like (in unsorted and slightly unrelated order) BGP, LVS/IPVS, ldirectord, Pacemaker, STONITH, scripted VIP failover via ARP, heartbeat, heartbeat2, Corosync, keepalived, DRBD, and commercial F5 Load Balancers for high availability at work.

KISS high-availability with OpenBSD



Published at 2024-03-30T22:12:56+02:00

I have always wanted a highly available setup for my personal websites. I could have used off-the-shelf hosting solutions or hosted my sites in an AWS S3 bucket. I have used technologies like (in unsorted and slightly unrelated order) BGP, LVS/IPVS, ldirectord, Pacemaker, STONITH, scripted VIP failover via ARP, heartbeat, heartbeat2, Corosync, keepalived, DRBD, and commercial F5 Load Balancers for high availability at work.

But still, my personal sites were never highly available. All those technologies are great for professional use, but I was looking for something much more straightforward for my personal space - something as KISS (keep it simple and stupid) as possible.

It would be fine if my personal website wasn't highly available, but the geek in me wants it anyway.

PS: ASCII-art below reflects an OpenBSD under-water world with all the tools available in the base system.

Art by Michael J. Penick (mod. by Paul B.)
                                               ACME-sky
        __________
       / nsd tower\                                             (
      /____________\                                           (\) awk-ward
       |:_:_:_:_:_|                                             ))   plant
       |_:_,--.:_:|                       dig-bubble         (\//   )
       |:_:|__|_:_|  relayd-castle          _               ) ))   ((
    _  |_   _  :_:|   _   _   _            (_)             ((((   /)\`
   | |_| |_| |   _|  | |_| |_| |             o              \\)) (( (
    \_:_:_:_:/|_|_|_|\:_:_:_:_/             .                ((   ))))
     |_,-._:_:_:_:_:_:_:_.-,_|                                )) ((//
     |:|_|:_:_:,---,:_:_:|_|:|                               ,-.  )/
     |_:_:_:_,'puffy `,_:_:_:_|           _  o               ,;'))((
     |:_:_:_/  _ | _  \_:_:_:|          (_O                   ((  ))
_____|_:_:_|  (o)-(o)  |_:_:_|--'`-.     ,--. ksh under-water (((\'/
 ', ;|:_:_:| -( .-. )- |:_:_:| ', ; `--._\  /,---.~  goat     \`))
.  ` |_:_:_|   \`-'/   |_:_:_|.  ` .  `  /()\.__( ) .,-----'`-\(( sed-root
 ', ;|:_:_:|    `-'    |:_:_:| ', ; ', ; `--'|   \ ', ; ', ; ',')).,--
.  ` MJP ` .  ` .  ` .  ` . httpd-soil ` .    .  ` .  ` .  ` .  ` .  `
 ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ; ', ;

Table of Contents




My auto-failover requirements



  • Be OpenBSD-based (I prefer OpenBSD because of the cleanliness and good documentation) and rely on as few external packages as possible.
  • Don't rely on the hottest and newest tech (don't want to migrate everything to a new and fancier technology next month already!).
  • It should be reasonably cheap. I want to avoid paying a premium for floating IPs or fancy Elastic Load Balancers.
  • It should be geo-redundant.
  • It's fine if my sites aren't reachable for five or ten minutes every other month. Due to their static nature, I don't care if there's a split-brain scenario where some requests reach one server and other requests reach another server.
  • Failover should work for both HTTP/HTTPS and Gemini protocols. My self-hosted MTAs and DNS servers should also be highly available.
  • Let's Encrypt TLS certificates should always work (before and after a failover).
  • Have good monitoring in place so I know when a failover was performed and when something went wrong with the failover.
  • Don't configure everything manually. The configuration should be automated and reproducible.

My HA solution



Only OpenBSD base installation required



My HA solution for Web and Gemini is based on DNS (OpenBSD's nsd) and a simple shell script (OpenBSD's ksh and some little sed and awk and grep). All software used here is part of the OpenBSD base system and no external package needs to be installed - OpenBSD is a complete operating system.

https://man.OpenBSD.org/nsd.8
https://man.OpenBSD.org/ksh
https://man.OpenBSD.org/awk
https://man.OpenBSD.org/sed
https://man.OpenBSD.org/dig
https://man.OpenBSD.org/ftp
https://man.OpenBSD.org/cron

I also used the dig (for DNS checks) and ftp (for HTTP/HTTPS checks) programs.

The DNS failover is performed automatically between the two OpenBSD VMs involved (my setup doesn't require any quorum for a failover, so there isn't a need for a 3rd VM). The ksh script, executed once per minute via CRON (on both VMs), performs a health check to determine whether the current master node is available. If the current master isn't available (no HTTP response as expected), a failover is performed to the standby VM: 

#!/bin/ksh

ZONES_DIR=/var/nsd/zones/master/
DEFAULT_MASTER=fishfinger.buetow.org
DEFAULT_STANDBY=blowfish.buetow.org

determine_master_and_standby () {
    local master=$DEFAULT_MASTER
    local standby=$DEFAULT_STANDBY

    .
    .
    .
    
    local -i health_ok=1
    if ! ftp -4 -o - https://$master/index.txt | grep -q "Welcome to $master"; then
        echo "https://$master/index.txt IPv4 health check failed"
        health_ok=0
    elif ! ftp -6 -o - https://$master/index.txt | grep -q "Welcome to $master"; then
        echo "https://$master/index.txt IPv6 health check failed"
        health_ok=0
    fi
    if [ $health_ok -eq 0 ]; then
        local tmp=$master
        master=$standby
        standby=$tmp
    fi

    .
    .
    .
}

The failover scripts looks for the ; Enable failover string in the DNS zone files and swaps the A and AAAA records of the DNS entries accordingly:

fishfinger$ grep failover /var/nsd/zones/master/foo.zone.zone
        300 IN A 46.23.94.99 ; Enable failover
        300 IN AAAA 2a03:6000:6f67:624::99 ; Enable failover
www     300 IN A 46.23.94.99 ; Enable failover
www     300 IN AAAA 2a03:6000:6f67:624::99 ; Enable failover
standby  300 IN A 23.88.35.144 ; Enable failover
standby  300 IN AAAA 2a01:4f8:c17:20f1::42 ; Enable failover


transform () {
  sed -E '
	/IN A .*; Enable failover/ {
	    /^standby/! {
	        s/^(.*) 300 IN A (.*) ; (.*)/\1 300 IN A '$(cat /var/nsd/run/master_a)' ; \3/;
	    }
	    /^standby/ {
	        s/^(.*) 300 IN A (.*) ; (.*)/\1 300 IN A '$(cat /var/nsd/run/standby_a)' ; \3/;
	    }
	}
	/IN AAAA .*; Enable failover/ {
	    /^standby/! {
	        s/^(.*) 300 IN AAAA (.*) ; (.*)/\1 300 IN AAAA '$(cat /var/nsd/run/master_aaaa)' ; \3/;
	    }
	    /^standby/ {
	        s/^(.*) 300 IN AAAA (.*) ; (.*)/\1 300 IN AAAA '$(cat /var/nsd/run/standby_aaaa)' ; \3/;
	    }
	}
	/ ; serial/ {
	    s/^( +) ([0-9]+) .*; (.*)/\1 '$(date +%s)' ; \3/;
	}
  '
}

After the failover, the script reloads nsd and performs a sanity check to see if DNS still works. If not, a rollback will be performed:

#! Race condition !#
   
if [ -f $zone_file.bak ]; then
    mv $zone_file.bak $zone_file
fi

cat $zone_file | transform > $zone_file.new.tmp 

grep -v ' ; serial' $zone_file.new.tmp > $zone_file.new.noserial.tmp
grep -v ' ; serial' $zone_file > $zone_file.old.noserial.tmp

echo "Has zone $zone_file changed?"
if diff -u $zone_file.old.noserial.tmp $zone_file.new.noserial.tmp; then
    echo "The zone $zone_file hasn't changed"
    rm $zone_file.*.tmp
    return 0
fi

cp $zone_file $zone_file.bak
mv $zone_file.new.tmp $zone_file
rm $zone_file.*.tmp
echo "Reloading nsd"
nsd-control reload

if ! zone_is_ok $zone; then
    echo "Rolling back $zone_file changes"
    cp $zone_file $zone_file.invalid
    mv $zone_file.bak $zone_file
    echo "Reloading nsd"
    nsd-control reload
    zone_is_ok $zone
    return 3
fi

for cleanup in invalid bak; do
    if [ -f $zone_file.$cleanup ]; then
        rm $zone_file.$cleanup
    fi
done

echo "Failover of zone $zone to $MASTER completed"
return 1

A non-zero return code (here, 3 when a rollback and 1 when a DNS failover was performed) will cause CRON to send an E-Mail with the whole script output.

The authorative nameserver for my domains runs on both VMs, and both are configured to be a "master" DNS server so that they have their own individual zone files, which can be changed independently. Otherwise, my setup wouldn't work. The side effect is that under a split-brain scenario (both VMs cannot see each other), both would promote themselves to master via their local DNS entries. More about that later, but that's fine in my use case.

Check out the whole script here:

dns-failover.ksh

Fairly cheap and geo-redundant



I am renting two small OpenBSD VMs: One at OpenBSD Amsterdam and the other at Hetzner Cloud. So, both VMs are hosted at another provider, in different IP subnets, and in different countries (the Netherlands and Germany).

https://OpenBSD.Amsterdam
https://www.Hetzner.cloud

I only have a little traffic on my sites. I could always upload the static content to AWS S3 if I suddenly had to. But this will never be required.

A DNS-based failover is cheap, as there isn't any BGP or fancy load balancer to pay for. Small VMs also cost less than millions.

Failover time and split-brain



A DNS failover doesn't happen immediately. I've configured a DNS TTL of 300 seconds, and the failover script checks once per minute whether to perform a failover or not. So, in total, a failover can take six minutes (not including other DNS caching servers somewhere in the interweb, but that's fine - eventually, all requests will resolve to the new master after a failover).

A split-brain scenario between the old master and the new master might happen. That's OK, as my sites are static, and there's no database to synchronise other than HTML, CSS, and images when the site is updated.

Failover support for multiple protocols



With the DNS failover, HTTP, HTTPS, and Gemini protocols are failovered. This works because all domain virtual hosts are configured on either VM's httpd (OpenBSD's HTTP server) and relayd (it's also part of OpenBSD and I use it to TLS offload the Gemini protocol). So, both VMs accept requests for all the hosts. It's just a matter of the DNS entries, which VM receives the requests.

https://man.OpenBSD.org/httpd.8
https://man.OpenBSD.org/relayd.8

For example, the master is responsible for the https://www.foo.zone and https://foo.zone hosts, whereas the standby can be reached via https://standby.foo.zone (port 80 for plain HTTP works as well). The same principle is followed with all the other hosts, e.g. irregular.ninja, paul.buetow.org and so on. The same applies to my Gemini capsules for gemini://foo.zone, gemini://standby.foo.zone, gemini://paul.buetow.org and gemini://standby.paul.buetow.org.

On DNS failover, master and standby swap roles without config changes other than the DNS entries. That's KISS (keep it simple and stupid)!

Let's encrypt TLS certificates



All my hosts use TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt. The ACME automation for requesting and keeping the certificates valid (up to date) requires that the host requesting a certificate from Let's Encrypt is also the host using that certificate.

If the master always serves foo.zone and the standby always standby.foo.zone, then there would be a problem after the failover, as the new master wouldn't have a valid certificate for foo.zone and the new standby wouldn't have a valid certificate for standby.foo.zone which would lead to TLS errors on the clients.

As a solution, the CRON job responsible for the DNS failover also checks for the current week number of the year so that:

  • In an odd week number, the first server is the default master
  • In an even week number, the second server is the default master.

Which translates to:

# Weekly auto-failover for Let's Encrypt automation
local -i -r week_of_the_year=$(date +%U)
if [ $(( week_of_the_year % 2 )) -eq 0 ]; then
    local tmp=$master
    master=$standby
    standby=$tmp
fi

This way, a DNS failover is performed weekly so that the ACME automation can update the Let's Encrypt certificates (for master and standby) before they expire on each VM.

The ACME automation is yet another daily CRON script /usr/local/bin/acme.sh. It iterates over all of my Let's Encrypt hosts, checks whether they resolve to the same IP address as the current VM, and only then invokes the ACME client to request or renew the TLS certificates. So, there are always correct requests made to Let's Encrypt.

Let's encrypt certificates usually expire after 3 months, so a weekly failover of my VMs is plenty.

acme.sh.tpl - Rex template for the acme.sh script of mine.
https://man.OpenBSD.org/acme-client.1
Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex

Monitoring



CRON is sending me an E-Mail whenever a failover is performed (or whenever a failover failed). Furthermore, I am monitoring my DNS servers and hosts through Gogios, the monitoring system I have developed.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gogios
KISS server monitoring with Gogios

Gogios, as I developed it by myself, isn't part of the OpenBSD base system.

Rex automation



I use Rexify, a friendly configuration management system that allows automatic deployment and configuration.

https://www.rexify.org
codeberg.org/snonux/rexfiles/frontends

Rex isn't part of the OpenBSD base system, but I didn't need to install any external software on OpenBSD either as Rex is invoked from my Laptop!

More HA



Other high-available services running on my OpenBSD VMs are my MTAs for mail forwarding (OpenSMTPD - also part of the OpenBSD base system) and the authoritative DNS servers (nsd) for all my domains. No particular HA setup is required, though, as the protocols (SMTP and DNS) already take care of the failover to the next available host!

https://www.OpenSMTPD.org/

As a password manager, I use geheim, a command-line tool I wrote in Ruby with encrypted files in a git repository (I even have it installed in Termux on my Phone). For HA reasons, I simply updated the client code so that it always synchronises the database with both servers when I run the sync command there.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/geheim

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other *BSD and KISS related posts are:

2016-04-09 Jails and ZFS with Puppet on FreeBSD
2022-07-30 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2023-06-01 KISS server monitoring with Gogios
2023-10-29 KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh
2024-01-13 One reason why I love OpenBSD
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD (You are currently reading this)
2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage

Back to the main site
 A fine Fyne Android app for quickly logging ideas programmed in Go gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-03-03-a-fine-fyne-android-app-for-quickly-logging-ideas-programmed-in-golang.gmi 2024-03-03T00:07:21+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I am an ideas person. I find myself frequently somewhere on the streets with an idea in my head but no paper journal noting it down.

A fine Fyne Android app for quickly logging ideas programmed in Go



Published at 2024-03-03T00:07:21+02:00

I am an ideas person. I find myself frequently somewhere on the streets with an idea in my head but no paper journal noting it down.

I have tried many note apps for my Android (I use GrapheneOS) phone. Most of them either don't do what I want, are proprietary software, require Google Play services (I have the main profile on my phone de-googled) or are too bloated. I was never into mobile app development, as I'm not too fond of the complexity of the developer toolchains. I don't want to use Android Studio (as a NeoVim user), and I don't want to use Java or Kotlin. I want to use a language I know (and like) for mobile app development. Go would be one of those languages.

Quick logger Logo

Table of Contents




Enter Quick logger



Enter Quick logger – a compact GUI Android (well, cross-platform due to Fyne) app I've crafted using Go and the nifty Fyne framework. With Fyne, the app can be compiled easily into an Android APK. As of this writing, this app's whole Go source code is only 75 lines short!! This little tool is designed for spontaneous moments, allowing me to quickly log my thoughts as plain text files on my Android phone. There are no fancy file formats. Just plain text!

https://codeberg.org/snonux/quicklogger
https://fyne.io
https://go.dev

There's no need to navigate complex menus or deal with sync issues. I jot down my Idea, and Quick logger saves it to a plain text file in a designated local folder on my phone. There is one text file per note (timestamp in the file name). Once logged, the file can't be edited anymore (it keeps it simple). If I want to correct or change a note, I simply write a new one. My notes are always small (usually one short sentence each), so there isn't the need for an edit functionality. I can edit them later on my actual computer if I want to.

With Syncthing, the note files are then synchronised to my home computer to my ~/Notes directory. From there, a small glue Raku script adds them to my Taskwarrior DB so that I can process them later (e.g. take action on that one Idea I had). That then will delete the original note files from my computer and also (through Syncthing) from my phone.

https://syncthing.net
https://raku.org
https://taskwarrior.org

Quick logger's user interface is as minimal as it gets. When I launch Quick logger, I'm greeted with a simple window where I can type plain text. Hit the "Log text" button, and voilà – the input is timestamped and saved as a file in my chosen directory. If I need to change the directory, the "Preferences" button brings up a window where I can set the notes folder and get back to logging.

For the code-savvy folks out there, Quick logger is a neat example of what you can achieve with Go and Fyne. It's a testament to building functional, cross-platform apps without getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty of platform-specific details. Thanks to Fyne, I am pleased with how easy it is to make mobile Android apps in Go.

Quick logger running on Android

My Android apps will never be polished, but they will get the job done, and this is precisely how I want them to be. Minimalistic but functional. I could spend more time polishing Quick logger, but my Quick logger app then may be the same as any other notes app out there (complicated or bloated).

All easy-peasy?



I did have some issues with the app logo for Android, though. Android always showed the default app icon and not my custom icon whenever I used a custom AndroidManifest.xml for custom app storage permissions. Without a custom AndroidAmnifest.xml the app icon would be displayed under Android, but then the app would not have the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, which is required for Quick logger to write to a custom directory. I found a workaround, which I commented on here at Github:

https://github.com/fyne-io/fyne/issues/3077#issuecomment-1912697360

What worked however (app icon showing up) was to clone the fyne project, change the occurances of android.permission.INTERNET to android.permission.MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE (as these are all the changes I want in my custom android manifest) in the source tree, re-compile fyne. Now all works. I know, this is more of an hammer approach!

Hopefully, I won't need to use this workaround anymore. But for now, it is a fair tradeoff for what I am getting.

I hope this will inspire you to write your own small mobile apps in Go using the awesome Fyne framework! PS: The Quick logger logo was generated by ChatGPT.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other Go related posts are:

2024-03-03 A fine Fyne Android app for quickly logging ideas programmed in Go (You are currently reading this)

Back to the main site
 From `babylon5.buetow.org` to `*.buetow.cloud` gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-02-04-from-babylon5.buetow.org-to-.cloud.gmi 2024-02-04T00:50:50+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Recently, my employer sent me to a week-long AWS course. After the course, there wasn't any hands-on project I could dive into immediately, so I moved parts of my personal infrastructure to AWS to level up a bit through practical hands-on.

From babylon5.buetow.org to *.buetow.cloud



Published at 2024-02-04T00:50:50+02:00

Recently, my employer sent me to a week-long AWS course. After the course, there wasn't any hands-on project I could dive into immediately, so I moved parts of my personal infrastructure to AWS to level up a bit through practical hands-on.

So, I migrated all of my Docker-based self-hosted services to AWS. Usually, I am not a big fan of big cloud providers and instead use smaller hosters or indie providers and self-made solutions. However, I also must go with the times and try out technologies currently hot on the job market. I don't want to become the old man who yells at cloud :D

Old man yells at cloud

Table of Contents




The old *.buetow.org way



Before the migration, all those services were reachable through buetow.org-subdomains (Buetow is my last name) and ran on Docker containers on a single Rocky Linux 9 VM at Hetzner. And there was a Nginx reverse proxy with TLS offloading (with Let's Encrypt certificates). The Rocky Linux 9's hostname was babylon5.buetow.org (based on the Science Fiction series).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5

The downsides of this setup were:

  • Not highly available. If the server goes down, no service is reachable until it's repaired. To be fair, the Hetzner cloud VM is redundant by itself and would have re-spawned on a different worker node, I suppose.
  • Manual installation.

About the manual installation part: I could have used a configuration management system like Rexify, Puppet, etc. But I decided against it back in time, as setting up Docker containers isn't so complicated through simple start scripts. And it's only a single Linux box where a manual installation is less painful. However, regular backups (which Hetzner can do automatically for you) were a must.

The benefits of this setup were:

  • KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid)
  • Cheap

I kept my buetow.org OpenBSD boxes alive



As pointed out, I only migrated the Docker-based self-hosted services (which run on the Babylon 5 Rocky Linux box) to AWS. Many self-hostable apps come with ready-to-use container images, making deploying them easy.

My other two OpenBSD VMs (blowfish.buetow.org, hosted at Hetzner, and fishfinger.buetow.org, hosted at OpenBSD Amsterdam) still run (and they will keep running) the following services:

  • HTTP server for my websites (e.g. https://foo.zone, ...)
  • ACME for Let's Encrypt TLS certificate auto-renewal.
  • Gemini server for my capsules (e.g. gemini://foo.zone)
  • Authoritative DNS servers for my domains (but buetow.cloud, which is on Route 53 now)
  • Mail transfer agent (MTA)
  • My Gogios monitoring system.
  • My IRC bouncer.

It is all automated with Rex, aka Rexify. This OpenBSD setup is my "fun" or "for pleasure" setup. Whereas the Rocky Linux 9 one I always considered the "pratical means to the end"-setup to have 3rd party Docker containers up and running with as little work as possible.

(R)?ex, the friendly automation framework
KISS server monitoring with Gogios
Let's encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex

The new *.buetow.cloud way



With AWS, I decided to get myself a new domain name, as I could fully separate my AWS setup from my conventional setup and give Route 53 as an authoritative DNS a spin.

I decided to automate everything with Terraform, as I wanted to learn to use it as it appears standard now in the job market.

All services are installed automatically to AWS ECS Fargate. ECS is AWS's Elastic Container Service, and Fargate automatically manages the underlying hardware infrastructure (e.g., how many CPUs, RAM, etc.) for me. So I don't have to bother about having enough EC2 instances to serve my demands, for example.

The authoritative DNS for the buetow.cloud domain is AWS Route 53. TLS certificates are free here at AWS and offloaded through the AWS Application Load Balancer. The LB acts as a proxy to the ECS container instances of the services. A few services I run in ECS Fargate also require the AWS Network Load Balancer.

All services require some persistent storage. For that, I use an encrypted EFS file system, automatically replicated across all AZs (availability zones) of my region of choice, eu-central-1.

In case of an AZ outage, I could re-deploy all the failed containers in another AZ, and all the data would still be there.

The EFS automatically gets backed up by AWS for me following their standard Backup schedule. The daily backups are kept for 30 days.

Domain registration, TLS certificate configuration and configuration of the EFS backup were quickly done through the AWS web interface. These were only one-off tasks, so they weren't fully automated through Terraform.

You can find all Terraform manifests here:

https://codeberg.org/snonux/terraform

Whereas:

  • org-buetow-base sets up the bare VPC (IPv4 and IPv6 subnets in 3 AZs, EFS, ECR (the AWS container registry for some self-built containers) and Route 53 zone. It's the requirement for most other Terraform manifests in this repository.
  • org-buetow-bastion sets up a minimal Amazon Linux EC2 instance where I can manually SSH into and look at the EFS file system (if required).
  • org-buetow-elb sets up the Elastic Load Balancer, a prerequisite for any service running in ECS Fargate.
  • org-buetow-ecs finally sets up and deploys all the Docker apps mentioned above. Any apps can be turned on or off via the variables.tf file.

The container apps



And here, finally, is the list of all the container apps my Terraform manifests deploy. The FQDNs here may not be reachable. I spin them up only on demand (for cost reasons). All services are fully dual-stacked (IPv4 & IPv6).

flux.buetow.cloud



Miniflux is a minimalist and opinionated feed reader. With the move to AWS, I also retired my bloated instance of NextCloud. So, with Miniflux, I retired from NextCloud News.

Miniflux requires two ECS containers. One is the Miniflux app, and the other is the PostgreSQL DB.

https://miniflux.app/


audiobookshelf.buetow.cloud



Audiobookshelf was the first Docker app I installed. It is a Self-hosted audiobook and podcast server. It comes with a neat web interface, and there is also an Android app available, which works also in offline mode. This is great, as I only have the ECS instance sometimes running for cost savings.

With Audiobookshelf, I replaced my former Audible subscription and my separate Podcast app. For Podcast synchronisation I used to use the Gpodder NextCloud sync app. But that one I retired now with Audiobookshelf as well :-)

https://www.audiobookshelf.org

syncthing.buetow.cloud



Syncthing is a continuous file synchronisation program. In real-time, it synchronises files between two or more computers, safely protected from prying eyes. Your data is your own, and you deserve to choose where it is stored, whether it is shared with some third party, and how it's transmitted over the internet.

With Syncthing, I retired my old NextCloud Files and file sync client on all my devices. I also quit my NextCloud Notes setup. All my Notes are now plain Markdown files in a Notes directory. On Android, I can edit them with any text or Markdown editor (e.g. Obsidian), and they will be synchronised via Syncthing to my other computers, both forward and back.

I use Syncthing to synchronise some of my Phone's data (e.g. Notes, Pictures and other documents). Initially, I synced all of my pictures, videos, etc., with AWS. But that was pretty expensive. So for now, I use it only whilst travelling. Otherwise, I will use my Syncthing instance here on my LAN (I have a cheap cloud backup in AWS S3 Glacier Deep Archive, but that's for another blog post).

https://syncthing.net/

radicale.buetow.cloud



Radicale is an excellent minimalist WebDAV calendar and contact synchronisation server. It was good enough to replace my NextCloud Calendar and NextCloud Contacts setup. Unfortunately, there wasn't a ready-to-use Docker image. So, I created my own.

On Android, it works great together with the DAVx5 client for synchronisation.

https://radicale.org/
https://codeberg.org/snonux/docker-radicale-server
https://www.davx5.com/

bag.buetow.cloud



Wallabag is a self-hostable "save now - read later" service, and it also comes with an Android app which also has an offline mode. Think of Getpocket, but open-source!

https://wallabag.org/
https://github.com/wallabag/wallabag

anki.buetow.cloud



Anki is a great (the greatest) flash-card learning program. I am currently learning Bulgarian as my 3rd language. There is also an Android app that has an offline mode, and advanced users can also self-host the server anki-sync-server. For some reason (not going into the details here), I had to build my own Docker image for the server.

https://apps.ankiweb.net/
https://codeberg.org/snonux/docker-anki-sync-server

vault.buetow.cloud



Vaultwarden is an alternative implementation of the Bitwarden server API written in Rust and compatible with upstream Bitwarden clients, perfect for self-hosted deployment where running the official resource-heavy service might not be ideal. So, this is a great password manager server which can be used with any Bitwarden Android app.

I currently don't use it, but I may in the future. I made it available in my ECS Fargate setup anyway for now.

https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

I currently use geheim, a Ruby command line tool I wrote, as my current password manager. You can read a little bit about it here under "More":

Sweating the small stuff

bastion.buetow.cloud



This is a tiny ARM-based Amazon Linux EC2 instance, which I sometimes spin up for investigation or manual work on my EFS file system in AWS.

Conclusion



I have learned a lot about AWS and Terraform during this migration. This was actually my first AWS hands-on project with practical use.

All of this was not particularly difficult (but at times a bit confusing). I see the use of Terraform managing more extensive infrastructures (it was even helpful for my small setup here). At least I know now what all the buzz is about :-). I don't think Terraform's HCL is a nice language. It get's it's job done, but it could be more elegant IMHO.

Deploying updates to AWS are much easier, and some of the manual maintenance burdens of my Rocky Linux 9 VM are no longer needed. So I will have more time for other projects!

Will I keep it in the cloud? I don't know yet. But maybe I won't renew the buetow.cloud domain and instead will use *.cloud.buetow.org or *.aws.buetow.org subdomains.

Will the AWS setup be cheaper than my old Rocky Linux setup? It might be more affordable as I only turn ECS and the load balancers on or off on-demand. Time will tell! The first forecasts suggest that it will be around the same costs.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 One reason why I love OpenBSD gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-01-13-one-reason-why-i-love-openbsd.gmi 2024-01-13T22:55:33+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org HKISSFISHKISSFISHKISSFISHKISSFISH KISS

One reason why I love OpenBSD



Published at 2024-01-13T22:55:33+02:00

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I just upgraded my OpenBSD's from 7.3 to 7.4 by following the unattended upgrade guide:

https://www.openbsd.org/faq/upgrade74.html

$ doas installboot sd0 # Update the bootloader (not for every upgrade required)
$ doas sysupgrade # Update all binaries (including Kernel)

sysupgrade downloaded and upgraded to the next release and rebooted the system. After the reboot, I run:

$ doas sysmerge # Update system configuration files
$ doas pkg_add -u # Update all packages
$ doas reboot # Just in case, reboot one more time

That's it! Took me around 5 minutes in total! No issues, only these few comands, only 5 minutes! It just works! No problems, no conflicts, no tons (actually none) config file merge conflicts.

I followed the same procedure the previous times and never encountered any difficulties with any OpenBSD upgrades.

I have seen upgrades of other Operating Systems either take a long time or break the system (which takes manual steps to repair). That's just one of many reasons why I love OpenBSD! There appear never to be any problems. It just gets its job done!

The OpenBSD Project

BTW: are you looking for an opinionated OpenBSD VM hoster? OpenBSD Amsterdam may be for you. They rock (I am having a VM there, too)!

https://openbsd.amsterdam

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other *BSD related posts are:

2016-04-09 Jails and ZFS with Puppet on FreeBSD
2022-07-30 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2024-01-13 One reason why I love OpenBSD (You are currently reading this)
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD
2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage

Back to the main site
 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2024-01-09-site-reliability-engineering-part-3.gmi 2024-01-09T18:35:48+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Welcome to Part 3 of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I'm currently working as a Site Reliability Engineer, and I’m here to share what SRE is all about in this blog series.

Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture



Published at 2024-01-09T18:35:48+02:00

Welcome to Part 3 of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I'm currently working as a Site Reliability Engineer, and I’m here to share what SRE is all about in this blog series.

2023-08-18 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture
2023-11-19 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance
2024-01-09 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture (You are currently reading this)
2024-09-07 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers

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Putting Well-being First



Site Reliability Engineering is all about keeping systems reliable, but we often forget how important the human side is. A healthy on-call culture is just as crucial as any technical fix. The well-being of the engineers really matters.

First off, a healthy on-call rotation is about more than just handling incidents. It's about creating a supportive ecosystem. This means cutting down on pain points, offering mentorship, quickly iterating on processes, and making sure engineers have the right tools. But there's a catch—engineers need to be willing to learn. Especially in on-call rotations where SREs work with Software Engineers or QA Engineers, it can be tough to get everyone motivated. QA Engineers want to test, Software Engineers want to build new features; they don’t want to deal with production issues. This can be really frustrating for the SREs trying to mentor them.

Plus, measuring a good on-call experience isn't always clear-cut. You might think fewer pages mean a better on-call setup—and yeah, no one wants to get paged after hours—but it's not just about the number of pages. Trust, ownership, accountability, and solid communication are what really matter.

A key part is giving feedback about the on-call experience to keep learning and improving. If alerts are mostly noise, they need to be tweaked or even ditched. If alerts are helpful, can we automate the repetitive tasks? If there are knowledge gaps, is the documentation lacking? Regular retrospectives ensure that the systems get better over time and the on-call experience improves for the engineers.

Getting new team members ready for on-call duties is super important for keeping systems reliable and efficient. This means giving them the knowledge, tools, and support they need to handle incidents with confidence. It starts with a rundown of the system architecture and common issues, then training on monitoring tools, alerting systems, and incident response protocols. Watching experienced on-call engineers in action can provide some hands-on learning. Too often, though, new engineers get thrown into the deep end without proper onboarding because the more experienced engineers are too busy dealing with ongoing production issues.

A culture where everyone's always on and alert can cause burnout. Engineers need to know their limits, take breaks, and ask for help when they need it. This isn't just about personal health; a burnt-out engineer can drag down the whole team and the systems they manage. A good on-call culture keeps systems running while making sure engineers are happy, healthy, and supported. Experienced engineers should take the time to mentor juniors, but junior engineers should also stay engaged, investigate issues, and learn new things on their own.

For junior engineers, it's tempting to always ask the experts for help whenever something goes wrong. While that might seem reasonable, constantly handing out solutions doesn't scale—there are endless ways for production systems to break. So, every engineer needs to learn how to debug, troubleshoot, and resolve incidents on their own. The experts should be there for guidance and can step in when a junior gets really stuck, but they also need to give space for less experienced engineers to grow and learn.

A blameless on-call culture is essential for creating a safe and collaborative environment where engineers can handle incidents without worrying about getting blamed. It recognizes that mistakes are just part of learning and innovating. When people know they won’t be punished for errors, they’re more likely to talk openly about what went wrong, which helps the whole team learn and improve. Plus, a blameless culture boosts psychological safety, job satisfaction, and reduces burnout, keeping everyone committed and engaged.

Mistakes are gonna happen, which is why having a blameless on-call culture is so important.

Continue with the fourth part of this series:

2024-09-07 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Bash Golf Part 3 gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-12-10-bash-golf-part-3.gmi 2023-12-10T11:35:54+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This is the third blog post about my Bash Golf series. This series is random Bash tips, tricks, and weirdnesses I have encountered over time.

Bash Golf Part 3



Published at 2023-12-10T11:35:54+02:00

This is the third blog post about my Bash Golf series. This series is random Bash tips, tricks, and weirdnesses I have encountered over time.

2021-11-29 Bash Golf Part 1
2022-01-01 Bash Golf Part 2
2023-12-10 Bash Golf Part 3 (You are currently reading this)

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      \       .\. ..    .\. ..   .                        |
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     / /   .  / /  .'.  / /  .'    .                      |
jgs^^^^^^^`^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                        Art by Joan Stark, mod. by Paul Buetow

Table of Contents




FUNCNAME



FUNCNAME is an array you are looking for a way to dynamically determine the name of the current function (which could be considered the callee in the context of its own execution), you can use the special variable FUNCNAME. This is an array variable that contains the names of all shell functions currently in the execution call stack. The element FUNCNAME[0] holds the name of the currently executing function, FUNCNAME[1] the name of the function that called that, and so on.

This is particularly useful for logging when you want to include the callee function in the log output. E.g. look at this log helper:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

log () {
    local -r level="$1"; shift
    local -r message="$1"; shift
    local -i pid="$$"

    local -r callee=${FUNCNAME[1]}
    local -r stamp=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)

    echo "$level|$stamp|$pid|$callee|$message" >&2
}

at_home_friday_evening () {
    log INFO 'One Peperoni Pizza, please'
}

at_home_friday_evening

The output is as follows:

❯ ./logexample.sh
INFO|20231210-082732|123002|at_home_friday_evening|One Peperoni Pizza, please

:(){ :|:& };:



This one may be widely known already, but I am including it here as I found a cute image illustrating it. But to break :(){ :|:& };: down:

  • :(){ } is really a declaration of the function :
  • The ; is ending the current statement
  • The : at the end is calling the function :
  • :|:& is the function body

Let's break down the function body :|:&:

  • The first : is calling the function recursively
  • The |: is piping the output to the function : again (parallel recursion)
  • The & lets it run in the background.

So, it's a fork bomb. If you run it, your computer will run out of resources eventually. (Modern Linux distributions could have reasonable limits configured for your login session, so it won't bring down your whole system anymore unless you run it as root!)

And here is the cute illustration:

Bash fork bomb

Inner functions



Bash defines variables as it is interpreting the code. The same applies to function declarations. Let's consider this code:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

outer() {
  inner() {
    echo 'Intel inside!'
  }
  inner
}

inner
outer
inner

And let's execute it:

❯ ./inner.sh
/tmp/inner.sh: line 10: inner: command not found
Intel inside!
Intel inside!

What happened? The first time inner was called, it wasn't defined yet. That only happens after the outer run. Note that inner will still be globally defined. But functions can be declared multiple times (the last version wins):

#!/usr/bin/env bash

outer1() {
  inner() {
    echo 'Intel inside!'
  }
  inner
}

outer2() {
  inner() {
    echo 'Wintel inside!'
  }
  inner
}

outer1
inner
outer2
inner

And let's run it:

❯ ./inner2.sh
Intel inside!
Intel inside!
Wintel inside!
Wintel inside!

Exporting functions



Have you ever wondered how to execute a shell function in parallel through xargs? The problem is that this won't work:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

some_expensive_operations() {
  echo "Doing expensive operations with '$1' from pid $$"
}

for i in {0..9}; do echo $i; done \
  | xargs -P10 -I{} bash -c 'some_expensive_operations "{}"'

We try here to run ten parallel processes; each of them should run the some_expensive_operations function with a different argument. The arguments are provided to xargs through STDIN one per line. When executed, we get this:

❯ ./xargs.sh
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found
bash: line 1: some_expensive_operations: command not found

There's an easy solution for this. Just export the function! It will then be magically available in any sub-shell!

#!/usr/bin/env bash

some_expensive_operations() {
  echo "Doing expensive operations with '$1' from pid $$"
}
export -f some_expensive_operations

for i in {0..9}; do echo $i; done \
  | xargs -P10 -I{} bash -c 'some_expensive_operations "{}"'

When we run this now, we get:

❯ ./xargs.sh
Doing expensive operations with '0' from pid 132831
Doing expensive operations with '1' from pid 132832
Doing expensive operations with '2' from pid 132833
Doing expensive operations with '3' from pid 132834
Doing expensive operations with '4' from pid 132835
Doing expensive operations with '5' from pid 132836
Doing expensive operations with '6' from pid 132837
Doing expensive operations with '7' from pid 132838
Doing expensive operations with '8' from pid 132839
Doing expensive operations with '9' from pid 132840

If some_expensive_function would call another function, the other function must also be exported. Otherwise, there will be a runtime error again. E.g., this won't work:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

some_other_function() {
  echo "$1"
}

some_expensive_operations() {
  some_other_function "Doing expensive operations with '$1' from pid $$"
}
export -f some_expensive_operations

for i in {0..9}; do echo $i; done \
  | xargs -P10 -I{} bash -c 'some_expensive_operations "{}"'

... because some_other_function isn't exported! You will also need to add an export -f some_other_function!

Dynamic variables with local



You may know that local is how to declare local variables in a function. Most don't know that those variables actually have dynamic scope. Let's consider the following example:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

foo() {
  local foo=bar # Declare local/dynamic variable
  bar
  echo "$foo"
}

bar() {
  echo "$foo"
  foo=baz
}

foo=foo # Declare global variable
foo # Call function foo
echo "$foo"

Let's pause a minute. What do you think the output would be?

Let's run it:

❯ ./dynamic.sh
bar
baz
foo

What happened? The variable foo (declared with local) is available in the function it was declared in and in all other functions down the call stack! We can even modify the value of foo, and the change will be visible up the call stack. It's not a global variable; on the last line, echo "$foo" echoes the global variable content.


if conditionals



Consider all variants here more or less equivalent:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

declare -r foo=foo
declare -r bar=bar

if [ "$foo" = foo ]; then
  if [ "$bar" = bar ]; then
    echo ok1
  fi
fi

if [ "$foo" = foo ] && [ "$bar" == bar ]; then
  echo ok2a
fi

[ "$foo" = foo ] && [ "$bar" == bar ] && echo ok2b

if [[ "$foo" = foo && "$bar" == bar ]]; then
  echo ok3a
fi

 [[ "$foo" = foo && "$bar" == bar ]] && echo ok3b

if test "$foo" = foo && test "$bar" = bar; then
  echo ok4a
fi

test "$foo" = foo && test "$bar" = bar && echo ok4b

The output we get is:

❯ ./if.sh
ok1
ok2a
ok2b
ok3a
ok3b
ok4a
ok4b

Multi-line comments



You all know how to comment. Put a # in front of it. You could use multiple single-line comments or abuse heredocs and redirect it to the : no-op command to emulate multi-line comments. 

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Single line comment

# These are two single line
# comments one after another

: <<COMMENT
This is another way a
multi line comment
could be written!
COMMENT

I will not demonstrate the execution of this script, as it won't print anything! It's obviously not the most pretty way of commenting on your code, but it could sometimes be handy!

Don't change it while it's executed



Consider this script:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

echo foo
echo echo baz >> $0
echo bar

When it is run, it will do:

❯ ./if.sh
foo
bar
baz
❯ cat if.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash

echo foo
echo echo baz >> $0
echo bar
echo baz

So what happened? The echo baz line was appended to the script while it was still executed! And the interpreter also picked it up! It tells us that Bash evaluates each line as it encounters it. This can lead to nasty side effects when editing the script while it is still being executed! You should always keep this in mind!

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-05-16 Personal Bash coding style guide
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2021-11-29 Bash Golf Part 1
2022-01-01 Bash Golf Part 2
2023-12-10 Bash Golf Part 3 (You are currently reading this)

Back to the main site
 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-11-19-site-reliability-engineering-part-2.gmi 2023-11-19T00:18:18+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This is the second part of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I am currently employed as a Site Reliability Engineer and will try to share what SRE is about in this blog series.

Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance



Published at 2023-11-19T00:18:18+03:00

This is the second part of my Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) series. I am currently employed as a Site Reliability Engineer and will try to share what SRE is about in this blog series.

2023-08-18 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture
2023-11-19 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance (You are currently reading this)
2024-01-09 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture
2024-09-07 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers

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Striking the Right Balance Between Reliability and Speed



Site Reliability Engineering is more than just a bunch of best practices or methods. It's a guiding light for engineering teams, helping them navigate the tricky waters of modern software development and system management.
In the world of software production, there are two big forces that often clash: the push for fast feature releases (velocity) and the need for reliable systems. Traditionally, moving faster meant more risk. SRE helps balance these opposing goals with things like error budgets and SLIs/SLOs. These tools give teams a clear way to measure how much they can push changes without hurting system health. So, the error budget becomes a balancing act, helping teams trade off between innovation and reliability.

Finding the right balance in SRE means juggling operations and coding. Ideally, engineers should split their time 50/50 between these tasks. This isn't just a random rule; it highlights how much SRE values both maintaining smooth operations and driving innovation. This way, SREs not only handle today's problems but also prepare for tomorrow's challenges.

But not all operations tasks are the same. SRE makes a clear distinction between "ops work" and "toil." Ops work is essential for maintaining systems and adds value, while toil is the repetitive, boring stuff that doesn’t. It's super important to recognize and minimize toil because a culture that lets engineers get bogged down in it will kill innovation and growth. The way an organization handles toil says a lot about its operational health and commitment to balance.

A key part of finding operational balance is the tools and processes that SREs use. Great monitoring and observability tools, especially those that can handle lots of complex data, are essential. This isn’t just about having the right tech—it shows that the organization values proactive problem-solving. With systems that can spot potential issues early, SREs can keep things stable while still pushing forward.

Operational balance isn't just about tech or processes; it's also about people. The well-being of on-call engineers is just as important as the health of the services they manage. Doing postmortems after incidents, having continuous feedback loops, and identifying gaps in tools, skills, or resources all help make sure the human side of operations gets the attention it deserves.

In the end, finding operational balance in SRE is an ongoing journey, not a one-time thing. Companies need to keep reassessing their practices, tools, and especially their culture. When they get this balance right, they can keep innovating without sacrificing the reliability of their systems, leading to long-term success.

That all sounds pretty idealistic. The reality is that getting the perfect balance is really tough. No system is ever going to be perfect. But hey, we should still strive for it!

Continue with the third part of this series:

2024-01-09 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 'Mind Management' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-11-11-mind-management-book-notes.gmi 2023-11-11T22:21:47+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'Mind Management' by David Kadavy. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

"Mind Management" book notes



Published at 2023-11-11T22:21:47+02:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "Mind Management" by David Kadavy. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

         ,..........   ..........,
     ,..,'          '.'          ',..,
    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
   ,' ,'             :             ', ',
  ,' ,'              :              ', ',
 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Table of Contents




It's not about time management



Productivity isn't about time management - it's about mind management. When you put a lot of effort into something, there are:

  • The point of diminishing returns
  • The point of negative return

Empty slots in the calendar



If we do more things in less time and use all possible slots, speed read, etc., we are more productive. But in reality, that's not the entire truth. You also exchange one thing against everything else.... You cut out too much from your actual life.

When you safe time...



...keep it.

  • stare out of the window; that's good for you.
  • Creative thinking needs space. It will pay dividends tomorrow.
  • You will be rewarded with the "Eureka effect" - a sudden new insight.

Follow your mood



Ask yourself: what is my mood now? We never have the energy to do anything, so the better strategy is to follow your current mode and energy. E.g.:

  • Didn't sleep enough today? Then, do simple, non-demanding tasks at work
  • Had a great sleep, and there is even time before work starts? Pull in a workout...

Boosting creativity



The morning without coffee is a gift for creativity, but you often get distracted. Minimize distractions, too. I have no window to stare out but a plain blank wall.

  • The busier you are, the less creative you will be.
  • Event time (divergent thinking) vs clock time (convergent thinking)
  • Don't race with time but walk alongside it as rough time lines.
  • Don't judge every day after the harvest, but the seed you lay

The right mood for the task at hand



We need to try many different combinations. Limiting ourselves and trying too hard makes us frustrated and burn out. Creativity requires many iterations.

I can only work according to my available brain power.

I can also change my mood according to what needs improvement. Just imagine the last time you were in that mood and then try to get into it. It can take several tries to hit a working mood. Try to replicate that mental state. This can also be by location or by another habit, e.g. by a beer.

Once you are in a mental state, don't try to change it. It will take a while for your brain to switch to a completely different state.

Week of want. For a week, only do what you want and not what you must do. Your ideas will get much more expansive.

It gives you pleasure and is in a good mood. This increases creativity if you do what you want to do.

Creativity hacks



  • Coffee can cause anxiety.
  • Take phentermine with coffee to take off the edge and have a relaxed focus
  • Green tea, which tastes sweet plus supplement boost.
  • Also wine. But be careful with alcohol. Don't drink a whole bottle.
  • Have a machine without distractions and internet access for writing.
  • Go to open spaces for creativity.
  • Go to closed spaces for polishing.

Planning and strategizing



Minds work better in sprints and not in marathons. Have a weekly plan, not a daily one.

  • Alternating incubation to avoid blocks.
  • Build on systems that use chaos for growth, e.g. unplanned disasters.
  • Things don't go after the plan is the plan. Be anti-fragile.

Organize by mental state. In the time management context, the mental state doesn't exist. You schedule as many things as possible by project. In the mind management context, mental state is everything. You could prepare by mental state and not by assignment.

You could schedule exploratory tasks when you are under grief. Sound systems should create slack for creativity. Plan only for a few minutes.

Fake it until you make it.



  • E.g. act calm if you want to be calm.
  • Talk slowly and deepen your voice a bit to appear more confident. You will also become more confident.
  • Also, use power positions for better confidence.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 KISS static web photo albums with `photoalbum.sh` gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-10-29-kiss-static-web-photo-albums-with-photoalbum.sh.gmi 2023-10-29T22:25:04+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Once in a while, I share photos on the inter-web with either family and friends or on my The Irregular Ninja photo site. One hobby of mine is photography (even though I don't have enough time for it - so I am primarily a point-and-shoot photographer).

KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh



Published at 2023-10-29T22:25:04+02:00

Once in a while, I share photos on the inter-web with either family and friends or on my The Irregular Ninja photo site. One hobby of mine is photography (even though I don't have enough time for it - so I am primarily a point-and-shoot photographer).

I'm not particularly eager to use any photo social sharing platforms such as Flickr, 500px (I used them regularly in the past), etc., anymore. I value self-hosting, DIY and privacy (nobody should data mine my photos), and no third party should have any rights to my pictures.

I value KISS (keep it simple and stupid) and simplicity. All that's required for a web photo album is some simple HTML and spice it up with CSS. No need for JavaScript, no need for a complex dynamic website. 

         ___        .---------.._
  ______!fsc!_....-' .g8888888p. '-------....._
.'          //     .g8:       :8p..---....___ \'.
| foo.zone //  ()  d88:       :88b|==========! !|
|         //       888:       :888|==========| !|
|___      \\_______'T88888888888P''----------'//|   
|   \       """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""/ |   
|    !...._____      .="""=.   .[]    ____...!  |   
|   /               ! .g$p. !   .[]          :  |   
|  !               :  $$$$$  :  .[]          :  |   
|  !irregular.ninja ! 'T$P' !   .[]           '.|   
|   \__              "=._.="   .()        __    |   
|.--'  '----._______________________.----'  '--.|
'._____________________________________________.'

Table of Contents




Introducing photoalbum.sh



photoalbum.sh is a minimal Bash (Bourne Again Shell) script for Unix-like operating systems (such as Linux) to generate static web photo albums. The resulting static photo album is pure HTML+CSS (without any JavaScript!). It is specially designed to be as simple as possible.

Installation



Installation is straightforward. All required is a recent version of GNU Bash, GNU Make, Git and ImageMagick. On Fedora, the dependencies are installed with:

% sudo dnf install -y ImageMagick make git

Now, clone, make and install the script:

% git clone https://codeberg.org/snonux/photoalbum
Cloning into 'photoalbum'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 1624, done.
remote: Total 1624 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 1624
Receiving objects: 100% (1624/1624), 193.36 KiB | 1.49 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (1227/1227), done.

% cd photoalbum
/home/paul/photoalbum

% make
cut -d' ' -f2 changelog | head -n 1 | sed 's/(//;s/)//' > .version
test ! -d ./bin && mkdir ./bin || exit 0
sed "s/PHOTOALBUMVERSION/$(cat .version)/" src/photoalbum.sh > ./bin/photoalbum
chmod 0755 ./bin/photoalbum

% sudo make install
test ! -d /usr/bin && mkdir -p /usr/bin || exit 0
cp ./bin/* /usr/bin
test ! -d /usr/share/photoalbum/templates && mkdir -p /usr/share/photoalbum/templates || exit 0
cp -R ./share/templates /usr/share/photoalbum/
test ! -d /etc/default && mkdir -p /etc/default || exit 0
cp ./src/photoalbum.default.conf /etc/default/photoalbum

You should now have the photoalbum command in your $PATH. But wait to use it! First, it needs to be set up!

% photoalbum version
This is Photoalbum Version 0.5.1

Setting it up



Now, it's time to set up the Irregular Ninja static web photo album (or any other web photo album you may be setting up!)! Create a directory (here: irregular.ninja for the Irregular Ninja Photo site - or any oter sub-directory reflecting your album's name), and inside of that directory, create an incoming directory. The incoming directory. Copy all photos to be part of the album there.

% mkdir irregular.ninja
% cd irregular.ninja
% # cp -Rpv ~/Photos/your-photos ./incoming

In this example, I am skipping the cp ... part as I intend to use an alternative incoming directory, as you will see later in the configuration file.

The general usage of potoalbum is as follows:

photoalbum clean|generate|version [rcfile] photoalbum
photoalbum makemake

Whereas:

  • clean: Cleans up the workspace
  • generate: Generates the static photo album
  • version: Prints out the version
  • makemake: Creates a Makefile and photoalbumrc in the current working directory.

So what we will do next is to run the following inside of the irregular.ninja/ directory; it will generate a Makefile and a configuration file photoalbumrc containing a few configurable options:

% photoalbum makemake
You may now customize ./photoalbumrc and run make

% cat Makefile
all:
	photoalbum generate photoalbumrc
clean:
	photoalbum clean photoalbumrc

% cat photoalbumrc
# The title of the photoalbum
TITLE='A simple Photoalbum'

# Thumbnail height geometry
THUMBHEIGHT=300
# Normal geometry height (when viewing photo). Uncomment, to keep original size.
HEIGHT=1200
# Max previews per page.
MAXPREVIEWS=40
# Randomly shuffle all previews.
# SHUFFLE=yes

# Diverse directories, need to be full paths, not relative!
INCOMING_DIR=$(pwd)/incoming
DIST_DIR=$(pwd)/dist
TEMPLATE_DIR=/usr/share/photoalbum/templates/default
#TEMPLATE_DIR=/usr/share/photoalbum/templates/minimal

# Includes a .tar of the incoming dir in the dist, can be yes or no
TARBALL_INCLUDE=yes
TARBALL_SUFFIX=.tar
TAR_OPTS='-c'

# Some debugging options
#set -e
#set -x

In the case for irregular.ninja, I changed the defaults to the following:

--- photoalbumrc        2023-10-29 21:42:00.894202045 +0200
+++ photoalbumrc.new 2023-06-04 10:40:08.030994440 +0300
@@ -1,23 +1,24 @@
 # The title of the photoalbum
-TITLE='A simple Photoalbum'
+TITLE='Irregular.Ninja'

 # Thumbnail height geometry
-THUMBHEIGHT=300
+THUMBHEIGHT=400
 # Normal geometry height (when viewing photo). Uncomment, to keep original size.
-HEIGHT=1200
+HEIGHT=1800
 # Max previews per page.
 MAXPREVIEWS=40
-# Randomly shuffle all previews.
-# SHUFFLE=yes
+# Randomly shuffle
+SHUFFLE=yes

 # Diverse directories, need to be full paths, not relative!
-INCOMING_DIR=$(pwd)/incoming
+INCOMING_DIR=~/Nextcloud/Photos/irregular.ninja
 DIST_DIR=$(pwd)/dist
 TEMPLATE_DIR=/usr/share/photoalbum/templates/default
 #TEMPLATE_DIR=/usr/share/photoalbum/templates/minimal

 # Includes a .tar of the incoming dir in the dist, can be yes or no
-TARBALL_INCLUDE=yes
+TARBALL_INCLUDE=no
 TARBALL_SUFFIX=.tar
 TAR_OPTS='-c'

So I changed the album title, adjusted some image and thumbnail dimensions, and I want all images to be randomly shuffled every time the album is generated! I also have all my photos in my Nextcloud Photo directory and don't want to copy them to the local incoming directory. Also, a tarball containing the whole album as a download isn't provided.

Generating the static photo album



Let's generate it. Depending on the image sizes and count, the following step may take a while. 

% make
photoalbum generate photoalbumrc
Processing 1055079_cool-water-wallpapers-hd-hd-desktop-wal.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/1055079_cool-water-wallpapers-hd-hd-desktop-wal.jpg
Processing 11271242324.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/11271242324.jpg
Processing 11271306683.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/11271306683.jpg
Processing 13950707932.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/13950707932.jpg
Processing 14077406487.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/14077406487.jpg
Processing 14859380100.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/14859380100.jpg
Processing 14869239578.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/14869239578.jpg
Processing 14879132910.jpg to /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/photos/14879132910.jpg
.
.
.
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-4.html
Creating thumb /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/thumbs/20211130_091051.jpg
Creating blur /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/blurs/20211130_091051.jpg
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/page-7.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-5.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-5.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-5.html
Creating thumb /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/thumbs/DSCF0188.JPG
Creating blur /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/blurs/DSCF0188.JPG
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/page-7.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-6.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-6.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/7-6.html
Creating thumb /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/thumbs/P3500897-01.jpg
Creating blur /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/blurs/P3500897-01.jpg
.
.
.
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/8-0.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/8-41.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/9-0.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/9-41.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/html/index.html
Generating /home/paul/irregular.ninja/dist/.//index.html

The result will be in the distribution directory ./dist. This directory is publishable to the inter-web:

% ls ./dist
blurs  html  index.html  photos  thumbs

I usually do that via rsync to my web server (I use OpenBSD with the standard httpd web server, btw.), which is as simple as:

% rsync --delete -av ./dist/. admin@blowfish.buetow.org:/var/www/htdocs/irregular.ninja/

Have a look at the end result here:

https://irregular.ninja

PS: There's also a server-side synchronisation script mirroring the same content to another server for high availability reasons (out of scope for this blog post).

Cleaning it up



A simple make clean will clean up the ./dist directory and all other (if any) temp files created.

HTML templates



Poke around in this source directory. You will find a bunch of Bash-HTML template files. You could tweak them to your liking.

Conclusion



A decent looking (in my opinion, at least) in less than 500 (273 as of this writing, to be precise) lines of Bash code and with minimal dependencies; what more do you want? How many LOCs would this be in Raku with the same functionality (can it be sub-100?).

Also, I like the CSS effects which I recently added. In particular, for the Irregular Ninja site, I randomly shuffled the CSS effects you see. The background blur images are the same but rotated 180 degrees and blurred out.

photoalbum.sh source code on Codeberg.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other Bash and KISS-related posts are:

2021-05-16 Personal Bash coding style guide
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2021-09-12 Keep it simple and stupid
2021-11-29 Bash Golf Part 1
2022-01-01 Bash Golf Part 2
2023-06-01 KISS server monitoring with Gogios
2023-10-29 KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh (You are currently reading this)
2023-12-10 Bash Golf Part 3
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD

Back to the main site
 DTail usage examples gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-09-25-dtail-usage-examples.gmi 2023-09-25T14:57:42+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Hey there. As I am pretty busy this month personally (I am now on Paternity Leave) and as I still want to post once monthly, the blog post of this month will only be some DTail usage examples. They're from the DTail documentation, but not all readers of my blog may be aware of those!

DTail usage examples



Published at 2023-09-25T14:57:42+03:00

Hey there. As I am pretty busy this month personally (I am now on Paternity Leave) and as I still want to post once monthly, the blog post of this month will only be some DTail usage examples. They're from the DTail documentation, but not all readers of my blog may be aware of those!

DTail is a distributed DevOps tool for tailing, grepping, catting logs and other text files on many remote machines at once which I programmed in Go.

https://dtail.dev

                              ,_---~~~~~----._
                        _,,_,*^____      _____``*g*\"*,
  ____ _____     _ _   / __/ /'     ^.  /      \ ^@q   f
 |  _ \_   _|_ _(_) |   @f |      ((@|  |@))    l  0 _/
 | | | || |/ _` | | |  \`/   \~____ / __ \_____/    \
 | |_| || | (_| | | |   |           _l__l_           I
 |____/ |_|\__,_|_|_|   }          [______]           I
                        ]            | | |            |
                        ]             ~ ~             |
                        |   Let's tail those logs!   |
                         |                           |

Table of Contents




Commands



DTail consists out of a server and several client binaries. In this post, I am showcasing their use!

  • Use dtail to follow logs
  • Use dtail to aggregate logs while they are followed
  • Use dcat to display logs and other text files already written
  • Use dgrep to grep (search) logs and other text files already written
  • Use dmap to aggregate logs and other text files already written
  • dserver is the DTail server, where all the clients can connect to

Following logs



The following example demonstrates how to follow logs of several servers at once. The server list is provided as a flat text file. The example filters all records containing the string INFO. Any other Go compatible regular expression can also be used instead of INFO.

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt --grep INFO --files "/var/log/dserver/*.log"

Hint: you can also provide a comma separated server list, e.g.: servers server1.example.org,server2.example.org:PORT,...

Tail example

Hint: You can also use the shorthand version (omitting the --files)

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt --grep INFO "/var/log/dserver/*.log"

Aggregating logs



To run ad-hoc map-reduce aggregations on newly written log lines you must add a query. The following example follows all remote log lines and prints out every few seconds the result to standard output.

Hint: To run a map-reduce query across log lines written in the past, please use the dmap command instead.

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt \
    --files '/var/log/dserver/*.log' \
    --query 'from STATS select sum($goroutines),sum($cgocalls),
             last($time),max(lifetimeConnections)'

Beware: For map-reduce queries to work, you have to ensure that DTail supports your log format. Check out the documentaiton of the DTail query language and the DTail log formats on the DTail homepage for more information.

Tail map-reduce example

Hint: You can also use the shorthand version:

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt \
    --files '/var/log/dserver/*.log' \
    'from STATS select sum($goroutines),sum($cgocalls),
     last($time),max(lifetimeConnections)'

Here is another example:

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt \
    --files '/var/log/dserver/*.log' \
    --query 'from STATS select $hostname,max($goroutines),max($cgocalls),$loadavg,
             lifetimeConnections group by $hostname order by max($cgocalls)'

Tail map-reduce example 2

You can also continuously append the results to a CSV file by adding outfile append filename.csv to the query:

% dtail --servers serverlist.txt \
    --files '/var/log/dserver/*.log' \
    --query 'from STATS select ... outfile append result.csv'

How to use dcat



The following example demonstrates how to cat files (display the full content of the files) on several servers at once.

As you can see in this example, a DTail client also creates a local log file of all received data in ~/log. You can also use the noColor and -plain flags (this all also work with other DTail commands than dcat).

% dcat --servers serverlist.txt --files /etc/hostname

Cat example

Hint: You can also use the shorthand version:

% dcat --servers serverlist.txt /etc/hostname

How to use dgrep



The following example demonstrates how to grep files (display only the lines which match a given regular expression) of multiple servers at once. In this example, we look after some entries in /etc/passwd. This time, we don't provide the server list via an file but rather via a comma separated list directly on the command line. We also explore the -before, -after and -max flags (see animation).

% dgrep --servers server1.example.org:2223 \
    --files /etc/passwd \
    --regex nologin

Generally, dgrep is also a very useful way to search historic application logs for certain content.

Grep example

Hint: -regex is an alias for -grep.

How to use dmap



To run a map-reduce aggregation over logs written in the past, the dmap command can be used. The following example aggregates all map-reduce fields dmap will print interim results every few seconds. You can also write the result to an CSV file by adding outfile result.csv to the query.

% dmap --servers serverlist.txt \
    --files '/var/log/dserver/*.log' \
    --query 'from STATS select $hostname,max($goroutines),max($cgocalls),$loadavg,
             lifetimeConnections group by $hostname order by max($cgocalls)'

Remember: For that to work, you have to make sure that DTail supports your log format. You can either use the ones already defined in internal/mapr/logformat or add an extension to support a custom log format. The example here works out of the box though, as DTail understands its own log format already.

DMap example

How to use the DTail serverless mode



Until now, all examples so far required to have remote server(s) to connect to. That makes sense, as after all DTail is a *distributed* tool. However, there are circumstances where you don't really need to connect to a server remotely. For example, you already have a login shell open to the server an all what you want is to run some queries directly on local log files.

The serverless mode does not require any dserver up and running and therefore there is no networking/SSH involved.

All commands shown so far also work in a serverless mode. All what needs to be done is to omit a server list. The DTail client then starts in serverless mode.

Serverless map-reduce query



The following dmap example is the same as the previously shown one, but the difference is that it operates on a local log file directly:

% dmap --files /var/log/dserver/dserver.log
    --query 'from STATS select $hostname,max($goroutines),max($cgocalls),$loadavg,
              lifetimeConnections group by $hostname order by max($cgocalls)'

As a shorthand version the following command can be used:

% dmap 'from STATS select $hostname,max($goroutines),max($cgocalls),$loadavg,
        lifetimeConnections group by $hostname order by max($cgocalls)' \
        /var/log/dsever/dserver.log

You can also use a file input pipe as follows:

% cat /var/log/dserver/dserver.log | \
    dmap 'from STATS select $hostname,max($goroutines),max($cgocalls),$loadavg,
          lifetimeConnections group by $hostname order by max($cgocalls)'

Aggregating CSV files



In essence, this works exactly like aggregating logs. All files operated on must be valid CSV files and the first line of the CSV must be the header. E.g.:

% cat example.csv
name,lastname,age,profession
Michael,Jordan,40,Basketball player
Michael,Jackson,100,Singer
Albert,Einstein,200,Physician
% dmap --query 'select lastname,name where age > 40 logformat csv outfile result.csv' example.csv
% cat result.csv
lastname,name
Jackson,Michael
Einstein,Albert

DMap can also be used to query and aggregate CSV files from remote servers.

Other serverless commands



The serverless mode works transparently with all other DTail commands. Here are some examples:

% dtail /var/log/dserver/dserver.log


% dtail --logLevel trace /var/log/dserver/dserver.log


% dcat /etc/passwd


% dcat --plain /etc/passwd > /etc/test
# Should show no differences.
diff /etc/test /etc/passwd 


% dgrep --regex ERROR --files /var/log/dserver/dsever.log


% dgrep --before 10 --after 10 --max 10 --grep ERROR /var/log/dserver/dsever.log

Use --help for more available options. Or go to the DTail page for more information! Hope you find DTail useful!

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-22 DTail - The distributed log tail program
2022-03-06 The release of DTail 4.0.0
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2023-09-25 DTail usage examples (You are currently reading this)

I hope you find the tools presented in this post useful!

Paul

Back to the main site
 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-08-18-site-reliability-engineering-part-1.gmi 2023-08-18T22:43:47+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Being a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is like stepping into a lively, ever-evolving universe. The world of SRE mixes together different tech, a unique culture, and a whole lot of determination. It’s one of the toughest but most exciting jobs out there. There's zero chance of getting bored because there's always a fresh challenge to tackle and new technology to play around with. It's not just about the tech side of things either; it's heavily rooted in communication, collaboration, and teamwork. As someone currently working as an SRE, I’m here to break it all down for you in this blog series. Let's dive into what SRE is really all about!

Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture



Published at 2023-08-18T22:43:47+03:00

Being a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is like stepping into a lively, ever-evolving universe. The world of SRE mixes together different tech, a unique culture, and a whole lot of determination. It’s one of the toughest but most exciting jobs out there. There's zero chance of getting bored because there's always a fresh challenge to tackle and new technology to play around with. It's not just about the tech side of things either; it's heavily rooted in communication, collaboration, and teamwork. As someone currently working as an SRE, I’m here to break it all down for you in this blog series. Let's dive into what SRE is really all about!

2023-08-18 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 1: SRE and Organizational Culture (You are currently reading this)
2023-11-19 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance
2024-01-09 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 3: On-Call Culture
2024-09-07 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 4: Onboarding for On-Call Engineers

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SRE and Organizational Culture: Navigating the Nexus



At the core of SRE is the principle of "prevention over cure." Unlike traditional IT setups that mostly react to problems, SRE focuses on spotting issues before they happen. This proactive approach involves using Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Service Level Objectives (SLOs). These tools give teams specific metrics and targets to aim for, helping them keep systems reliable and users happy. It's all about creating a culture that prioritizes user experience and makes sure everything runs smoothly to meet their needs.

Another key concept in SRE is the "error budget." It’s a clever approach that recognizes no system is perfect and that failures will happen. Instead of punishing mistakes, SRE culture embraces them as chances to learn and improve. The idea is to give teams a "budget" for errors, creating a space where innovation can thrive and failures are simply seen as lessons learned.

SRE isn't just about tech and metrics; it's also about people. It tackles the "hero culture" that often ends up burning out IT teams. Sure, having a hero swoop in to save the day can be great, but relying on that all the time just isn’t sustainable. Instead, SRE focuses on collective expertise and teamwork. It recognizes that heroes are at their best within a solid team, making the need for constant heroics unnecessary. This way of thinking promotes a balanced on-call experience and highlights trust, ownership, good communication, and collaboration as key to success. I've been there myself, falling into the hero trap, and I know firsthand that it's just not feasible to be the go-to person for every problem that comes up.

Also, the SRE model puts a big emphasis on good documentation. It's not enough to just have docs; they need to be top-notch and go through the same quality checks as code. This really helps with onboarding new team members, training, and keeping everyone on the same page.

Adopting SRE can be a big challenge for some organizations. They might think the SRE approach goes against their goals, like preferring to roll out new features quickly rather than focusing on reliability, or seeing SRE practices as too much hassle. Building an SRE culture often means taking the time to explain things patiently and showing the benefits, like faster release cycles and a better user experience.

Monitoring and observability are also big parts of SRE, highlighting the need for top-notch tools to query and analyze data. This aligns with the SRE focus on continuous learning and being adaptable. SREs naturally need to be curious, ready to dive into any strange issues, and always open to picking up new tools and practices.

For SRE to really work in any organization, everyone needs to buy into its principles. It's about moving away from working in isolated silos and relying on SRE to just patch things up. Instead, it’s about making reliability a shared responsibility across the whole team.

In short, bringing SRE principles into the mix goes beyond just the technical stuff. It helps shift the whole organizational culture to value things like preventing issues before they happen, always learning, working together, and being open with communication. When SRE and corporate culture blend well, you end up with not just reliable systems but also a strong, resilient, and forward-thinking workplace.

Organizations that have SLIs, SLOs, and error budgets in place are already pretty far along in their SRE journey. Getting there takes a lot of communication, convincing people, and patience.

Continue with the second part of this series:

2023-11-19 Site Reliability Engineering - Part 2: Operational Balance

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³ gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-07-21-gemtexter-2.1.0-lets-gemtext-again-3.gmi 2023-07-21T10:19:31+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version `2.1.0`. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown, written in GNU Bash.

Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³



Published at 2023-07-21T10:19:31+03:00

I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version 2.1.0. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown, written in GNU Bash.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gemtexter

-=[ typewriters ]=-  1/98
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      _|~~ ~~  |_       .-------.    =(_|_______|_)
    =(_|_______|_)=    _|~~ ~~  |_     |:::::::::|
      |:::::::::|    =(_|_______|_)    |:::::::[]|
      |:::::::[]|      |:::::::::|     |o=======.|
      |o=======.|      |:::::::[]|     `"""""""""`
 jgs  `"""""""""`      |o=======.|
  mod. by Paul Buetow  `"""""""""`

Table of Contents




Why Bash?



This project is too complex for a Bash script. Writing it in Bash was to try out how maintainable a "larger" Bash script could be. It's still pretty maintainable and helps me try new Bash tricks here and then!

Let's list what's new!

Switch to GPL3 license



Many (almost all) of the tools and commands (GNU Bash, GMU Sed, GNU Date, GNU Grep, GNU Source Highlight) used by Gemtexter are licensed under the GPL anyway. So why not use the same? This was an easy switch, as I was the only code contributor so far!

Source code highlighting support



The HTML output now supports source code highlighting, which is pretty neat if your site is about programming. The requirement is to have the source-highlight command, which is GNU Source Highlight, to be installed. Once done, you can annotate a bare block with the language to be highlighted. E.g.:

 ```bash
 if [ -n "$foo" ]; then
   echo "$foo"
 fi
 ```

The result will look like this (you can see the code highlighting only in the Web version, not in the Geminispace version of this site):

if [ -n "$foo" ]; then
  echo "$foo"
fi

Please run source-highlight --lang-list for a list of all supported languages.

HTML exact variant



Gemtexter is there to convert your Gemini Capsule into other formats, such as HTML and Markdown. An HTML exact variant can now be enabled in the gemtexter.conf by adding the line declare -rx HTML_VARIANT=exact. The HTML/CSS output changed to reflect a more exact Gemtext appearance and to respect the same spacing as you would see in the Geminispace.

Use of Hack webfont by default



The Hack web font is a typeface designed explicitly for source code. It's a derivative of the Bitstream Vera and DejaVu Mono lineage, but it features many improvements and refinements that make it better suited to reading and writing code.

The font has distinctive glyphs for every character, which helps to reduce confusion between similar-looking characters. For example, the characters "0" (zero), "O" (capital o), and "o" (lowercase o), or "1" (one), "l" (lowercase L), and "I" (capital i) all have distinct looks in Hack, making it easier to read and understand code at a glance.

Hack is open-source and freely available for use and modification under the MIT License.

HTML Mastodon verification support



The following link explains how URL verification works in Mastodon:

https://joinmastodon.org/verification

So we have to hyperlink to the Mastodon profile to be verified and also to include a rel='me' into the tag. In order to do that add this to the gemtexter.conf (replace the URI to your Mastodon profile accordingly):

declare -xr MASTODON_URI='https://fosstodon.org/@snonux'

and add the following into your index.gmi:

=> https://fosstodon.org/@snonux Me at Mastodon

The resulting line in the HTML output will be something as follows:

<a href='https://fosstodon.org/@snonux' rel='me'>Me at Mastodon</a>

More



Additionally, there were a couple of bug fixes, refactorings and overall improvements in the documentation made.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-24 Welcome to the Geminispace
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2022-08-27 Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again
2023-03-25 Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again²
2023-07-21 Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³ (You are currently reading this)
2024-10-02 Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴

Back to the main site
 'Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-07-17-career-guide-and-soft-skills-book-notes.gmi 2023-07-17T04:56:20+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These notes are of two books by 'John Sommez' I found helpful. I also added some of my own keypoints to it. These notes are mainly for my own use, but you might find them helpful, too.

"Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes



Published at 2023-07-17T04:56:20+03:00

These notes are of two books by "John Sommez" I found helpful. I also added some of my own keypoints to it. These notes are mainly for my own use, but you might find them helpful, too.

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 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
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                    '''

Table of Contents




Improve



Always learn new things



When you learn something new, e.g. a programming language, first gather an overview, learn from multiple sources, play around and learn by doing and not consuming and form your own questions. Don't read too much upfront. A large amount of time is spent in learning technical skills which were never use. You want to have a practical set of skills you are actually using. You need to know 20 percent to get out 80 percent of the results.

  • Learn a technology with a goal, e.g. implement a tool. Practice practise practice.
  • "I know X can do Y, I don't know exactly how, but I can look it up."
  • Read what experts are writing, for example follow blogs. Stay up to date and spent half an hour per day trading blogs and books.
  • Pick an open source application, read the code and try to understand it to get a feel of the syntax of the programming language.
  • Understand, that the standard library makes you a much better programmer.
  • Self learning is the top skill a programmer can have and is also useful in other aspects in your life.
  • Keep learning skills every day. Code every day. Don't be overconfident for job security. Read blogs, read books.
  • If you want to learn, then do it by exploring. Also teach what you learned (for example write a blog post or hold a presentation).

Fake it until you make it. But be honest about your abilities or lack of. There is however only time between now and until you make it. Refer to your abilities to learn.

Boot camps: The advantage of a boot camp is to pragmatically learn things fast. We almost always overestimate what we can do in a day. Especially during boot camps. Connect to others during the boot camps

Set goals



Your own goals are important but the manager also looks at how the team performs and how someone can help the team perform better. Check whether you are on track with your goals every 2 weeks in order to avoid surprises for the annual review. Make concrete goals for next review. Track and document your progress. Invest in your education. Make your goals known. If you want something, then ask for it. Nobody but you knows what you want.

Ratings



That's a trap: If you have to rate yourself, that's a trap. That never works in an unbiased way. Rate yourself always the best way but rate your weakest part as high as possible minus one point. Rate yourself as good as you can otherwise. Nobody is putting for fun a gun on his own head.

  • Don't do peer rating, it can fire back on you. What if the colleague becomes your new boss?
  • Cooperate rankings are unfortunately HR guidelines and politics and only mirror a little your actual performance.

Promotions



The most valuable employees are the ones who make themselves obsolete and automate all away. Keep a safety net of 3 to 6 months of finances. Safe at least 10 percent of your earnings. Also, if you make money it does not mean that you have to spent more money. Is a new car better than a used car which both can bring you from A to B? Liability vs assets.

  • Raise or promotion, what's better? Promotion is better as money will follow anyway then.
  • Take projects no-one wants and make them shine. A promotion will follow.
  • A promotion is not going to come to you because you deserve it. You have to hunt and ask for it.
  • Track all kudos (e.g. ask for emails from your colleagues).
  • Big corporations HRs don't expect a figjit. That's why it's so important to keep track of your accomplishments and kudos'.
  • If you want a raise be specific how much and know to back your demands. Don't make a thread and no ultimatums.
  • Best way for a promotion is to switch jobs. You can even switch back with a better salary.

Finish things



Hard work is necessary for accomplish results. However, work smarter not harder. Furthermore, working smart is not a substitute for working hard. Work both, hard and smart.

  • Learn to finish things without motivation. Things will pay off when you stick to stuff and eventually motivation can also come back.
  • You will fail if you don't plan realistically. Set also a schedule and follow to it as of life depends on it.
  • Advances come only of you give more than asked. Consistency, commitment and knowing what you need to do is more key than hard work.
  • Any action is better than no action. If you get stuck you have gained nothing.
  • You need to know the unknowns. Identify as many unknown not known things as possible.

Hard vs fun: Both engage the brain (video games vs work). Some work is hard and other is easy. Hard work is boring. The harsh truth is you have to put in hard and boring work in order to accomplish and be successful. Work won't be always boring though, as joy will follow with mastery.

Defeat is finally give up. Failure is the road to success, embrace it. Failure does not define you but how you respond to it. Events don't make your unhappy, but how you react to events do.

Expand the empire



The larger your empire is, the larger your circle of influence is. The larger the circle of influence is, the more opportunities you have.

  • Do the dirty work if you want to expand the empire. That's there the opportunities are.
  • SCRUM often fails due to the lack to commitment. The backlog just becomes a wish to get completed.
  • Apply work on your quality standards. Don't cross the line of compromise. Always improve your skills. Never be happy being good enough.

Become visible, keep track that you accomplishments. E.g. write a weekly summary. Do presentations, be seen. Learn new things and share your learnings. Be the problem solver and not the blamer.

Be pragmatic and also manage your time



Make use of time boxing via the Pomodoro technique: Set a target of rounds and track the rounds. That give you exact focused work time. That's really the trick. For example set a goal of 6 daily pomodores.

  • Every time you do something question why does it make sense be pragmatic and don't follow because it is best practice.
  • You can also apply the time boxing technique (Cal Newport) for focused deep work.

You should feel good of the work done even if you don't finished the task. You will feel good about pomodoro wise even you don't finish the task on hand yet. Helps you to enjoy time off more. Working longer may not sell anything.

The quota system



Defined quota of things done. E.g. N runs per week or M Blog posts per month or O pomodoros per week. This helps with consistency. Truly commit to these quotas. Failure is not an option. Start with small commitments. Don't commit to something you can't fulfill otherwise you set yourself up for failure.

  • Why does the quota System work? Slow and consistent pace is the key. It also overcomes willpower weaknesses as goals are preset.
  • Internal motivation is more important over external motivation. Check out Daniels book drive.
  • Multitasking: Batching is effective. E.g. emails twice daily at pre-set times..

Don't waste time



The biggest time waster is TV watching. The TV is programming you. It's insane that Americans watch so much TV as they work full time. Schedule one show at a time and watch it when you want to watch it. Most movies are crap anyways. The good movies will come to you as people will talk about them.

  • Social media is time waster as well. Schedule your Social Media times. For example be on Facebook only for max one hour on Saturdays.
  • Meetings can waste time as well. Simply don't go to them. Try to cancel meeting if it can be dealt with via email.
  • Enjoying things is not a waste of time. E.g. you could still play a game once in a while. It is important not to cut away all you enjoy from your life.

Habits



Try to have as many good habits as possible. Start with easy habits, and make them a little bit more challenging over time. Set ankers and rewards. Over time the routines will become habits naturally.

Habit stacking is effective, which is combining multiple habits at the same time. For example you can workout on a circular trainer while while watching a learning video on O'Reilly Safari Online while getting closer to your weekly step goal.

  • We don't have control over our habits but our own routines.
  • Routines help to form the habits, though.

Work-life balance



Avoid overwork hours. That's not as beneficial as you might think and comes only with very small rewards. Invest rather in yourself and not in your employer.

  • Work-life balance is a myth. Make it so that you enjoy work and your personal life and not just personal life.
  • Maintain fewer but good relationships. As a reward, better and integrated your life will be.
  • Life in the present Moment. Make the best of every moment of your life.
  • Enjoy every aspect of your life. If you want to take away one thing from this book that is it.

Use your most productive hours to work on you. Make that your priority. Take care of yourself a priority (E.g. do workouts or learn a new language). You can always workout 2 or 1 hour per day, but will you pay the price?

Mental health



  • Friendships and positive thinking help to have and maintain better health, longer Life, better productivity and increased happiness.
  • Positive thinking can be trained and be a habit. Read the book "The Power of Positive Thinking".
  • Stoicism helps. Meditation helps. Playing for fun helps too.

Become the person you want to become (your self image). Program your brain unconsciously. Don't become the person other people want you to be. Embrace yourself, you are you.

In most cases burnout is just an illusion. If you don't have motivation push through the wall. People usually don't pass the wall as they feel they are burned out. After pushing through the wall you will have the most fun, for example you will be able playing the guitar greatly.

Physical health



Utilise a standing desk and treadmill (you could walk and type at the same time). Increase the incline in order to burn more calories. Even on the standing desk you burn more calories than sitting. When you use pomodoro then you can use the small breaks for push-ups (maybe won't do as good when you are in a fasted state).

  • You can only do one thing, lose fat or gain muscles. Not both at the same time.
  • Train your strength by heavy lifting, but only with a very few repetitions (e.g. 5 max for each exercise, everything over this is body building).
  • If you want to increase the muscle mass use medium weights but lift them more often. If you want to increase your endurance lift light weights but with even more reps.
  • Avoid highly processed foods

Intermittent fasting is an effective method to maintain weight and health. But it does not mean that you can only eat junk food in the feeding windows. Also, diet and nutrition is the most important for health and fitness. They make it also easier to stay focused and positive.

No drama



Avoid drama at work. Where are humans there is drama. You can decide where to spent your energy in. But don't avoid conflict. Conflict is healthy in any kind of relationship. Be tactful and state your opinion. The goal is to find the best solution to the problem.

Don't worry about other people what they do and don't do. You only worry about you. Shut up and get your own things done. But you could help to inspire a not working colleague.

  • During an argument, take the opponent's position and see how your opinion changes.
  • If you they to convince someone else it's an argument. Of you try to find the best solution it is a good resolution.
  • If someone is hurting the team let the manager know but phrase it nicely.
  • How to get rid of a never ending talking person? Set up focus hours officially where you don't want to be interrupted. Present as if it is your defect that you get interrupted easily.
  • TOXIC PEOPLE: AVOID THEM. RUN.
  • Boss likes if you get shit done without getting asked all the time about things and also without drama.

You have to learn how to work in a team. Be honest but tactful. It's not too be the loudest but about selling your ideas. Don't argue otherwise you won't sell anything. Be persuasive by finding the common ground. Or lead the colleagues to your idea and don't sell it upfront. Communicate clearly.

Personal brand



  • Invest your value outside the company. Build your personal brand. Show how valuable you are, also to other companies. Become an asset.
  • Invest in your education. Make your goals known. If you want something ask for it (see also the sections about goals in this document).

Market yourself



  • The best way to market yourself is to make you usable.
  • Create a brand. Decide your focus. Throw your name out as often as possible.

Have a blog. Schedule your posts. Consistency beats every other factor. E.g. post once a month a new post. Find your voice, you don't have to sound academic. Keep writing, if you keep it long enough the rewards will be coming. Your own blog can take 5 years to take off. Most people give up too soon.

  • Consistency of your blog is key. Also write quality content. Don't try to be a man of success but try to be a man of value.
  • Have an elevator pitch: "buetow.org - Having fun with computers!"
  • Have social media accounts, especially the ones which are more tech related.

Networking



Ask people so they talk about themselves. They are not really interested in you. Use meetup.com to find groups you are interested and build up the network over time. Don't drink on social networking events even when others do. Talking to other people at events only has upsides. Just saying "hi" and introducing yourself is enough. What worse can happen? If the person rejects you so what, life goes on. Ask open questions and no "yes" and "no" questions. E.g.: "What is your story, why are you here?".

Public speaking



Before your talk go on stage 10 minutes in advance. Introduce yourself to the front row people. During the talk they will smile at you and encourage you during your talk.

  • Try at least 5 times before giving up public speaking. You can also start small, e.g. present a topic at work you are learning.
  • Practise your talk and timing. You can also record your practicing.

Just do it. Just go to conferences. Even if you are not speaking. Sell your boss what you would learn and "this and that" and you would present the learnings to the team afterwards.

New job



For the interview



  • Build up a network before the interview. E.g., follow and comment blogs. Or go to meet-ups and conferences. Join user groups.
  • Ask to touch base before the real interview and ask questions about the company. Do "pre-interviews".
  • Have a blog, a CV can only be 2 pages and an interview only can last only 2 hours. A blog helps you also to be a better communicator.

If you are specialized then there is a better chance to get a fitting job. No one will hire a general lawyer if there are specialized lawyers available. Even if you are specialized, you will have a wide range of skills (T-shape knowledge).

Find the right type of company



Not all companies are equal. They have individual cultures and guidelines.

  • Startup: dynamic and larger impact. Many hats on.
  • Medium size companies: most stable ones. Not cutting edge technologies. No crazy working hours.
  • Large company: very established with a lot of structure however constant layoffs and restructurings. Less impact you can have. Complex politics.
  • Working for yourself: This is harder than you think, probably much harder.

Work in a tech. company if you want to work on/with cutting edge technologies.

Apply for the new job



Get a professional resume writer. Get referrals of writers and get samples from there. Get sufficient with algorithm and data structures interview questions. Cracking the coding interview book and blog

  • Apply for each job with a specialised CV each. Each CV fits the job better.
  • Best get a job via a personal referral or inbound marketing. The latter is somehow rare.
  • Inbound marketing is for example someone responds to your blog and offers you a job.
  • Interview the interviewer. Be persistent.
  • Create creative looking resumes, see simple programmer website. Action-result style for a resume.

Invest in your dress code as appearance masters. It does make sense to invest in your style. You could even hire a professional stylist (not my personal way though).

Negotiation



  • Whoever names the number first loses. You don't know what someone else is expecting unless told. Low ball number may be an issue but you have to know the market.
  • Salary is not about what you need but what you are worth. Try to find out what you are worth.
  • Big tech companies have a pay scale. You can ask for this.
  • Don't tell your current salary. Only do one counter offer and say "If you do X then I commit today". Be tactful and not rude. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of. Also, don't be arrogant.
  • If the company wants to know your range, respond: "I would rather learn more about the job and compensation. You have a range in mind, correct?" Be brave and just pause here.
  • Otherwise, if the company refuses then say "if you tell me what the range is and although I am not yet sure yet what are my exact salary requirements are I can see if the range is of what I am looking for. If they absolute refuse give a high ball range you would expect and make it conditional to the overall compensation package. E.g. 70k to 100k depending on the compensation package. THE LOW END SHOULD BE YOUR REAL LOW END. Play a little bit of hardball here and be brave. Practise it.
  • Put 10 percent on top of the salary range into a counter offer.
  • Everything is negotiable, not only the salary.
  • Job markup rate: Check it regarding the recruitment rate negotiation.
  • Don't make a rushed decision based on deadlines. Make a fairly high counter offer shortly before deadline.
  • You should also cope with rejections while selling yourself. There is no such thing as job security.

  • Never spilt the difference is the best book for learning negotiation techniques..

Leaving the old job



When leaving a job make a clean and non personal as possible. Never complain and never explain. Don't worry about abandonment of the team. Everybody is replacement and you make a business decision. Don't threaten to quit as you are replaceable.

Other things



  • As a leader lead by example and don't lead from the Eiffel tower.
  • As a leader you are responsible for the team. If the team fails then it's your fault only.

Testing



Unit testing Vs regression testing: Unit tests test the smallest possible unit and get rewritten if the unit gets changed. It's like programming against a specification n. Regression tests test whether the software still works after the change. Now you know more than most software engineers.

Books to read



  • Clean Code
  • Code Complete
  • Cracking the Interview - Lessons and Solutions.
  • Daniels Book "Drive" (about internal and external motivation)
  • God's degree (inventor of Dilbert)
  • Head first Design Patterns
  • How to win Friends and influence People
  • Never Split the Difference [X]
  • Structure and programming functional programs
  • The obstacle is the way [X]
  • The passionate programmer
  • The Power of Positive Thinking (Highly religious - I personally don't like it)
  • The Pragmatic Programmer [X]
  • The war of Art (to combat procrastination)
  • Willpower Instinct

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 KISS server monitoring with Gogios gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-06-01-kiss-server-monitoring-with-gogios.gmi 2023-06-01T21:10:17+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Gogios is a minimalistic and easy-to-use monitoring tool I programmed in Google Go designed specifically for small-scale self-hosted servers and virtual machines. The primary purpose of Gogios is to monitor my personal server infrastructure for `foo.zone`, my MTAs, my authoritative DNS servers, my NextCloud, Wallabag and Anki sync server installations, etc.

KISS server monitoring with Gogios



Published at 2023-06-01T21:10:17+03:00

Gogios is a minimalistic and easy-to-use monitoring tool I programmed in Google Go designed specifically for small-scale self-hosted servers and virtual machines. The primary purpose of Gogios is to monitor my personal server infrastructure for foo.zone, my MTAs, my authoritative DNS servers, my NextCloud, Wallabag and Anki sync server installations, etc.

With compatibility with the Nagios Check API, Gogios offers a simple yet effective solution to monitor a limited number of resources. In theory, Gogios scales to a couple of thousand checks, though. You can clone it from Codeberg here:

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gogios

Gogios logo

Table of Contents




    _____________________________    ____________________________
   /                             \  /                            \
  |    _______________________    ||    ______________________    |
  |   /                       \   ||   /                      \   |
  |   | # Alerts with status c|   ||   | # Unhandled alerts:  |   |
  |   | hanged:               |   ||   |                      |   |
  |   |                       |   ||   | CRITICAL: Check Pizza|   |
  |   | OK->CRITICAL: Check Pi|   ||   | : Late delivery      |   |
  |   | zza: Late delivery    |   ||   |                      |   |
  |   |                       |   ||   | WARNING: Check Thirst|   |
  |   |                       |   ||   | : OutofKombuchaExcept|   |
  |   \_______________________/   ||   \______________________/   |
  |  /|\ GOGIOS MONITOR 1    _    ||  /|\ GOGIOS MONITOR 2   _    |
   \_____________________________/  \____________________________/
     !_________________________!      !________________________!

------------------------------------------------
ASCII art was modified by Paul Buetow
The original can be found at
https://asciiart.website/index.php?art=objects/computers

Motivation



With experience in monitoring solutions like Nagios, Icinga, Prometheus and OpsGenie, these tools often came with many features that I didn't necessarily need for personal use. Contact groups, host groups, check clustering, and the requirement of operating a DBMS and a WebUI added complexity and bloat to my monitoring setup.

My primary goal was to have a single email address for notifications and a simple mechanism to periodically execute standard Nagios check scripts and notify me of any state changes. I wanted the most minimalistic monitoring solution possible but wasn't satisfied with the available options.

This led me to create Gogios, a lightweight monitoring tool tailored to my specific needs. I chose the Go programming language for this project as it comes, in my opinion, with the best balance of ease to use and performance.

Features



  • Compatible with Nagios Check scripts: Gogios leverages the widely-used Nagios Check API, allowing to use existing Nagios plugins.
  • Lightweight and Minimalistic: Gogios is designed to be simple and fairly easy to set up.
  • Configurable Check Timeout and Concurrency: Gogios allows you to set a timeout for checks and configure the number of concurrent checks, offering flexibility in monitoring your resources.
  • Configurable check dependency: A check can depend on another check, which enables scenarios like not executing an HTTP check when the server isn't pingable.
  • Retries: Check retry and retry intervals are configurable per check.
  • Email Notifications: Gogios can send email notifications regarding the status of monitored services, ensuring you stay informed about potential issues.
  • CRON-based Execution: Gogios can be quickly scheduled to run periodically via CRON, allowing you to automate monitoring without needing a complex setup.

Example alert



This is an example alert report received via E-Mail. Whereas, [C:2 W:0 U:0 OK:51] means that we've got two alerts in status critical, 0 warnings, 0 unknowns and 51 OKs.

Subject: GOGIOS Report [C:2 W:0 U:0 OK:51]

This is the recent Gogios report!

# Alerts with status changed:

OK->CRITICAL: Check ICMP4 vulcan.buetow.org: Check command timed out
OK->CRITICAL: Check ICMP6 vulcan.buetow.org: Check command timed out

# Unhandled alerts:

CRITICAL: Check ICMP4 vulcan.buetow.org: Check command timed out
CRITICAL: Check ICMP6 vulcan.buetow.org: Check command timed out

Have a nice day!

Installation



Compiling and installing Gogios



This document is primarily written for OpenBSD, but applying the corresponding steps to any Unix-like (e.g. Linux-based) operating system should be easy. On systems other than OpenBSD, you may always have to replace does with the sudo command and replace the /usr/local/bin path with /usr/bin.

To compile and install Gogios on OpenBSD, follow these steps:

git clone https://codeberg.org/snonux/gogios.git
cd gogios
go build -o gogios cmd/gogios/main.go
doas cp gogios /usr/local/bin/gogios
doas chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/gogios

You can use cross-compilation if you want to compile Gogios for OpenBSD on a Linux system without installing the Go compiler on OpenBSD. Follow these steps:

export GOOS=openbsd
export GOARCH=amd64
go build -o gogios cmd/gogios/main.go

On your OpenBSD system, copy the binary to /usr/local/bin/gogios and set the correct permissions as described in the previous section. All steps described here you could automate with your configuration management system of choice. I use Rexify, the friendly configuration management system, to automate the installation, but that is out of the scope of this document.

https://www.rexify.org

Setting up user, group and directories



It is best to create a dedicated system user and group for Gogios to ensure proper isolation and security. Here are the steps to create the _gogios user and group under OpenBSD:

doas adduser -group _gogios -batch _gogios
doas usermod -d /var/run/gogios _gogios
doas mkdir -p /var/run/gogios
doas chown _gogios:_gogios /var/run/gogios
doas chmod 750 /var/run/gogios

Please note that creating a user and group might differ depending on your operating system. For other operating systems, consult their documentation for creating system users and groups.

Installing monitoring plugins



Gogios relies on external Nagios or Icinga monitoring plugin scripts. On OpenBSD, you can install the monitoring-plugins package with Gogios. The monitoring-plugins package is a collection of monitoring plugins, similar to Nagios plugins, that can be used to monitor various services and resources:

doas pkg_add monitoring-plugins
doas pkg_add nrpe # If you want to execute checks remotely via NRPE.

Once the installation is complete, you can find the monitoring plugins in the /usr/local/libexec/nagios directory, which then can be configured to be used in gogios.json.

Configuration



MTA



Gogios requires a local Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) such as Postfix or OpenBSD SMTPD running on the same server where the CRON job (see about the CRON job further below) is executed. The local MTA handles email delivery, allowing Gogios to send email notifications to monitor status changes. Before using Gogios, ensure that you have a properly configured MTA installed and running on your server to facilitate the sending of emails. Once the MTA is set up and functioning correctly, Gogios can leverage it to send email notifications.

You can use the mail command to send an email via the command line on OpenBSD. Here's an example of how to send a test email to ensure that your email server is working correctly:

echo 'This is a test email from OpenBSD.' | mail -s 'Test Email' your-email@example.com

Check the recipient's inbox to confirm the delivery of the test email. If the email is delivered successfully, it indicates that your email server is configured correctly and functioning. Please check your MTA logs in case of issues.

Configuring Gogios



To configure Gogios, create a JSON configuration file (e.g., /etc/gogios.json). Here's an example configuration:

{
  "EmailTo": "paul@dev.buetow.org",
  "EmailFrom": "gogios@buetow.org",
  "CheckTimeoutS": 10,
  "CheckConcurrency": 2,
  "StateDir": "/var/run/gogios",
  "Checks": {
    "Check ICMP4 www.foo.zone": {
      "Plugin": "/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_ping",
      "Args": [ "-H", "www.foo.zone", "-4", "-w", "50,10%", "-c", "100,15%" ],
      "Retries": 3,
      "RetryInterval": 10
    },
    "Check ICMP6 www.foo.zone": {
      "Plugin": "/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_ping",
      "Args": [ "-H", "www.foo.zone", "-6", "-w", "50,10%", "-c", "100,15%" ],
      "Retries": 3,
      "RetryInterval": 10
    },
    "www.foo.zone HTTP IPv4": {
      "Plugin": "/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_http",
      "Args": ["www.foo.zone", "-4"],
      "DependsOn": ["Check ICMP4 www.foo.zone"]
    },
    "www.foo.zone HTTP IPv6": {
      "Plugin": "/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_http",
      "Args": ["www.foo.zone", "-6"],
      "DependsOn": ["Check ICMP6 www.foo.zone"]
    }
    "Check NRPE Disk Usage foo.zone": {
      "Plugin": "/usr/local/libexec/nagios/check_nrpe",
      "Args": ["-H", "foo.zone", "-c", "check_disk", "-p", "5666", "-4"]
    }
  }
}

  • EmailTo: Specifies the recipient of the email notifications.
  • EmailFrom: Indicates the sender's email address for email notifications.
  • CheckTimeoutS: Sets the timeout for checks in seconds.
  • CheckConcurrency: Determines the number of concurrent checks that can run simultaneously.
  • StateDir: Specifies the directory where Gogios stores its persistent state in a state.json file.
  • Checks: Defines a list of checks to be performed, each with a unique name, plugin path, and arguments.

Adjust the configuration file according to your needs, specifying the checks you want Gogios to perform.

If you want to execute checks only when another check succeeded (status OK), use DependsOn. In the example above, the HTTP checks won't run when the hosts aren't pingable. They will show up as UNKNOWN in the report.

Retries and RetryInterval are optional check configuration parameters. In case of failure, Gogios will retry Retries times each RetryInterval seconds.

For remote checks, use the check_nrpe plugin. You also need to have the NRPE server set up correctly on the target host (out of scope for this document).

The state.json file mentioned above keeps track of the monitoring state and check results between Gogios runs, enabling Gogios only to send email notifications when there are changes in the check status.

Running Gogios



Now it is time to give it a first run. On OpenBSD, do:

doas -u _gogios /usr/local/bin/gogios -cfg /etc/gogios.json

To run Gogios via CRON on OpenBSD as the gogios user and check all services once per minute, follow these steps:

Type doas crontab -e -u _gogios and press Enter to open the crontab file for the _gogios user for editing and add the following lines to the crontab file:

*/5 8-22 * * * /usr/local/bin/gogios -cfg /etc/gogios.json
0 7 * * * /usr/local/bin/gogios -renotify -cfg /etc/gogios.json

Gogios is now configured to run every five minutes from 8 am to 10 pm via CRON as the _gogios user. It will execute the checks and send monitoring status whenever a check status changes via email according to your configuration. Also, Gogios will run once at 7 am every morning and re-notify all unhandled alerts as a reminder.

High-availability



To create a high-availability Gogios setup, you can install Gogios on two servers that will monitor each other using the NRPE (Nagios Remote Plugin Executor) plugin. By running Gogios in alternate CRON intervals on both servers, you can ensure that even if one server goes down, the other will continue monitoring your infrastructure and sending notifications.

  • Install Gogios on both servers following the compilation and installation instructions provided earlier.
  • Install the NRPE server (out of scope for this document) and plugin on both servers. This plugin allows you to execute Nagios check scripts on remote hosts.
  • Configure Gogios on both servers to monitor each other using the NRPE plugin. Add a check to the Gogios configuration file (/etc/gogios.json) on both servers that uses the NRPE plugin to execute a check script on the other server. For example, if you have Server A and Server B, the configuration on Server A should include a check for Server B, and vice versa.
  • Set up alternate CRON intervals on both servers. Configure the CRON job on Server A to run Gogios at minutes 0, 10, 20, ..., and on Server B to run at minutes 5, 15, 25, ... This will ensure that if one server goes down, the other server will continue monitoring and sending notifications.
  • Gogios doesn't support clustering. So it means when both servers are up, unhandled alerts will be notified via E-Mail twice; from each server once. That's the trade-off for simplicity.

There are plans to make it possible to execute certain checks only on certain nodes (e.g. on elected leader or master nodes). This is still in progress (check out my Gorum Git project).

Conclusion:



Gogios is a lightweight and straightforward monitoring tool that is perfect for small-scale environments. With its compatibility with the Nagios Check API, email notifications, and CRON-based scheduling, Gogios offers an easy-to-use solution for those looking to monitor a limited number of resources. I personally use it to execute around 500 checks on my personal server infrastructure. I am very happy with this solution.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other KISS-related posts are:

2021-09-12 Keep it simple and stupid
2023-06-01 KISS server monitoring with Gogios (You are currently reading this)
2023-10-29 KISS static web photo albums with photoalbum.sh
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD

Back to the main site
 'The Obstacle is the Way' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-05-06-the-obstacle-is-the-way-book-notes.gmi 2023-05-06T17:23:16+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'The Obstacle Is the Way' by Ryan Holiday. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

"The Obstacle is the Way" book notes



Published at 2023-05-06T17:23:16+03:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "The Obstacle Is the Way" by Ryan Holiday. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

         ,..........   ..........,
     ,..,'          '.'          ',..,
    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
   ,' ,'             :             ', ',
  ,' ,'              :              ', ',
 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Table of Contents




"The obstacle is the way" is a powerful statement that encapsulates the wisdom of turning challenges into opportunities for growth and success. We will explore using obstacles as fuel, transforming weaknesses into strengths, and adopting a mindset that allows us to be creative and persistent in the face of adversity.

Reframe your perspective



The obstacle in your path can become your path to success. Instead of being paralyzed by challenges, see them as opportunities to learn and grow. Remember, the things that hurt us often instruct us.

We spend a lot of time trying to get things perfect and look at the rules, but what matters is that it works; it doesn't need to be after the book. Focus on results rather than on beautiful methods. In Jujitsu, it does matter that you bring your opponent down, but not how. There are many ways from point A to point B; it doesn't need to be a straight line. So many try to find the best solution but need to catch up on what is in Infront of them. Think progress and not perfection.

Don't always try to use the front door; a backdoor could open. It's nonsense. Don't fight the judo master with judo. Non-action can be action, exposing the weaknesses of others.

Embrace rationality



It is a superpower to see things rationally when others are fearful. Focus on the reality of the situation without letting emotions, such as anger, cloud your judgment. This ability will enable you to make better decisions in adversity. Ability to see things what they really are. E.g. wine is old fermented grapes, or other people behaving like animals during a fight. Show the middle finger if someone persists on the stupid rules occasionally.

Control your response



You can choose how you respond to obstacles. Focus on what you can control, and don't let yourself feel harmed by external circumstances. Remember, you decide how things affect you; nobody else does. Choose to feel good in response to any situation. Embrace the challenges and obstacles that come your way, as they are opportunities for growth and learning.

Practice emotional and physical resilience



Martial artists know the importance of developing physical and emotional strength. Cultivate the art of not panicking; it will help you avoid making mistakes during high-pressure situations.

Focus on what you can control. Don't choose to feel harmed, and then you won't be harmed. I decide things that affect me; nobody else does. E.g., in prison, your mind stays your own. Don't ignore fear but explain it away, have a different view.

Persistence and patience



Practice persistence and patience in your pursuits. Focus on the process rather than the prize and take one step at a time. Remember, the journey is about finishing tasks, projects, or workouts to the best of your ability. Never be in a hurry and never be desperate. There is no reason to be rushed; there are all in the long haul. Follow the process and not the price. Take it one step at a time. The process is about finishing (workout, task, project, etc.).

Embrace failure



Failure is a natural part of life and can make us stronger. Treat defeat as a stepping stone to success and education. What is defeat? The first step to education. Failure makes you stronger. If we do our best, we can be proud of it, regardless of the result. Do your job, but do it right. Only an asshole thinks he is too good at the things he does. Also, asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission.

Be adaptable



There are many ways to achieve your goals; sometimes, unconventional methods are necessary. Feel free to break the rules or go off the beaten path if it will lead to better results. Transform weaknesses into strengths. We have a choice of how to respond to things. It's not about being positive but to be creative. Aim high, but stuff will happen; E.g., surprises will always happen.

Embrace non-action



We constantly push to the next thing. Sometimes the best course of action is standing still or even going backwards. Obstacles might resolve by themselves. Or going sideways. Sometimes, the best action is to stand still, go sideways, or even go backwards. Obstacles may resolve themselves or present new opportunities if you're patient and observant. People always want your input before you have all the facts. They want you to play after their rules. The question is, do you let them? The English call it the cool head. Being in control of Stress; requires practice. Appear, the absence of fear (Greek). When all others do it one way, it does not mean it is the correct or best practice.

Leverage crisis



In times of crisis, seize the chance to do things never done before. Great people use negative situations to their advantage and become the most effective in challenging circumstances.

The art of not panicking; otherwise, you will make mistakes. When overs are shocked, you know which way to take due to your thinking of the problem at Hand. A crisis gives you a chance to do things which never done before. Ordinary people shy from negative situations; great people use these for their benefit and are the most effective. The obstacle is not just turned upside down but used as a catapult.

Be prepared for nothing to work. Problems are an opportunity to do your best, not to do miracles. Always manage your expectations. It will suck, but it will be ok. Be prepared to begin from the beginning. Be cheerful and eagerly work on the next obstacle. Each time you become better. Life is not a sprint but a marathon. After each obstacle lies another obstacle, there won't be anything without obstacles. Passing one means you are ready for the next.

Build your inner citadel



Develop your inner strength during good times so you can rely on it in bad times. Always prepare for adversity and face it with calmness and resilience. Be humble enough that things which happen will happen. Build your inner citadel. In good times strengthen it. In bad times rely on it.

We should always prepare for things to get tough. Your house burns down: no worries, we eliminated much rubbish. Imagine what can go wrong before things go wrong. We are prepared for adversity; it's other people who aren't. Phil Jackson's hip problem example. To receive unexpected benefits, you must first accept the unexpected obstacles. Meditate on death. It's a universal obstacle. Use it as a reminder to do your best.

Love everything that happens



Turn an obstacle the other way around for your benefit. Use it at fuel. It's simple but challenging. Most are paralyzed instead. The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Obstacles are neither good nor bad. The things which hurt, instruct.

Should I hate people who hate me? That's their problem and not mine. Be always calm and relaxed during the fight. The story of the battle is the story of the smile. Cheerfulness in all situations, especially the bad ones. Love for everything that happens; if it happens, it was meant to happen. We can choose how we react to things, so why not choose to feel good? I love everything that happens. You must never lower yourself to the person you don't like.

Conclusion



Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Each obstacle we overcome prepares us for the next one. Remember, the obstacle is not just a barrier to be turned upside down; it can also be used as a catapult to propel us forward. By embracing challenges and using them as opportunities for growth, we become stronger, more adaptable, and, ultimately, more successful.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 Unveiling `guprecords.raku`: Global Uptime Records with Raku gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-05-01-unveiling-guprecords:-uptime-records-with-raku.gmi 2023-04-30T13:10:26+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org For fun, I am tracking the uptime of various personal machines (servers, laptops, workstations...). I have been doing this for over ten years now, so I have a lot of statistics collected.

Unveiling guprecords.raku: Global Uptime Records with Raku



Published at 2023-04-30T13:10:26+03:00

+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+
| Pos |            Host |                    Lifespan |
+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+
|  1. |        dionysus |  8 years, 6 months, 17 days |
|  2. |          uranus |  7 years, 2 months, 16 days |
|  3. |   alphacentauri |  6 years, 9 months, 13 days |
|  4. |         *vulcan |   4 years, 5 months, 6 days |
|  5. |             sun |  3 years, 10 months, 2 days |
|  6. |           uugrn |   3 years, 5 months, 5 days |
|  7. |       deltavega |  3 years, 1 months, 21 days |
|  8. |           pluto | 2 years, 10 months, 30 days |
|  9. |         tauceti |  2 years, 3 months, 22 days |
| 10. |        callisto |  2 years, 3 months, 13 days |
+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+

Table of Contents




Introduction



For fun, I am tracking the uptime of various personal machines (servers, laptops, workstations...). I have been doing this for over ten years now, so I have a lot of statistics collected.

As a result of this, I am introducing guprecords.raku, a handy Raku script that helps me combine uptime statistics from multiple servers into one comprehensive report. In this blog post, I'll explore what Guprecords is and some examples of its application. I will also add some notes on Raku.

Guprecords, or global uptime records, is a Raku script designed to generate a consolidated uptime report from multiple hosts:

https://codeberg.org/snonux/guprecords
The Raku Programming Language

A previous version of Guprecords was actually written in Perl, the older and more established language from which Raku was developed. One of the primary motivations for rewriting Guprecords in Raku was to learn the language and explore its features. Raku is a more modern and powerful language compared to Perl, and working on a real-world project like Guprecords provided a practical and engaging way to learn the language.

Over the last years, I have been reading the following books and resources about Raku:

  • Raku Guide (at raku.guide)
  • Think Perl 6
  • Raku Fundamentals
  • Raku Recipes

And I have been following the Raku newsletter, and sometimes I have been lurking around in the IRC channels, too. Watching Raku coding challenges on YouTube was pretty fun, too. However, nothing beats actually using Raku to learn the language. After reading all of these resources, I may have a good idea about the features and paradigms, but I am by far not an expert.

How Guprecords works



Guprecords works in three stages:

  • 1. Generating uptime statistics using uptimed: First, I need to install and run uptimed on each host to generate uptime statistics. This tool is available for most common Linux and *BSD distributions and macOS via Homebrew.
  • 2. Collecting uptime records to a central location: The next step involves collecting the raw uptime statistics files generated by uptimed on each host. It's a good idea to store all record files in a central git repository. The records file contains information about the total uptime since boot, boot time, and the operating system and kernel version. Guprecords itself does not do the collection part, but have a look at the README.md in the git repository for some guidance.
  • 3. Generating global uptime stats: Finally, run the guprecords.raku script with the appropriate flags to create a global uptime report. For example, I can use the following command:

$ raku guprecords.raku --stats=dir=$HOME/git/uprecords/stats --all

This command will generate a comprehensive uptime report from the collected statistics, making it easy to review and enjoy the data.

Guprecords supports the following features:

  • Supports multiple categories: Host, Kernel, KernelMajor, and KernelName
  • Supports multiple metrics: Boots, Uptime, Score, Downtime, and Lifespan
  • Output formats available: Plaintext, Markdown, and Gemtext
  • Provides top entries based on the specified limit

Example



You have already seen an example at the very top of this post, where the hosts were grouped by their total lifespans (uptime+downtime). Here's an example of what the global uptime report (grouped by total host uptimes) might look like:

Top 20 Uptime's by Host

+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+
| Pos |            Host |                      Uptime |
+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+
|  1. |         *vulcan |   4 years, 5 months, 6 days |
|  2. |          uranus | 3 years, 11 months, 21 days |
|  3. |             sun |  3 years, 9 months, 26 days |
|  4. |           uugrn |   3 years, 5 months, 5 days |
|  5. |       deltavega |  3 years, 1 months, 21 days |
|  6. |           pluto | 2 years, 10 months, 29 days |
|  7. |         tauceti |  2 years, 3 months, 19 days |
|  8. |       tauceti-f |  1 years, 9 months, 18 days |
|  9. | *ultramega15289 |  1 years, 8 months, 17 days |
| 10. |          *earth |  1 years, 5 months, 22 days |
| 11. |       *blowfish |  1 years, 4 months, 20 days |
| 12. |   ultramega8477 |  1 years, 3 months, 25 days |
| 13. |           host0 |   1 years, 3 months, 9 days |
| 14. |       tauceti-e |  1 years, 2 months, 20 days |
| 15. |        makemake |   1 years, 1 months, 6 days |
| 16. |        callisto | 0 years, 10 months, 31 days |
| 17. |   alphacentauri | 0 years, 10 months, 28 days |
| 18. |          london |  0 years, 9 months, 16 days |
| 19. |         twofish |  0 years, 8 months, 31 days |
| 20. |     *fishfinger |  0 years, 8 months, 17 days |
+-----+-----------------+-----------------------------+

This table ranks the top 20 hosts based on their total uptime, with the host having the highest uptime at the top. The hosts marked with * are still active, means stats were collected within the last couple of months.

My up to date stats can be seen here:

My machine uptime stats

Just recently, I decommissioned vulcan (the number one stop from above), which used to be my CentOS 7 (initially CentOS 6) VM hosting my personal NextCloud and Wallabag (which I modernised just recently with a brand new shiny Rocky Linux 9 VM). This was the last uptimed output before shutting it down (it always makes me feel sentimental decommissioning one of my machines :'-():

     #               Uptime | System                                     Boot up
----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
     1   545 days, 17:58:15 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.15.2.e  Sun Jul 25 19:32:25 2021
     2   279 days, 10:12:14 | Linux 3.10.0-957.21.3.el  Sun Jun 30 12:43:41 2019
     3   161 days, 06:08:43 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.15.2.e  Sun Feb 14 11:05:38 2021
     4   107 days, 01:26:35 | Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7  Thu Dec 20 09:29:13 2018
     5    96 days, 21:13:49 | Linux 3.10.0-1127.13.1.e  Sat Jul 25 17:56:22 2020
->   6    89 days, 23:05:32 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.81.1.e  Sun Jan 22 12:39:36 2023
     7    63 days, 18:30:45 | Linux 3.10.0-957.10.1.el  Sat Apr 27 18:12:43 2019
     8    63 days, 06:53:33 | Linux 3.10.0-1127.8.2.el  Sat May 23 10:41:08 2020
     9    48 days, 11:44:49 | Linux 3.10.0-1062.18.1.e  Sat Apr  4 22:56:07 2020
    10    42 days, 08:00:13 | Linux 3.10.0-1127.19.1.e  Sat Nov  7 11:47:33 2020
    11    36 days, 22:57:19 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.6.1.el  Sat Dec 19 19:47:57 2020
    12    21 days, 06:16:28 | Linux 3.10.0-957.10.1.el  Sat Apr  6 11:56:01 2019
    13    12 days, 20:11:53 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.11.1.e  Mon Jan 25 18:45:27 2021
    14     7 days, 21:29:18 | Linux 3.10.0-1127.13.1.e  Fri Oct 30 14:18:04 2020
    15     6 days, 20:07:18 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.15.2.e  Sun Feb  7 14:57:35 2021
    16     1 day , 21:46:41 | Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7  Tue Dec 18 11:42:19 2018
    17     0 days, 01:25:57 | Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7  Tue Dec 18 10:16:08 2018
    18     0 days, 00:42:34 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.15.2.e  Sun Jul 25 18:49:38 2021
    19     0 days, 00:08:32 | Linux 3.10.0-1160.81.1.e  Sun Jan 22 12:30:52 2023
----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
1up in     6 days, 22:08:18 | at                        Sat Apr 29 10:53:25 2023
no1 in   455 days, 18:52:44 | at                        Sun Jul 21 07:37:51 2024
    up  1586 days, 00:20:28 | since                     Tue Dec 18 10:16:08 2018
  down     0 days, 01:08:32 | since                     Tue Dec 18 10:16:08 2018
   %up               99.997 | since                     Tue Dec 18 10:16:08 2018

Conclusion



Guprecords is a small, yet powerful tool for analyzing uptime statistics. While developing Guprecords, I have come to truly appreciate and love Raku's expressiveness. The language is designed to be both powerful and flexible, allowing developers to express their intentions and logic more clearly and concisely.

Raku's expressive syntax, support for multiple programming paradigms, and unique features, such as grammars and lazy evaluation, make it a joy to work with.

Working on Guprecords in Raku has been an enjoyable experience, and I've found that Raku's expressiveness has significantly contributed to the overall quality and effectiveness of the script. The language's ability to elegantly express complex logic and data manipulation tasks makes it an excellent choice for developing tools like these, where expressiveness and productiveness are of the utmost importance.

So far, I have only scratched the surface of what Raku can do. I hope to find more time to become a regular Rakoon (a Raku Programmer). I have many Ideas for other small tools like Guprecords, but the challenge is finding the time. I'd love to explore Raku Grammars and also I would love to explore writing concurrent code in Raku (I also love Go (Golang), btw!). Ideas for future Raku personal projects include:

  • A log file analyzer, for generating anonymized foo.zone visitor stats for both, the Web and Gemini.
  • A social media sharing scheduler a la buffer.com. I am using Buffer at the moment to share posts on Mastadon, Twitter, Telegram and LinkedIn, but it is proprietary and also it's not really reliable.
  • Rewrite the static photo album generator of irregular.ninja in Raku (from Bash).

E-Mail your comments to hi@foo.zone :-)

Other related posts are:

2008-06-26 Perl Poetry
2011-05-07 Perl Daemon (Service Framework)
2022-05-27 Perl is still a great choice
2022-06-15 Sweating the small stuff - Tiny projects of mine
2023-05-01 Unveiling guprecords.raku: Global Uptime Records with Raku (You are currently reading this)

Back to the main site
 'Never split the difference' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-04-01-never-split-the-difference-book-notes.gmi 2023-04-01T20:00:17+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'Never split the difference' by Chris Voss. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

"Never split the difference" book notes



Published at 2023-04-01T20:00:17+03:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "Never split the difference" by Chris Voss. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

         ,..........   ..........,
     ,..,'          '.'          ',..,
    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
   ,' ,'             :             ', ',
  ,' ,'              :              ', ',
 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Table of Contents




Tactical listening, spreading empathy



Be a mirror, copy each other to be comfy with each other to build up trust. Mirroring is mainly body language. A mirror is to repeat the words the other just said. Simple but effective.

  • A mirror needs space and silence between the words. At least 4 seconds.
  • A mirror might be awkward to be used at first, especially with a question coupled to it.
  • We fear what's different and are drawn to what is similar.

Mirror training is like Jedi training. Simple but effective. A mirror needs space. Be silent after "you want this?"

Mindset of discovery



Try to have multiple realities in your mind and use facts to distinguish between real and false.

  • Focus on what the counterpart has to say and what he needs and wants. Understanding him makes him vulnerable.
  • Empathy understanding the other person from his perspective, but it does not mean agreeing with him.
  • Detect and label the emotions of others for your powers.
  • To be understood seems to solve all problems magically.

Try: to put a label on someone's emotion and then be silent. Wait for the other to reveal himself. "You seem unhappy about this?"

More tips



  • Put on a poker face and don't show emotions.
  • Slow things down. Don't be a problem solver.
  • Smile while you are talking, even on the phone. Be easy and encouraging.
  • Being right is not the key to successful negotiation; being mindful is.
  • Be in the safe zone of empathy and acknowledge bad news.

"No" starts the conversation



When the opponent starts with a "no", he feels in control and comfortable. That's why he has to start with "no".

  • "Yes" and "maybe" might be worthless, but "no" starts the conversation.
  • If someone is saying "no" to you, he will be open to what you have to say next.
  • "No" is not stopping the negotiation but will open up opportunities you were not thinking about before.
  • Start with "no". Great negotiators seek "no" because that's when the great discussions begin.
  • A "no" can be scary if you are not used to it. If your biggest fear is "no", then you can't negotiate.

Get a "That's right" when negotiating. Don't get a "you're right". You can summarise the opponent to get a "that's right".

Win-win



Win-win is a naive approach when encountering the win-lose counterpart, but always cooperate. Don't compromise, and don't split the difference. We don't compromise because it's right; we do it because it is easy. You must embrace the hard stuff; that's where the great deals are.

On Deadlines



  • All deadlines are imaginary.
  • Most of the time, deadlines unsettle us without a good reason.
  • They push a deal to a conclusion.
  • They rush the counterpart to cause pressure and anxiety.

Analyse the opponent



  • Understand the motivation of people behind the table as well.
  • Ask how affected they will be.
  • Determine your and the opposite negotiation style. Accommodation, analyst, assertive.
  • Treat them how they need to be treated.

The person on the other side is never the issue; the problem is the issue. Keep this in mind to avoid emotional issues with the person and focus on the problem, not the person. The bond is essential; never create an enemy.

Use different ways of saying "no."



I had paid my rent always in time. I had positive experiences with the building and would be sad for the landlord to lose a good tenant. I am looking for a win-win agreement between us. Pulling out the research, other neighbours offer much lower prices even if your building is a better location and services. How can I effort 200 more....

...then put an extreme anker.

You always have to embrace thoughtful confrontation for good negotiation and life. Don't avoid honest, clear conflict. It will give you the best deals. Compromises are mostly bad deals for both sides. Most people don't negotiate a win-win but a win-lose. Know the best and worst outcomes and what is acceptable for you.

Calibrated question



Calibrated questions. Give the opponent a sense of power. Ask open-how questions to get the opponent to solve your problem and move him in your direction. Calibrated questions are the best tools. Summarise everything, and then ask, "how I am supposed to do that?". Asking for help this way with a calibrated question is a powerful tool for joint problem solving

Being calm and respectful is essential. Without control of your emotions, it won't work. The counterpart will have no idea how constrained they are with your question. Avoid questions which get a yes or short answers. Use "why?".

Counterparts are more involved if these are their solutions. The counterpart must answer with "that's right", not "you are right". He has to own the problem. If not, then add more why questions.

  • Tone and body language need to align with what people are saying.
  • Deal with it via a labelled question.
  • Liers tend to talk with "them" and "their" and not with "I".
  • Also, liars tend to talk in complex sentences.

Prepare 3 to 5 calibrated questions for your counterpart. Be curious what is really motivating the other side. You can get out the "Black Swan".

The black swan



What we don't know can break our deal. Uncovering it can bring us unexpected success. You get what you ask for in this world, but you must learn to ask correctly. Reveal the black swan by asking questions.

More



Establish a range at top places like corp. I get... (e.g. remote London on a project basis). Set a high salary range and not a number. Also, check on LinkedIn premium for the salaries.

  • Give an unexpected gift, e.g. show them my pet project and publicity for engineering.
  • Use an odd number, which makes you seem to have thought a lot about the sum and calculated it.
  • Define success and metrics for your next raise.
  • What does it take to be successful here? Ask the question, and they will tell you and guide you.
  • Set an extreme anker. Make the counterpart the illusion of losing something.
  • Hope-based deals. Hope is not a strategy.
  • Tactical empathy, listening as a martial art. It is emotional intelligence on steroids.
  • Being right isn't the key to a successful negotiation, but having the correct mindset is.
  • Don't shop the groceries when you are hungry.

Slow.... it.... down....

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again² gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-03-25-gemtexter-2.0.0-lets-gemtext-again-2.gmi 2023-03-25T17:50:32+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version `2.0.0`. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown written in GNU Bash.

Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again²



Published at 2023-03-25T17:50:32+02:00

I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version 2.0.0. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown written in GNU Bash.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gemtexter

This is a new major release, so it contains a breaking change (see "Meta cache made obsolete").

Let's list what's new!

-=[ typewriters ]=-  1/98

       .-------.
      _|~~ ~~  |_       .-------.
    =(_|_______|_)=    _|~~ ~~  |_
      |:::::::::|    =(_|_______|_)
      |:::::::[]|      |:::::::::|
      |o=======.|      |:::::::[]|
 jgs  `"""""""""`      |o=======.|
  mod. by Paul Buetow  `"""""""""`

Table of Contents




Minimal template engine



Gemtexter now supports templating, enabling dynamically generated content to .gmi files before converting anything to any output format like HTML and Markdown.

A template file name must have the suffix gmi.tpl. A template must be put into the same directory as the Gemtext .gmi file to be generated. Gemtexter will generate a Gemtext file index.gmi from a given template index.gmi.tpl. A <<< and >>> encloses a multiline template. All lines starting with << will be evaluated as a single line of Bash code and the output will be written into the resulting Gemtext file.

For example, the template index.gmi.tpl:

# Hello world

<< echo "> This site was generated at $(date --iso-8601=seconds) by \`Gemtexter\`"

Welcome to this capsule!

<<<
  for i in {1..10}; do
    echo Multiline template line $i
  done
>>>

... results into the following index.gmi after running ./gemtexter --generate (or ./gemtexter --template, which instructs to do only template processing and nothing else):

# Hello world

> This site was generated at 2023-03-15T19:07:59+02:00 by `Gemtexter`

Welcome to this capsule!

Multiline template line 1
Multiline template line 2
Multiline template line 3
Multiline template line 4
Multiline template line 5
Multiline template line 6
Multiline template line 7
Multiline template line 8
Multiline template line 9
Multiline template line 10

Another thing you can do is insert an index with links to similar blog posts. E.g.:

See more entries about DTail and Golang:

<< template::inline::index dtail golang

Blablabla...

... scans all other post entries with dtail and golang in the file name and generates a link list like this:

See more entries about DTail and Golang:

=> ./2022-10-30-installing-dtail-on-openbsd.gmi 2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
=> ./2022-04-22-programming-golang.gmi 2022-04-22 The Golang Programming language
=> ./2022-03-06-the-release-of-dtail-4.0.0.gmi 2022-03-06 The release of DTail 4.0.0
=> ./2021-04-22-dtail-the-distributed-log-tail-program.gmi 2021-04-22 DTail - The distributed log tail program (You are currently reading this)

Blablabla...

Added hooks



You can configure PRE_GENERATE_HOOK and POST_PUBLISH_HOOK to point to scripts to be executed before running --generate, or after running --publish. E.g. you could populate some of the content by an external script before letting Gemtexter do its thing or you could automatically deploy the site after running --publish.

The sample config file gemtexter.conf includes this as an example now; these scripts will only be executed when they actually exist:

declare -xr PRE_GENERATE_HOOK=./pre_generate_hook.sh
declare -xr POST_PUBLISH_HOOK=./post_publish_hook.sh

Use of safer Bash options



Gemtexter now does set -euf -o pipefile, which helps to eliminate bugs and to catch scripting errors sooner. Previous versions only set -e.

Meta cache made obsolete



Here is the breaking change to older versions of Gemtexter. The $BASE_CONTENT_DIR/meta directory was made obsolete. meta was used to store various information about all the blog post entries to make generating an Atom feed in Bash easier. Especially the publishing dates of each post were stored there. Instead, the publishing date is now encoded in the .gmi file. And if it is missing, Gemtexter will set it to the current date and time at first run.

An example blog post without any publishing date looks like this:

% cat gemfeed/2023-02-26-title-here.gmi
# Title here

The remaining content of the Gemtext file...

Gemtexter will add a line starting with > Published at ... now. Any subsequent Atom feed generation will then use that date.

% cat gemfeed/2023-02-26-title-here.gmi
# Title here

> Published at 2023-02-26T21:43:51+01:00

The remaining content of the Gemtext file...

XMLLint support



Optionally, when the xmllint binary is installed, Gemtexter will perform a simple XML lint check against the Atom feed generated. This is a double-check of whether the Atom feed is a valid XML.

More



Additionally, there were a couple of bug fixes, refactorings and overall improvements in the documentation made.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-24 Welcome to the Geminispace
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2022-08-27 Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again
2023-03-25 Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again² (You are currently reading this)
2023-07-21 Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³
2024-10-02 Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴

Back to the main site
 'The Pragmatic Programmer' book notes gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-03-16-the-pragmatic-programmer-book-notes.gmi 2023-03-16T00:55:20+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org These are my personal takeaways after reading 'The Pragmatic Programmer' by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

"The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes



Published at 2023-03-16T00:55:20+02:00

These are my personal takeaways after reading "The Pragmatic Programmer" by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt. Note that the book contains much more knowledge wisdom and that these notes only contain points I personally found worth writing down. This is mainly for my own use, but you might find it helpful too.

         ,..........   ..........,
     ,..,'          '.'          ',..,
    ,' ,'            :            ', ',
   ,' ,'             :             ', ',
  ,' ,'              :              ', ',
 ,' ,'............., : ,.............', ',
,'  '............   '.'   ............'  ',
 '''''''''''''''''';''';''''''''''''''''''
                    '''

Think about your work while doing it - every day on every project. Have a feeling of continuous improvement.

  • Be a realist.
  • Smell challenges.
  • Care about your craft.
  • Code can always be flawed, but it can meet the requirements.
  • You should be proud of your code, though.

No one writes perfect code, including you. However:

  • Paranoia is good thinking.
  • Practice defensive programming and crash early.
  • Crashing is often the best thing you can do.
  • Changes should be reversible.

Erlang: Defensive programming is a waste of time. Let it crash. "This can never happen" - don't practise that kind of self-deception when programming.

Leave assertions in the code, even in production. Only leave out the assertions causing the performance issues.

Take small steps, always. Get feedback, too, for each of the steps the code does. Avoid fortune telling. If you have to involve in it, then the step is too large.

Decouple the code (e.g. OOP or functional programming). Prefer interfaces for types and mixins for a class extension over class inheritance.

  • Refactor now and not later.
  • Later, it will be even more painful.

Don't think outside the box. Find the box. The box is more extensive than you think. Think about the hard problem at hand. Do you have to do it a certain way, or do you have to do it at all?

Do what works and not what's fashionable. E.g. does SCRUM make sense? The goal is to deliver deliverables and not to "become" agile.

Continuous learning



Add new tools to your repertoire every day and keep the momentum up. Learning new things is your most crucial aspect. Invest regularly in your knowledge portfolio. The learning process extends your thinking. It does not matter if you will never use it.

  • Learn a new programming language every year.
  • Read a technical book every month.
  • Take courses.

Think critically about everything you learn. Use paper for your notes. There is something special about it.

Stay connected



It's your life, and you own it. Bruce Lee once said:

"I am not on the world to life after your expectations, neither are you to life after mine."

  • Go to meet-ups and actively engage.
  • Stay current.
  • Dealing with computers is hard. Dealing with people is harder.

It's your life. Share it, celebrate it, be proud and have fun.

The story of stone soup



How to motivate others to contribute something (e.g. ideas to a startup):

A kindly, old stranger was walking through the land when he came upon a village. As he entered, the villagers moved towards their homes, locking doors and windows. The stranger smiled and asked, why are you all so frightened. I am a simple traveler, looking for a soft place to stay for the night and a warm place for a meal. "There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "We are weak and our children are starving. Better keep moving on." "Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his cloak, filled it with water, and began to build a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a silken bag and dropped it into the water. By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come out of their homes or watched from their windows. As the stranger sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their fear. "Ahh," the stranger said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat." Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a small cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. "Wonderful!!" cried the stranger. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king." The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . And so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for everyone in the village to share. The village elder offered the stranger a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell it and traveled on the next day. As he left, the stranger came upon a group of village children standing near the road. He gave the silken bag containing the stone to the youngest child, whispering to a group, "It was not the stone, but the villagers that had performed the magic."

By working together, everyone contributes what they can, achieving a greater good together.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other book notes of mine are:

2023-03-16 "The Pragmatic Programmer" book notes (You are currently reading this)
2023-04-01 "Never split the difference" book notes
2023-05-06 "The Obstacle is the Way" book notes
2023-07-17 "Software Developmers Career Guide and Soft Skills" book notes
2023-11-11 "Mind Management" book notes
2024-05-01 "Slow Productivity" book notes
2024-07-07 "The Stoic Challenge" book notes
2024-10-24 "Staff Engineer" book notes

Back to the main site
 How to shut down after work gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-02-26-how-to-shut-down-after-work.gmi 2023-02-26T23:48:01+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Do you need help fully discharging from work in the evenings or for the weekend? Shutting down from work won't just improve your work-life balance; it will also significantly improve the quality of your personal life and work. After a restful weekend, you will be much more energized and productive the next working day. So it should not just be in your own, but also your employers' interest that you fully relax and shut down after work.

How to shut down after work



Published at 2023-02-26T23:48:01+02:00

Do you need help fully discharging from work in the evenings or for the weekend? Shutting down from work won't just improve your work-life balance; it will also significantly improve the quality of your personal life and work. After a restful weekend, you will be much more energized and productive the next working day. So it should not just be in your own, but also your employers' interest that you fully relax and shut down after work. 

    |\   "Music should be heard not only with the ears, but also the soul."
|---|--\-----------------------|-----------------------------------------|  
|   |   |\                     |                   |@     |\             |
|---|---|--\-------------------|-------------/|----|------|--\----|------|     
|  @|   |   |\          |O     |        3  /  |    |@     |       |      | 
|---|--@|---|--\--------|------|---------/----|----|------|-------|------|      
|  @|      @|    \      |O     |       / |    |    |@    @|      @|.     | 
|-----------|-----|-----|------|-----/---|---@|----|--------------|------|     
|          @|     |     |O     |    |    |         |             @|.     | 
|-----------|----@|-----|------|----|---@|------------------------|------|  
           @|           |           |        Larry Komro         @|.     
                                  -@-        [kom...@uwec.edu]

Table of Contents




Have a shutdown routine



Have a routine. Try to finish work around the same time every day. Write any outstanding tasks down for the next day, so you are sure you will remember them. Writing them down brings wonders as you can remove them from your mind for the remainder of the day (or the upcoming weekend) as you know you will surely pick them up the next working day. Tidying up your workplace could also count toward your daily shutdown routine.

A commute home from the office also greatly helps, as it disconnects your work from your personal life. Don't work on your commute home, though! If you don't commute but work from home, then it helps to walk around the block or in a nearby park to disconnect from work.

Don't work when you officially don't work



Unless you are self-employed, you have likely signed an N-hour per week contract with your employer, and your regular working times are from X o'clock in the morning to Y o'clock in the evening (with M minutes lunch break in the middle). And there might be some flexibility in your working times, too. But that kind of flexibility (e.g. extending the lunch break so that there is time to pick up a family member from the airport) will be agreed upon, and you will counteract it, for example, by starting working earlier the next day or working late, that one exception. But overall, your weekly working time will stay N hours.

Another exception would be when you are on an on-call schedule and are expected to watch your work notifications out-of-office times. But that is usually only a few days per month and, therefore, not the norm. And it should also be compensated accordingly.

There might be some maintenance work you must carry out, which can only be done over the weekend, but it should be explicitly agreed upon and compensated for. Also, there might be a scenario that a production incident comes up shortly before the end of the work day, requiring you (and your colleagues) to stay a bit longer. But this should be an exceptional case.

Other than that, there is no reason why you should work out-of-office hours. I know many people who suffer "the fear of missing out", so slack messages and E-Mails are checked until late in the evening, during weekends or holidays. I have been improving here personally a lot over the last couple of months, but still, I fall into this trap occasionally.

Also, when you respond to slack messages and E-Mails, your colleagues can think that you have nothing better to do. They also will take it for granted and keep slacking and messaging you out of regular office times.

Checking for your messages constantly outside of regular office times makes it impossible to shut down and relax from work altogether.

Distract your mind



Often, your mind goes back to work-related stuff even after work. That's normal as you concentrated highly on your work throughout the day. The brain unconsciously continues to work and will automatically present you with random work-related thoughts. You can counteract this by focusing on non-work stuff, which may include:

  • Exercise. A half an hour workout or yoga session, followed by some stretching, helps to calm your mind after work.
  • Play (with your family, pets, friends, or video game)
  • Mindfully listen to music. When have you ever "really" listened to music? I mean, not just as a background stimulation but really paid attention to the melody, rhythm, voice and lyrics? That requires focused attention and distracts you from other thoughts.
  • Think of or work on that fun passion project. I currently, for example, like to learn and code a bit in Rakulang.
  • Read. Nothing beats reading a good Science Fiction Novel (or whatever you prefer) before falling asleep.

Some of these can be habit-stacked: Exercise could be combined with watching videos about your passion project (e.g. watching lectures about that new programming language you are currently learning for fun). With walking, for example, you could combine listening to an Audiobook or music, or you could also think about your passion project during that walk.

Get a pet



Even if you have children, it helps wonders to get a pet. My cat, for example, will remind me a few times daily to take a few minute's breaks to pet, play or give food. So my cat not only helps me after work but throughout the day.

My neighbour also works from home, and he has dogs, which he regularly has to take out to the park.

Journal your day



If you are upset about something, making it impossible to shut down from work, write down everything (e.g., with a pen in a paper journal). Writing things down helps you to "get rid" of the negative. Especially after conflicts with colleagues or company decisions, you don't agree on. This kind of self-therapy is excellent. Brainstorm all your emotions and (even if opinionated) opinions so you have everything on paper. Once done, you don't think about it so much anymore, as you know you can access that information if required. But stopping ruminating about it will be much easier now. You will likely never access that information again, though. But at least writing the thoughts down saved your day.

Write down three things which went well for the day. This helps you to appreciate the day.

Don't stress about what your employer expects from you



Think about what's fun and motivates you. Maybe the next promotion to Principal or a Manager role isn't for you. Many fall into the trap of stressing themselves out to satisfy the employer so that the next upgrade will happen and think about it constantly, even after work. But it is more important that you enjoy your craftsmanship. Work on what you expect from yourself. Ideally, your goals should be aligned with your employer. I am not saying you should abandon everything what your manager is asking you to do, but it is, after all, your life. And you have to decide where and on what you want to work. But don't sell yourself short. Keep track of your accomplishments.

Call it a day



Every day you gave your best was good; the day's outcome doesn't matter. What matters is that you know you gave your best and are closer to your goals than the previous day. This gives you a sense of progress and accomplishment.

There are some days at work you feel drained afterwards and think you didn't progress towards your goals at all. It's more challenging to shut down from work after such a day. A quick hack is to work on a quick win before the end of the day, giving you a sense of accomplishment after all. Another way is to make progress on your fun passion project after work. It must not be work-related, but a sense of accomplishment will still be there.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Why GrapheneOS rox gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2023-01-23-why-grapheneos-rox.gmi 2023-01-23T15:31:52+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org In 2021 I wrote 'On Being Pedantic about Open-Source', and there was a section 'What about mobile?' where I expressed the dilemma about the necessity of using proprietary mobile operating systems. With GrapheneOS, I found my perfect solution for personal mobile phone use.

Why GrapheneOS rox



Published at 2023-01-23T15:31:52+02:00

In 2021 I wrote "On Being Pedantic about Open-Source", and there was a section "What about mobile?" where I expressed the dilemma about the necessity of using proprietary mobile operating systems. With GrapheneOS, I found my perfect solution for personal mobile phone use.

On Being Pedantic about Open-Source

What is GrapheneOS?

GrapheneOS is a privacy and security-focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility developed as a non-profit open-source project. It's focused on the research and development of privacy and security technologies, including substantial improvements to sandboxing, exploits mitigations and the permission model.

GrapheneOS is an independent Android distribution based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) but hardened in multiple ways. Other independent Android distributions, like LineageOS, are also based on AOSP, but GrapheneOS takes it further so that it can be my daily driver on my phone.

https://GrapheneOS.org
https://LineageOS.org

Art by Joan Stark
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  '-'-'-'--'

Table of Contents




User Profiles



GrapheneOS allows configuring up to 32 user profiles (including a guest profile) on a single phone. A profile is a completely different environment within the phone, and it is possible to switch between them instantly. Sessions of a profile can continue running in the background or be fully terminated. Each profile can have completely different settings and different applications installed.

I use my default profile with primarily open-source applications installed, which I trust. I use another profile for banking (PayPal, various proprietary bank apps, Amazon store app, etc.) and another profile for various Google services (which I try to avoid, but I have to use once in a while). Furthermore, I have configured a profile for Social Media use (that one isn't in my default profile, as otherwise I am tempted to scroll social media all the time, which I try to avoid and only want to do intentionally when switching to the corresponding profile!).

The neat thing about the profiles is that some can run a sandboxed version of Google Play (see later in this post), while others don't. So some profiles can entirely operate without any Google Play, and only some profiles (to which I rarely switch) have Google Play enabled.

You notice how much longer (multiple days) your phone can be on a single charge when Google Play Services isn't running in the background. This tells a lot about the background activities and indicates that using Google Play shouldn't be the norm.

Proxying some of the Google offerings



There's also the case that I am using an app from the Google Play store (as the app isn't available from F-Droid), which doesn't require Google Play Services to run in the background. Here's where I use the Aurora Android store. The Aurora store can be installed through F-Droid. Aurora acts as an anonymous proxy from your phone to the Google Play Store and lets you install apps from there. No Google credentials are required for that!

https://f-droid.org

There's a similar solution for watching videos on YouTube. You can use the NewPipe app (also from F-Droid), which acts as an anonymous proxy for watching videos from YouTube. So there isn't any need to install the official YouTube app, and there isn't any need to login to your Google account. What's so bad about the official app? You don't know which data it is sending about you to Google, so it is a privacy concern.

Google Play Sandboxing



Before switching to GrapheneOS, I had been using LineageOS on one of my phones for a couple of years. Still, I always had to have a secondary personal phone with all of these proprietary apps which (partially) only work with Google Play on the phone (e.g. Banking, Navigation, various travel apps from various Airlines, etc.) somewhere around as I didn't install Google Play on my LineageOS phone due to privacy concerns and only installed apps from the F-Droid store on it. When travelling, I always had to carry around a second phone with Google Play on it, as without it; life would become inconvenient pretty soon.

With GrapheneOS, it is different. Here, I do not just have a separate user profile, "Google", for various Google apps where Google Play runs, but Google Play also runs in a sandbox!!!

GrapheneOS has a compatibility layer providing the option to install and use the official releases of Google Play in the standard app sandbox. Google Play receives no special access or privileges on GrapheneOS instead of bypassing the app sandbox and receiving a massive amount of highly privileged access. Instead, the compatibility layer teaches it how to work within the full app sandbox. It also isn't used as a backend for the OS services as it would be elsewhere since GrapheneOS doesn't use Google Play even when it's installed.

When I need to access Google Play, I can switch to the "Google" profile. Even there, Google is sandboxed to the absolute minimum permissions required to be operational, which gives additional privacy protection.

The sad truth is that Google Maps is still the best navigation app. When driving unknown routes, I can switch to my Google profile to use Google Maps. I don't need to do that when going streets I know about, but it is crucial (for me) to have Google Maps around when driving to a new destination.

Also, Google Translate and Google Lens are still the best translation apps I know. I just recently relocated to another country, where I am still learning the language, so Google Lens has been proven very helpful on various occasions by ad-hoc translating text into English or German for me.

The same applies to banking. Many banking apps require Google Play to be available (It might be even more secure to only use banking apps from the Google Play store due to official support and security updates). I rarely need to access my mobile banking app, but once in a while, I need to. As you have guessed by now, I can switch to my banking profile (with Google Play enabled), do what I need to do, and then terminate the session and go back to my default profile, and then my life can go on :-).

It is great to have the flexibility to use any proprietary Android app when needed. That only applies to around 1% of my phone usage time, but you often don't always know when you need "that one app now". So it's perfect that it's covered with the phone you always have with you.

The camera and the cloud



I really want my phone to shoot good looking pictures, so that I can later upload them to the Irregular Ninja:

https://irregular.ninja

The stock camera app of the OASP could be better. Photos usually look washed out, and the app lacks features. With GrapheneOS, there are two options:

  • Use the official Google camera app with sandboxed Google Play Services running. You will get the full Google experience here.
  • Or, just use the default GrapheneOS camera app.

The GrapheneOS camera app is much better than the stock OASP camera app. I have been comparing the photo quality of my Pixel phone under LineageOS and GrapheneOS, and the differences are pronounced. I didn't compare the quality with the official Google camera app, but I have seen some comparison videos and the differences seem like they aren't groundbreaking.

For automatic backups of my photos, I am relying on a self-hosted instance of NextCloud (with a client app available via F-Droid). So there isn't any need to rely on any Google apps and services (Google Play Photos or Google Camera app) anymore, and that's great!

https://nextcloud.com

I also use NextCloud to synchronize my notes (NextCloud Notes), my RSS news feeds (NextCloud News) and contacts (DAVx5). All apps required are available in the F-Droid store.

Fine granular permissions



Another great thing about GrapheneOS is that, besides putting your apps into different profiles, you can also restrict network access and configure storage scopes per app individually.

For example, let's say you are installing that one proprietary app from the Google Play Store through the Aurora store, and then you want to ensure that the app doesn't send data "home" through the internet. Nothing is easier to do than that. Just remove network access permissions from that only app.

The app also wants to store and read some data from your phone (e.g. it could be a proprietary app for enhancing photos, and therefore storage access to a photo folder would be required). In GrapheneOS, you can configure a storage scope for that particular app, e.g. only read and write from one folder but still forbid access to all other folders on your phone.

Termux



Termux can be installed on any Android phone through F-Droid, so it doesn't need to be a GrapheneOS phone. But I have to mention Termux here as it significantly adds value to my phone experience.

Termux is an Android terminal emulator and Linux environment app that works directly with no rooting or setup required. A minimal base system is installed automatically - additional packages are available using the APT package manager.

https://termux.dev

In short, Termux is an entire Linux environment running on your Android phone. Just pair your phone with a Bluetooth keyboard, and you will have the whole Linux experience. I am only using terminal Linux applications with Termux, though. What makes it especially great is that I could write on a new blog post (in Neovim through Termux on my phone) or do some coding whilst travelling (e.g. during a flight), or look up my passwords or some other personal documents (through my terminal-based password manager). All changes I commit to Git can be synced to the server with a simple git push once online (e.g. after the plane landed) again.

There are Pixel phones with a screen size of 6", and that's decent enough for occasional use like that, and everything (the phone, the BT keyboard, maybe an external battery pack) all fit nicely in a small travel pocket.

So, why not use a pure Linux phone?



Strictly speaking, an Android phone is a Linux phone, but it's heavily modified and customized. For me, a "pure" Linux phone is a more streamlined Linux kernel running in a distribution like Ubuntu Touch or Mobian.

A pure Linux phone, e.g. with Ubuntu Touch installed, e.g. on a PinePhone, Fairphone, the Librem 5 or the Volla phone, is very appealing to me. And they would also provide an even better Linux experience than Termux does. Some support running LineageOS within an Anbox, enabling you to run various proprietary Android apps occasionally within Linux.

Ubuntu Touch
More Linux distributions for mobile devices

But here, Google Play would not be sandboxed; you could not configure individual network permissions and storage scopes like in GrapheneOS. Pure Linux-compatible phones usually come with a crappy camera, and the battery life is generally pretty bad (only a few hours). Also, no big tech company pushes the development of Linux phones. Everything relies on hobbyists, whereas multiple big tech companies put a lot of effort into the Android project, and a lot of code also goes into the Android Open-Source project.

Currently, pure Linux phones are only a nice toy to tinker with but are still not ready (will they ever?) to be the daily driver. SailfishOS may be an exception; I played around with it in the past. It is pretty usable, but it's not an option for me as it is partial a proprietary operating system.

SailfishOS

Small GrapheneOS downsides



Sometimes, switching a profile to use a different app is annoying, and you can't copy and paste from the system clipboard from one profile to another. But that's a small price I am willing to pay!

Another thing is that GrapheneOS can only run on Google Pixel phones, whereas LineageOS can be installed on a much larger variety of hardware. But on the other hand, GrapheneOS works very well on Pixel phones. The GrapheneOS team can concentrate their development efforts on a smaller set of hardware which then improves the software's quality (best example: The camera app).

And, of course, GrapheneOS is an open-source project. This is a good thing; however, on the other side, nobody can guarantee that the OS will not break or will not damage your phone. You have to trust the GrapheneOS project and donate to the project so they can keep up with the great work. But I rather trust the GrapheneOS team than big tech.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

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 (Re)learning Java - My takeaways gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-12-24-ultrarelearning-java-my-takeaways.gmi 2022-12-24T23:18:40+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org As a regular participant in the annual Pet Project competition at work, I always try to find a project where I can learn something new. In this post, I would like to share my takeaways after revisiting Java. You can read about my motivations in my 'Creative universe' post:

(Re)learning Java - My takeaways



Published at 2022-12-24T23:18:40+02:00

As a regular participant in the annual Pet Project competition at work, I always try to find a project where I can learn something new. In this post, I would like to share my takeaways after revisiting Java. You can read about my motivations in my "Creative universe" post:

Creative universe

I have been programming in Java back in the days as a university student, and even my Diploma Thesis I implemented in Java (it would require some overhaul so that it is fully compatible with a recent version of Java, though - It still compiles and runs, but with a lot of warnings, though!):

VS-Sim: Distributed systems simulator

However, after that, I became a Linux Sysadmin and mainly continued programming in Perl, Puppet, bash, and a little Python. For personal use, I also programmed a bit in Haskell and C. After my Sysadmin role, I moved to London and became a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE), where I mainly programmed in Ruby, bash, Puppet and Golang and a little bit of C.

At my workplace, as an SRE, I don't do Java a lot. I have been reading Java code to understand the software better so I can apply and suggest workarounds or fixes to existing issues and bugs. However, most of our stack is in Java, and our Software Engineers use Java as their primary programming language.



Table of Contents




Stuck at Java 1.4



Over time, I had been missing out on many new features that were added to the language since Java 1.4, so I decided to implement my next Pet Project in Java and learn every further aspect of the language as my main goal. Of course, I still liked the idea of winning a Pet Project Prize, but my main objective was to level up my Java skills.

(Re)learning & upskilling to Java 18



Effective Java



This book was recommended by my brother and also by at least another colleague at work to be one of the best, if not the best, book about Java programming. I read the whole book from the beginning to the end and immersed myself in it. I fully agree; this is a great book. Every Java developer or Java software engineer should read it!



I recommend reading the 90-part effective Java Series on dev.to. It's a perfect companion to the book as it explains all the chapters again but from a slightly different perspective and helps you to really understand the content.

Kyle Carter's 90-part Effective Java Series

Java Pub House



During my lunch breaks, I usually have a walk around the block or in a nearby park. I used that time to listen to the Java Pub House podcast. I listened to *every* episode and learned tons of new stuff. I can highly recommend this podcast. Especially GraalVM, a high-performance JDK distribution written for Java and other JVM languages, captured my attention. GraalVM can compile Java code into native binaries, improving performance and easing the distribution of Java programs. Because of the latter, I should release a VS-Sim GraalVM edition one day through a Linux AppImage ;-).

https://www.javapubhouse.com
https://www.graalvm.org

Java Concurrency course



I also watched a course on O'Reilly Safari Books online about Java Concurrency. That gave an excellent refresher on how the Java thread pools work and what were the concurrency primitives available in the standard library.

Read a lot of Java code



First, the source code is often the best documentation (if programmed nicely), and second, it helps to get the hang of the language and standard practices. I started to read more and more Java code at work. I did that whenever I had to understand how something, in particular, worked (e.g. while troubleshooting and debugging an issue).

Observed Java code reviews



Another great way to get the hang of Java again was to sneak into the code reviews of the Software Engineer colleagues. They are the expert on the matter and are a great source to copy knowledge. It's OK to stay passive and only follow the reviews. Sometimes, it's OK to step up and take ownership of the review. The developers will also always be happy to answer any naive questions which come up.

Took ownership of a roadmap-Java project



Besides my Pet Project, I also took ownership of a regular roadmap Java project at work, making an internal Java service capable of running in Kubernetes. This was a bunch of minor changes and adding a bunch of classes and unit tests dealing with the statelessness and a persistent job queue in Redis. The job also involved reading and understanding a lot of already existing Java code. It wasn't part of my job description, but it was fun, and I learned a lot. The service runs smoothly in production now. Of course, all of my code got reviewed by my Software Engineering colleagues.

The good



From the new language features and syntaxes, there are many personal takeaways, and I can't possibly list them all, but here are some of my personal highlights:

  • Static factory methods and public constructors both have their uses, and it pays to understand their relative merits. Often static factories are preferable (cleaner and easier to read), so avoid the reflex to provide public constructors without first considering static factories.
  • Java streams were utterly new to me. I love how they can help to produce more compact code. But it's challenging to set the line of when enough is enough. Overusing streams can have the opposite effect: Code becomes more complex and challenging to understand. And it is so easy to parallelize the computation of streams by "just" marking the stream as .parallel() (more on that later in this post).
  • Overall, object-oriented languages tend to include more and more functional paradigms. The functional interfaces, which Java provides now, are fantastic. Their full powers shine in combination with the use of streams. An entire book can be written about Java functional interfaces, so I leave it to you to do any further digging.
  • Local type inference help to reduce even more boilerplate code. E.g. instead of Hash<String,Hash<String,String>> foo = new Hash<String,Hash<String,String>>(); it's possible to just write var foo = new Hash<String,Hash<String,String>>();
  • Class inheritance isn't the preferred way anymore to structure reusable code. Now, it's composition over inheritance. E.g. use dependency injection (inject one object to another object through its constructor) or prefer interfaces (which now also support default implementations of methods) over class inheritance. This makes sense to me as I do that already when I program in Ruby.
  • I learned the try-with-resources pattern. Very useful in ensuring closing resources again correctly. No need anymore for complicated and nested finally-blocks, which used to be almost impossible to get right previously in case of an error condition (e.g. I/O error somewhere deeply nested in an input or output stream).
  • Optimize only when required. It's considered to be cleaner to prefer immutable variables (declaring them as final). I knew that already, but for Java, it always seemed to be a waste of resources (creating entirely new objects whenever states change), but apparently, it's okay. Java also does many internal tricks for performance optimization here, e.g. interning strings.
  • I learned about the concept of static member classes and the difference between non-static member classes (also sometimes known as inner classes). Non-static member classes have full access to all members of their outer class (think of closure). In contrast, static member classes act like completely separate classes without such access but provide the benefit of a nested name that can help group functionality in the code.
  • I learned about the existence of thread-local variables. These are only available to the current thread and aren't shared with other threads.
  • I learned about the concept of Java modules, which help to structure larger code bases better. The traditional Java packages are different.
  • I learned to love the new Optional type. I already knew the concept from Haskell, where Maybe would be the corresponding type. Optional helps to avoid null-pointers but comes with some (minimal) performance penalty. So, in the end, you end up with both Optional types and null-pointers in your code (depending on the requirements). But I like to prefer Optional over null-pointer when "no result" is a valid return value from a method.
  • The enum type is way more powerful than I thought. Initially, I felt an enum could only be used to define a list of constants and then to compare an instance to another instance of the same. An enum is still there to define a list of constants, but it's also almost like a class (you can implement constructors, and methods, inherit from other enums). There are quite a lot of possible use cases.
  • A small but almost the most helpful thing I learned is always to use the @Override annotation when overriding a method from a parent class. If done, Java helps to detect any typos or type errors when overriding methods. That's useful and spares a lot of time debugging where a method was mistakenly overloaded but not overridden.
  • Lambdas are much cleaner, shorter and easier to read than anonymous classes. Many Java libraries require passing instances of (anonymous) classes (e.g. in Swing) to other objects. Lambdas are so lovely because they are primarily compatible with the passing of anonymous classes, so they are a 1:1 replacement in many instances. Lambdas also play very nicely together with the Java functional interfaces, as each Lambda got a type, and the type can be an already existing functional interface (or, if you got a particular case, you could define your custom functional interface for your own set of Lambdas, of course).
  • I love the concept of Java records. You can think of a record as an immutable object holding some data (as members). They are ideal for pipe and stream processing. They are much easier to define (with much less boilerplate) and come with write protection out of the box.

The bad and the ugly



There are also many ugly corners in Java. Many are doomed to stay there forever due to historical decisions and ensuring backward compatibility with older versions of the Java language and the Java standard library.

  • Finalizers and cleaners seem obsolete, fragile and still, you can use them.
  • In many cases, extreme caution needs to be taken to minimize the accessibility of class members. You might think that Java provides the best "out-of-the-box" solution for proper encapsulation, but the language has many loopholes.
  • In the early days, Java didn't support generics yet. So what you would use is to cast everything to Object. Java now fully supports generics (for a while already), but you can still cast everything to Object and back to whatever type you want. That can lead to nasty runtime errors. Also, there's a particular case to convert between an Array of Object to an Array of String or from an Array of String to a List of String. Java can't convert between these types automatically, and extreme caution needs to be taken when enforcing so (e.g. through explicit type casts). In many of these cases, Java would print out warnings that need to be manually suppressed via annotations. Programming that way, converting data between old and new best practices, is clunky.
  • If you don't know what you do, Java streams can be all wrong. Side effects in functions used in streams can be nasty to debug. Also, don't just blindly add a .parallel() to your stream. You need to understand what the stream does and how it exactly works; otherwise, parallelizing a stream can impact the performance drastically (in a negative way). There need to be language constructs preventing you from doing the wrong things. That's so much easier to do it right in a purely functional programming language like Haskell.
  • Java is a pretty old language (already), so there are many obstacles to consider. There are too many exceptions and different outcomes of how Java code can behave. In most cases, when you write an API, every method you program needs to be documented so the user won't encounter any surprises using your code. Writing and reading a lot of documentation seems to be quite the overhead when the method name is already descriptive.
  • Java serialization is broken. It works, and the language still supports it, but you better not use Java's native way of object serialization and deserialization. Unbelievable how much can get wrong here, especially regarding security (injecting arbitrary code).
  • Being a bit spoiled by Golang's Goroutines, I was shocked about the limitations of the Java threads. They are resource hungry, and you can't just spin up millions of them as you would with Goroutines. I knew this limitation of threads already (as it's not a problem of the language but of how threads work in the OS), but still, I was pretty shocked when I got reminded of them again. Of course, there's a workaround: Use asynchronous sockets so that you don't waste a whole thread on a single I/O operation (in my case, waiting for a network response). Golang's runtime does that automatically for you: An OS thread will be re-used for other tasks until the network socket unblocks. Every modern programming language should support lightweight threads or Coroutines like Go's Goroutines.


Conclusion



While (re)learning Java, I felt like a student again and was quite enthusiastic about it initially. I invested around half a year, immersing myself intensively in Java (again). The last time I did that was many years ago as a university student. I even won a Silver Prize at work, implementing a project this year (2022 as of writing this). I feel confident now with understanding, debugging and patching Java code at work, which boosted my debugging and troubleshooting skills.

I don't hate Java, but I don't love programming in it, either. I will, I guess, always see Java as the necessary to get stuff done (reading code to understand how the service works, adding a tiny feature to make my life easier, adding a quick bug fix to overcome an obstacle...).

Although Java has significantly improved since 1.4, its code still tends to be more boilerplate. Not mainly because due to lines of code (Golang code tends to be quite repetitive, primarily when no generics are used), but due to the levels of abstractions it uses. Class hierarchies can be ten classes or deeper, and it is challenging to understand what the code is doing. Good test coverage and much documentation can mitigate the problem partially. Big enterprises use Java, and that also reflects to the language. There are too many libraries and too many abstractions that are bundled with too many legacy abstractions and interfaces and too many exceptions in the library APIs. There's even an external library named Lombok, which aims to reduce Java boilerplate code. Why is there a need for an external library? It should be all part of Java itself.

https://projectlombok.org/

Java needs a clean cut. The clean cut shall be incompatible with previous versions of Java and only promote modern best practices without all the legacy burden carried around. The same can be said for other languages, e.g. Perl, but in Perl, they already attack the problem with the use of flags which change the behaviour of the language to more modern standards. Or do it like Python, where they had a hard (incompatible) cut from version 2 to version 3. It will be painful, for sure. But that would be the only way I would enjoy using that language as one of my primary languages to code new stuff regularly. Currently, my Java will stay limited to very few projects and the more minor things already mentioned in this post.

Am I a Java expert now? No, by far not. But I am better now than before :-).

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 I tried (Doom) Emacs, but I switched back to (Neo)Vim gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-11-24-i-tried-emacs-but-i-switched-back-to-neovim.gmi 2022-11-24T11:17:15+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org As a long-lasting user of Vim (and NeoVim), I always wondered what GNU Emacs is really about, so I decided to try it. I didn't try vanilla GNU Emacs, but Doom Emacs. I chose Doom Emacs as it is a neat distribution of Emacs with Evil mode enabled by default. Evil mode allows Vi(m) key bindings (so to speak, it's emulating Vim within Emacs), and I am pretty sure I won't be ready to give up all the muscle memory I have built over more than a decade.

I tried (Doom) Emacs, but I switched back to (Neo)Vim



Published at 2022-11-24T11:17:15+02:00; Updated at 2022-11-26

As a long-lasting user of Vim (and NeoVim), I always wondered what GNU Emacs is really about, so I decided to try it. I didn't try vanilla GNU Emacs, but Doom Emacs. I chose Doom Emacs as it is a neat distribution of Emacs with Evil mode enabled by default. Evil mode allows Vi(m) key bindings (so to speak, it's emulating Vim within Emacs), and I am pretty sure I won't be ready to give up all the muscle memory I have built over more than a decade.

GNU Emacs
Doom Emacs

I used Doom Emacs for around two months. Still, ultimately I decided to switch back to NeoVim as my primary editor and IDE and Vim (usually pre-installed on Linux-based systems) and Nvi (usually pre-installed on *BSD systems) as my "always available editor" for quick edits. (It is worth mentioning that I don't have a high opinion on whether Vim or NeoVim is the better editor, I prefer NeoVim as it comes with better defaults out of the box, but there is no real blocker to use Vim instead).

Vim
NeoVim

So why did I switch back to the Vi-family?

             _/  \    _(\(o
             /     \  /  _  ^^^o
            /   !   \/  ! '!!!v'
           !  !  \ _' ( \____
           ! . \ _!\   \===^\)
Art by      \ \_!  / __!
 Gunnar Z.   \!   /    \    <--- Emacs is a giant dragon
       (\_      _/   _\ )
        \ ^^--^^ __-^ /(__ 
         ^^----^^    "^--v'

Table of Contents




Emacs is a giant dragon



Emacs feels like a giant dragon as it is much more than an editor or an integrated development environment. Emacs is a whole platform on its own. There's an E-Mail client, an IRC client, or even games you can run within Emacs. And you can also change Emacs within Emacs using its own Lisp dialect, Emacs Lisp (Emacs is programmed in Emacs Lisp). Therefore, Emacs is also its own programming language. You can change every aspect of Emacs within Emacs itself. People jokingly state Emacs is an operating system and that you should directly use it as the init 1 process (if you don't know what the init 1 process is: Under UNIX and similar operating systems, it's the very first userland processed launched. That's usually systemd on Linux-based systems, launchd on macOS, or any other init script or init system used by the OS)!

In many aspects, Emacs is like shooting at everything with a bazooka! However, I prefer it simple. I only wanted Emacs to be a good editor (which it is, too), but there's too much other stuff in Emacs that I don't need to care about! Vim and NeoVim do one thing excellent: Being great text editors and, when loaded with plugins, decent IDEs, too.

Magit love



I almost fell in love with Magit, an integrated Git client for Emacs. But I think the best way to interact with Git is to use the git command line directly. I don't worry about typing out all the commands, as the most commonly used commands are in my shell history. Other useful Git programs I use frequently are bit and tig. Also, get a mechanical keyboard that makes hammering whole commands into the terminal even more enjoyable.

Magit
Tig

Magit is pretty neat for basic Git operations, but I found myself searching the internet for the correct sub-commands to do the things I wanted to do in Git. Mainly, the way how branches are managed is confusing. Often, I fell back to the command line to fix up the mess I produced with Magit (e.g. accidentally pushing to the wrong remote branch, so I found myself fixing things manually on the terminal with the git command with forced pushes....). Magit is hotkey driven, and common commands are quickly explorable through built-in hotkey menus. Still, I found it challenging to navigate to more advanced Git sub-commands that way which was much easier accomplished by using the git command directly.

Graphical UI



If there is one thing I envy about Emacs is that it's a graphical program, whereas the Vi-family of editors are purely terminal-based. I see the benefits of being a graphical program as this enables the use of multiple fonts simultaneously to embed pictures and graphs (that would be neat as a Markdown preview, for example). There's also GVim (Vim with GTK UI), but that's more of an afterthought.

There are now graphical front-end clients for NeoVim, but I still need to dig into them. Let me know your experience if you have one. Luckily, I don't rely on something graphical in my text editor, but it would improve how the editor looks and feels. UTF8 can already do a lot in the terminal, and terminal emulators also allow you to use TrueType fonts. Still, you will always be limited to one TTF font for the whole terminal, and it isn't possible to have, for example, a different font for headings, paragraphs, etc... you get the idea. TTF+UTF8 can't beat authentic graphics.

Scripting it



It is possible to customize every aspect of Emacs through Emacs Lisp. I have done some Elk Scheme programming in the past (a dialect of Lisp), but that was a long time ago, and I am not willing to dive here again to customize my environment. I would instead take the pragmatic approach and script what I need in VimScript (a terrible language, but it gets the job done!). I watched Damian Conway's VimScript course on O'Reilly Safari Books Online, which I greatly recommend. Yes, VimScript feels clunky, funky and weird and is far less elegant than Lisp, but it gets its job done - in most cases! (That reminds me that the Vim team has announced a new major version of VimScript with improvements and language changes made - I haven't gotten to it yet - but I assume that VimScript will always stay VimScript).

Emacs Lisp
Elk Scheme
VimScript
Scripting Vim by Damian Conway

NeoVim is also programmable with Lua, which seems to be a step up and Vim comes with a Perl plugin API (which was removed from NeoVim, but that is a different story - why would someone remove the most potent mature text manipulation programming language from one of the most powerful text editors?).

NeoVim Lua API

One example is my workflow of how I compose my blog articles (e.g. this one you are currently reading): I am writing everything in NeoVim, but I also want to have every paragraph checked against Grammarly (as English is not my first language). So I write a whole paragraph, then I select the entire paragraph via visual selection with SHIFT+v, and then I press ,y to yank the paragraph to the systems clipboard, then I paste the paragraph to Grammarly's browser window with CTRL+v, let Grammarly suggest the improvements, and then I copy the result back with CTRL+c to the system clipboard and in NeoVim I type ,i to insert the result back overriding the old paragraph (which is still selected in visual mode) with the new content. That all sounds a bit complicated, but it's surprisingly natural and efficient.

To come back to the example, for the clipboard integration, I use this small VimScript snippet, and I didn't have to dig into any Lisp or Perl for this:

" Clipboard
vnoremap ,y !pbcopy<CR>ugv
vnoremap ,i !pbpaste<CR>
nmap ,i !wpbpaste<CR>

That's only a very few lines and does precisely what I want. It's quick and dirty but get's the job done! If VimScript becomes too cumbersome, I can use Lua for NeoVim scripting.

The famous Emacs Org mode



Org-mode is an Emacs mode for keeping notes, authoring documents, computational notebooks, literate programming, maintaining to-do lists, planning projects, and more — in a fast and effective plain-text system. There's even a dedicated website for it:

https://orgmode.org/

In short, Org-mode is an "interactive markup language" that helps you organize everything mentioned above. I rarely touched the surface during my two-month experiment with Emacs, and I am impressed by it, so I see the benefits of having that. But it's not for me.

I use "Dead Tree Mode" to organize my work and notes. Dead tree? Yeah, I use an actual pen and a real paper journal (Leuchtturm or a Moleskine and a set of coloured 0.5 Muji Pens are excellent choices). That's far more immersive and flexible than a computer program can ever be. Yes, some automation and interaction with the computer (like calendar scheduling etc.) are missing. Still, an actual paper journal forces you to stay simple and focus on the actual work rather than tinkering with your computer program. (But I could not resist, and I wrote a VimScript which parses a table of contents page in Markdown format of my scanned paper journals, and NeoVim allows me to select a topic so that the corresponding PDF scan on the right journal page gets opened in an external PDF viewer (the PDF viewer is zathura, it uses Vi-keybindings, of course) :-). (See the appendix of this blog post for that script).

Zathura

On the road, I also write some of my notes in Markdown format to NextCloud Notes, which is editable from my phone and via NeoVim on my computers. Markdown is much less powerful than Org-mode, but I prefer it the simple way. There's a neat terminal application, ranger, which I use to browse my NextCloud Notes when they are synced to a local folder on my machine. ranger is a file manager inspired by Vim and therefore makes use of Vim keybindings and it feels just natural to me.

Ranger - A Vim inspired file manager
Did I mention that I also use my zsh (my default shell) and my tmux (terminal multiplexer) in Vi-mode?

Z shell
tmux terminal multiplexer

Seeking simplicity



I am not ready to dive deep into the whole world of Emacs. I prefer small and simple tools as opposed to complex tools. Emacs comes with many features out of the box, whereas in Vim/NeoVim, you would need to install many plugins to replicate some of the behaviour. Yes, I need to invest time managing all the Vim/NeoVim plugins I use, but I feel more in control compared to Doom Emacs, where a framework around vanilla Emacs manages all the plugins. I could use vanilla Emacs and manage all my plugins the vanilla way, but for me, it's not worth the effort to learn and dive into that as all that I want to do I can already do with Vim/NeoVim.

I am not saying that Vim/NeoVim are simple programs, but they are much simpler than Emacs with much smaller footprints; furthermore, they appear to be more straightforward as I am used to them. I only need Vim/NeoVim to be an editor, an IDE (through some plugins), and nothing more.

Conclusion



I understand the Emacs users now. Emacs is an incredibly powerful platform for almost everything, not just text editing. With Emacs, you can do nearly everything (Writing, editing, programming, calendar scheduling and note taking, Jira integration, playing games, listening to music, reading/writing emails, browsing the web, using as a calculator, generating HTML pages, configuring interactive menus, jumping around between every feature and every file within one single session, chat on IRC, surf the Gopherspace, ... the options are endless....). If you want to have one piece of software which rules it all and you are happy to invest a large part of your time in your platform: Pick Emacs, and over time Emacs will become "your" Emacs, customized to your own needs and change the way it works, which makes the Emacs users stick even more to it.

Vim/NeoVim also comes with a very high degree of customization options, but to a lesser extreme than Emacs (but still, a much higher degree than most other editors out there). If you want the best text editor in the world, which can also be tweaked to be a decent IDE, you are only looking for: Pick Vim or NeoVim! You would also need to invest a lot of time in learning, tweaking and customizing Vim/NeoVim, but that's a little more straightforward, and the result is much more lightweight once you get used to the "Vi way of doing things" you never would want to change back. I haven't tried the Emacs vanilla keystrokes, but they are terrible (that's probably one of the reasons why Doom Emacs uses Vim keybindings by default).

Update: One reader recommended to have a look at NvChad. NvChad is a NeoVim config written in Lua aiming to provide a base configuration with very beautiful UI and blazing fast startuptime (around 0.02 secs ~ 0.07 secs). They tweak UI plugins such as telescope, nvim-tree, bufferline etc well to provide an aesthetic UI experience. That sounds interesting!

https://github.com/NvChad/NvChad

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Installing DTail on OpenBSD gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-10-30-installing-dtail-on-openbsd.gmi 2022-10-30T11:03:19+02:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This will be a quick blog post, as I am busy with my personal life now. I have relocated to a different country and am still busy arranging things. So bear with me :-)

Installing DTail on OpenBSD



Published at 2022-10-30T11:03:19+02:00

This will be a quick blog post, as I am busy with my personal life now. I have relocated to a different country and am still busy arranging things. So bear with me :-)

In this post, I want to give a quick overview (or how-to) about installing DTail on OpenBSD, as the official documentation only covers Red Hat and Fedora Linux! And this blog post will also be used as my reference!

https://dtail.dev

I am using Rexify for my OpenBSD automation. Check out the following article covering my Rex setup in a little bit more detail:

Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex

I will also mention some relevant Rexfile snippets in this post!

       ,_---~~~~~----._
 _,,_,*^____      _____``*g*\"*,
/ __/ /'     ^.  /      \ ^@q   f
 @f   |       |  |       |  0 _/
\`/   \~__((@/ __ \__((@/    \
 |           _l__l_           I    <--- The Go Gopher
 }          [______]           I
 ]            | | |            |
 ]             ~ ~             |
 |                            |
  |                           |
  |                           |       A       ;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~,--,-/ \---,-/|~~,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                           _|\,'. /|      /|   `/|-.
                       \`.'    /|      ,            `;.
                      ,'\   A     A         A   A _ /| `.;
                    ,/  _              A       _  / _   /|  ;
                   /\  / \   ,  ,           A  /    /     `/|
                  /_| | _ \         ,     ,             ,/  \
                 // | |/ `.\  ,-      ,       ,   ,/ ,/      \/
                 / @| |@  / /'   \  \      ,              >  /|    ,--.
                |\_/   \_/ /      |  |           ,  ,/        \  ./' __:..
                |  __ __  |       |  | .--.  ,         >  >   |-'   /     `
              ,/| /  '  \ |       |  |     \      ,           |    /
             /  |<--.__,->|       |  | .    `.        >  >    /   (
            /_,' \\  ^  /  \     /  /   `.    >--            /^\   |
                  \\___/    \   /  /      \__'     \   \   \/   \  |
                   `.   |/          ,  ,                  /`\    \  )
                     \  '  |/    ,       V    \          /        `-\
 OpenBSD Puffy --->   `|/  '  V      V           \    \.'            \_
                       '`-.       V       V        \./'\
                           `|/-.      \ /   \ /,---`\         kat
                            /   `._____V_____V'
                                       '     '

Table of Contents




Compile it



First of all, DTail needs to be downloaded and compiled. For that, git, go, and gmake are required:

$ doas pkg_add git go gmake

I am happy that the Go Programming Language is readily available in the OpenBSD packaging system. Once the dependencies got installed, clone DTail and compile it:

$ mkdir git
$ cd git
$ git clone https://github.com/mimecast/dtail
$ cd dtail
$ gmake

You can verify the version by running the following command:

$ ./dtail --version
 DTail  4.1.0  Protocol 4.1  Have a lot of fun!
$ file dtail
 dtail: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1

Now, there isn't any need anymore to keep git, go and gmake, so they can be deinstalled now:

$ doas pkg_delete git go gmake

One day I shall create an official OpenBSD port for DTail.

Install it



Installing the binaries is now just a matter of copying them to /usr/local/bin as follows:

$ for bin in dserver dcat dgrep dmap dtail dtailhealth; do
  doas cp -p $bin /usr/local/bin/$bin
  doas chown root:wheel /usr/local/bin/$bin
done

Also, we will be creating the _dserver service user:

$ doas adduser -class nologin -group _dserver -batch _dserver
$ doas usermod -d /var/run/dserver/ _dserver

The OpenBSD init script is created from scratch (not part of the official DTail project). Run the following to install the bespoke script:

$ cat <<'END' | doas tee /etc/rc.d/dserver
#!/bin/ksh

daemon="/usr/local/bin/dserver"
daemon_flags="-cfg /etc/dserver/dtail.json"
daemon_user="_dserver"

. /etc/rc.d/rc.subr

rc_reload=NO

rc_pre() {
    install -d -o _dserver /var/log/dserver
    install -d -o _dserver /var/run/dserver/cache
}

rc_cmd $1 &
END
$ doas chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/dserver

Rexification



This is the task for setting it up via Rex. Note the . . . ., that's a placeholder which we will fill up more and more during this blog post:

desc 'Setup DTail';
task 'dtail', group => 'frontends',
   sub {
      my $restart = FALSE;

      file '/etc/rc.d/dserver':
        content => template('./etc/rc.d/dserver.tpl'),
        owner => 'root',
        group => 'wheel',
        mode => '755',
        on_change => sub { $restart = TRUE };

        .
        .
        .
        .

      service 'dserver' => 'restart' if $restart;
      service 'dserver', ensure => 'started';
   };

Configure it



Now, DTail is fully installed but still needs to be configured. Grab the default config file from GitHub ...

$ doas mkdir /etc/dserver
$ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mimecast/dtail/master/examples/dtail.json.examples |
    doas tee /etc/dserver/dtail.json

... and then edit it and adjust LogDir in the Common section to /var/log/dserver. The result will look like this:

  "Common": {
    "LogDir": "/var/log/dserver",
    "Logger": "Fout",
    "LogRotation": "Daily",
    "CacheDir": "cache",
    "SSHPort": 2222,
    "LogLevel": "Info"
  }

Rexification



That's as simple as adding the following to the Rex task:

file '/etc/dserver',
  ensure => 'directory';

file '/etc/dserver/dtail.json',
  content => template('./etc/dserver/dtail.json.tpl'),
  owner => 'root',
  group => 'wheel',
  mode => '755',
  on_change => sub { $restart = TRUE };

Update the key cache for it



DTail relies on SSH for secure authentication and communication. However, the system user _dserver has no permission to read the SSH public keys from the user's home directories, so the DTail server also checks for available public keys in an alternative path /var/run/dserver/cache.

The following script, populating the DTail server key cache, can be run periodically via CRON:

$ cat <<'END' | doas tee /usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh
#!/bin/ksh

CACHEDIR=/var/run/dserver/cache
DSERVER_USER=_dserver
DSERVER_GROUP=_dserver

echo 'Updating SSH key cache'

ls /home/ | while read remoteuser; do
    keysfile=/home/$remoteuser/.ssh/authorized_keys

    if [ -f $keysfile ]; then
        cachefile=$CACHEDIR/$remoteuser.authorized_keys
        echo "Caching $keysfile -> $cachefile"

        cp $keysfile $cachefile
        chown $DSERVER_USER:$DSERVER_GROUP $cachefile
        chmod 600 $cachefile
    fi
done

# Cleanup obsolete public SSH keys
find $CACHEDIR -name \*.authorized_keys -type f |
while read cachefile; do
    remoteuser=$(basename $cachefile | cut -d. -f1)
    keysfile=/home/$remoteuser/.ssh/authorized_keys

    if [ ! -f $keysfile ]; then
        echo 'Deleting obsolete cache file $cachefile'
        rm $cachefile
    fi
done

echo 'All set...'
END
$ doas chmod 500 /usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh

Note that the script above is a slight variation of the official DTail script. The official DTail one is a bash script, but on OpenBSD, there's ksh. I run it once daily by adding it to the daily.local:

$ echo /usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh | doas tee -a /etc/daily.local
/usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh

Rexification



That's done by adding ...

file '/usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh',
  content => template('./scripts/dserver-update-key-cache.sh.tpl'),
  owner => 'root',
  group => 'wheel',
  mode => '500';

append_if_no_such_line '/etc/daily.local', '/usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh';

... to the Rex task!

Start it



Now, it's time to enable and start the DTail server:

$ sudo rcctl enable dserver
$ sudo rcctl start dserver
$ tail -f /var/log/dserver/*.log
INFO|1022-090634|Starting scheduled job runner after 2s
INFO|1022-090634|Starting continuous job runner after 2s
INFO|1022-090644|24204|stats.go:53|2|11|7|||MAPREDUCE:STATS|currentConnections=0|lifetimeConnections=0
INFO|1022-090654|24204|stats.go:53|2|11|7|||MAPREDUCE:STATS|currentConnections=0|lifetimeConnections=0
INFO|1022-090719|Starting server|DTail 4.1.0 Protocol 4.1 Have a lot of fun!
INFO|1022-090719|Generating private server RSA host key
INFO|1022-090719|Starting server
INFO|1022-090719|Binding server|0.0.0.0:2222
INFO|1022-090719|Starting scheduled job runner after 2s
INFO|1022-090719|Starting continuous job runner after 2s
INFO|1022-090729|86050|stats.go:53|2|11|7|||MAPREDUCE:STATS|currentConnections=0|lifetimeConnections=0
INFO|1022-090739|86050|stats.go:53|2|11|7|||MAPREDUCE:STATS|currentConnections=0|lifetimeConnect
.
.
.
Ctr+C

As we don't want to wait until tomorrow, let's populate the key cache manually:

$ doas /usr/local/bin/dserver-update-key-cache.sh
Updating SSH key cache
Caching /home/_dserver/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/_dserver.authorized_keys
Caching /home/admin/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/admin.authorized_keys
Caching /home/failunderd/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/failunderd.authorized_keys
Caching /home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/git.authorized_keys
Caching /home/paul/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/paul.authorized_keys
Caching /home/rex/.ssh/authorized_keys -> /var/cache/dserver/rex.authorized_keys
All set...

Use it



The DTail server is now ready to serve connections. You can use any DTail commands, such as dtail, dgrep, dmap, dcat, dtailhealth, to do so. Checkout out all the usage examples on the official DTail page.

I have installed DTail server this way on my personal OpenBSD frontends blowfish, and fishfinger, and the following command connects as user rex to both machines and greps the file /etc/fstab for the string local:

❯ ./dgrep -user rex -servers blowfish.buetow.org,fishfinger.buetow.org --regex local /etc/fstab
CLIENT|earth|WARN|Encountered unknown host|{blowfish.buetow.org:2222 0xc0000a00f0 0xc0000a61e0 [blowfish.buetow.org]:2222 ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC9ZnF/LAk14SgqCzk38yENVTNfqibcluMTuKx1u53cKSp2xwHWzy0Ni5smFPpJDIQQljQEJl14ZdXvhhjp1kKHxJ79ubqRtIXBlC0PhlnP8Kd+mVLLHYpH9VO4rnaSfHE1kBjWkI7U6lLc6ks4flgAgGTS5Bb7pLAjwdWg794GWcnRh6kSUEQd3SftANqQLgCunDcP2Vc4KR9R78zBmEzXH/OPzl/ANgNA6wWO2OoKKy2VrjwVAab6FW15h3Lr6rYIw3KztpG+UMmEj5ReexIjXi/jUptdnUFWspvAmzIl6kwzzF8ExVyT9D75JRuHvmxXKKjyJRxqb8UnSh2JD4JN [23.88.35.144]:2222 ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC9ZnF/LAk14SgqCzk38yENVTNfqibcluMTuKx1u53cKSp2xwHWzy0Ni5smFPpJDIQQljQEJl14ZdXvhhjp1kKHxJ79ubqRtIXBlC0PhlnP8Kd+mVLLHYpH9VO4rnaSfHE1kBjWkI7U6lLc6ks4flgAgGTS5Bb7pLAjwdWg794GWcnRh6kSUEQd3SftANqQLgCunDcP2Vc4KR9R78zBmEzXH/OPzl/ANgNA6wWO2OoKKy2VrjwVAab6FW15h3Lr6rYIw3KztpG+UMmEj5ReexIjXi/jUptdnUFWspvAmzIl6kwzzF8ExVyT9D75JRuHvmxXKKjyJRxqb8UnSh2JD4JN 0xc0000a2180}
CLIENT|earth|WARN|Encountered unknown host|{fishfinger.buetow.org:2222 0xc0000a0150 0xc000460110 [fishfinger.buetow.org]:2222 ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDNiikdL7+tWSN0rCaw1tOd9aQgeUFgb830V9ejkyJ5h93PKLCWZSMMCtiabc1aUeUZR//rZjcPHFLuLq/YC+Y3naYtGd6j8qVrcfG8jy3gCbs4tV9SZ9qd5E24mtYqYdGlee6JN6kEWhJxFkEwPfNlG+YAr3KC8lvEAE2JdWvaZavqsqMvHZtAX3b25WCBf2HGkyLZ+d9cnimRUOt+/+353BQFCEct/2mhMVlkr4I23CY6Tsufx0vtxx25nbFdZias6wmhxaE9p3LiWXygPWGU5iZ4RSQSImQz4zyOc9rnJeP1rwGk0OWDJhdKNXuf0kIPdzMfwxv2otgY32/DJj6L [46.23.94.99]:2222 ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDNiikdL7+tWSN0rCaw1tOd9aQgeUFgb830V9ejkyJ5h93PKLCWZSMMCtiabc1aUeUZR//rZjcPHFLuLq/YC+Y3naYtGd6j8qVrcfG8jy3gCbs4tV9SZ9qd5E24mtYqYdGlee6JN6kEWhJxFkEwPfNlG+YAr3KC8lvEAE2JdWvaZavqsqMvHZtAX3b25WCBf2HGkyLZ+d9cnimRUOt+/+353BQFCEct/2mhMVlkr4I23CY6Tsufx0vtxx25nbFdZias6wmhxaE9p3LiWXygPWGU5iZ4RSQSImQz4zyOc9rnJeP1rwGk0OWDJhdKNXuf0kIPdzMfwxv2otgY32/DJj6L 0xc0000a2240}
Encountered 2 unknown hosts: 'blowfish.buetow.org:2222,fishfinger.buetow.org:2222'
Do you want to trust these hosts?? (y=yes,a=all,n=no,d=details): a
CLIENT|earth|INFO|STATS:STATS|cgocalls=11|cpu=8|connected=2|servers=2|connected%=100|new=2|throttle=0|goroutines=19
CLIENT|earth|INFO|Added hosts to known hosts file|/home/paul/.ssh/known_hosts
REMOTE|blowfish|100|7|fstab|31bfd9d9a6788844.h /usr/local ffs rw,wxallowed,nodev 1 2
REMOTE|fishfinger|100|7|fstab|093f510ec5c0f512.h /usr/local ffs rw,wxallowed,nodev 1 2

Running it the second time, and given that you trusted the keys the first time, it won't prompt you for the host keys anymore:

❯ ./dgrep -user rex -servers blowfish.buetow.org,fishfinger.buetow.org --regex local /etc/fstab
REMOTE|blowfish|100|7|fstab|31bfd9d9a6788844.h /usr/local ffs rw,wxallowed,nodev 1 2
REMOTE|fishfinger|100|7|fstab|093f510ec5c0f512.h /usr/local ffs rw,wxallowed,nodev 1 2

Conclusions



It's a bit of manual work, but it's ok on this small scale! I shall invest time in creating an official OpenBSD port, though. That would render most of the manual steps obsolete, as outlined in this post!

Check out the following for more information:

https://dtail.dev
https://github.com/mimecast/dtail
https://www.rexify.org

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-22 DTail - The distributed log tail program
2022-03-06 The release of DTail 4.0.0
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD (You are currently reading this)
2023-09-25 DTail usage examples

Back to the main site
 After a bad night's sleep gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-09-30-after-a-bad-nights-sleep.gmi 2022-09-30T09:53:23+03:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Everyone has it once in a while: A bad night's sleep. Here I attempt to list valuable tips on how to deal with it.

After a bad night's sleep



Published at 2022-09-30T09:53:23+03:00; Updated at 2022-10-12

Everyone has it once in a while: A bad night's sleep. Here I attempt to list valuable tips on how to deal with it.

               z
                z
                 Z
       .--.  Z Z
      / _(c\   .-.     __
     | / /  '-;   \'-'`  `\______
     \_\/'/ __/ )  /  )   |      \--,
     | \`""`__-/ .'--/   /--------\  \
      \\`  ///-\/   /   /---;-.    '-'
jgs                (________\  \
                             '-'

Table of Contents




Don't take the day off.



Don't take a day off after not sleeping enough the previous night. That would be wasting the holiday allowance. It wouldn't be possible to enjoy my free time anyway, so why not just work? There's still a way for an IT Engineer to be productive (sometimes even more) with half or less of the concentration power available!

Start work early



Probably I am already awake early and am unable to fall asleep again. My strategy here is to "attack" the day: Start work early and finish early. The early bird will also encounter fewer distractions from colleagues.

Sweat the small stuff



There's never a shortage of small items to hook off my list. Most of these items don't require my full concentration power, and I will be happy to get them off my list so that the next day, after a good night's sleep, I can immerse myself again in focused, deep work with all concentration powers at hand.

Examples of "small work items" are:

  • Tidying up the workspace.
  • Installing pending computer software updates.
  • Going through the work backlog: Create new tickets, close obsolete ones, and roughly pre-plan upcoming work.
  • Finishing off the easy tickets from the current sprint.
  • Going through any tedious paperwork.
  • Catch up with the journal and mark off all trivial action items.

Enter the flow state



I find it easy to enter the "flow state" after a bad night's sleep. All I need to do is to put on some ambient music (preferably instrumental chill house) and start to work on a not-too-difficult ticket.

Usually, the "flow state" is associated with deep-focused work, but deep-focused work isn't easily possible under sleep deprivation. It's still possible to be in the flow by working on more manageable tasks and leaving the difficult ones for the next day.

Reschedule meetings



I find engaging in discussions and demanding meetings challenging after a lousy night's sleep. I still attend the sessions I am invited to as "only" a participant, but I prefer to reschedule all meetings I am the primary driver of.

This, unfortunately, also includes interviews. Interviews require full concentration power. So for interviews, I would find a colleague to step in for me or ask to reschedule the interview altogether. Everything else wouldn't make it justice and would waste everyone's time!

Invent



The mind works differently under sleep deprivation: It's easier to invent new stuff as it's easier to have a look at things from different perspectives. Until an hour ago, I didn't know yet what I would be blogging about for this month, and then I just started writing this, and it took me only half an hour to write the first draft of this blog post!

Fast



I don't eat breakfast, and I don't eat lunch on these days. I only have dinner. Not eating means my mind doesn't get foggy, and I keep up the work momentum. This is called intermittent fasting, which not only generally helps to keep the weight under control and boosts the concentration power. Furthermore, intermittent fasting is healthy. You should include it in your routine, even after a good night's sleep.

Stretch



I won't have enough energy for strenuous physical exercise on those days, but a 30 to a 60-minute stretching session can make the day. Stretching will even hurt less under sleep deprivation! The stretching could also be substituted with a light Yoga session.

Walk



Walking is healthy, and the time can be used to listen to interesting podcasts. The available concentration power might not be enough for more sophisticated audio literature. I will have enough energy for one or two daily walks (~10k steps for the day in total). Sometimes, I listen to music during walks. I also try to catch the bright sunlight.

Red Bull



I don't think that Red Bull is a healthy drink. But once in a while, a can in the early afternoon brings wonders, and productivity will skyrocket. Other than Red Bull, drink a lot of water throughout the day. Don't forget to drink the sugar-free version; otherwise, your intermittent fast will be broken.

Power nap



I don't know how to "enforce" a nap, but sometimes I manage to power nap, and it helps wonders. A 30-minute nap sometimes brings me back to normal. If you don't tend to fast as you are too hungry, it helps to try to nap approximately 30 minutes after eating something.

Don't take anything personally.



It's much more challenging to keep the mind "under control" in this state. Every annoyance can potentially upset, which could reflect on the work colleagues. It is wise to attempt to go with a positive attitude into the day, always smile and be polite to the family and colleagues at work. Don't let anything drop out to the people next; they don't deserve it as they didn't do anything wrong! Also, remember, it can't be controlled at all. It's time to let go of the annoyances for the day.

Meditate



To keep the good vibe, it helps to meditate for 10 minutes. Meditation must nothing be fancy. It can be just lying on the sofa and observing your thoughts as they come and go. Don't judge your thoughts, as that could put you in a negative mood. It's not necessary to sit in an uncomfortable Yoga pose, and it is not required to chant "Ohhmmmmm".

Write things down



Sometimes something requiring more concentration power demands time. This is where it helps to write a note in a journal and return to it another day. This doesn't mean slacking off but managing the rarely available concentration power for the day. I might repeat myself: Today, sweat all the small stuff. Tomorrow, do the deep-focused work on that crucial project again.

It's easier to forget things on those days, so everything should be written down so that it can be worked off later. Things written down will not be overlooked!

Social media



I wouldn't say I like checking social media, as it can consume a lot of time and can become addictive. But once in a while, I want to catch up with my "networks". After a bad night's sleep, it's the perfect time to check your social media. Once done, you don't have to do it anymore for the next couple of days!

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-08-27-gemtexter-1.1.0-lets-gemtext-again.gmi 2022-08-27T18:25:57+01:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version `1.1.0`. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown written in GNU Bash.

Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again



Published at 2022-08-27T18:25:57+01:00

I proudly announce that I've released Gemtexter version 1.1.0. What is Gemtexter? It's my minimalist static site generator for Gemini Gemtext, HTML and Markdown written in GNU Bash.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/gemtexter

It has been around a year since I released the first version 1.0.0. Although, there aren't any groundbreaking changes, there have been a couple of smaller commits and adjustments. I was quite surprised that I received a bunch of feedback and requests about Gemtexter so it means that I am not the only person in the universe actually using it.

-=[ typewriter ]=-  1/98

       .-------.
      _|~~ ~~  |_
    =(_|_______|_)=
      |:::::::::|
      |:::::::[]|
      |o=======.|
 jgs  `"""""""""`

Table of Contents




What's new?



Automatic check for GNU version requirements



Gemtexter relies on the GNU versions of the tools grep, sed and date and it also requires the Bash shell in version 5 at least. That's now done in the check_dependencies() function:

check_dependencies () {
    # At least, Bash 5 is required
    local -i required_version=5
    IFS=. read -ra version <<< "$BASH_VERSION"
    if [ "${version[0]}" -lt $required_version ]; then
        log ERROR "ERROR, \"bash\" must be at least at major version $required_version!"
        exit 2
    fi

    # These must be the GNU versions of the commands
    for tool in $DATE $SED $GREP; do
        if ! $tool --version | grep -q GNU; then
            log ERROR "ERROR, \"$tool\" command is not the GNU version, please install!"
            exit 2
        fi
    done
}

Especially macOS users didn't read the README carefully enough to install GNU Grep, GNU Sed and GNU Date before using Gemtexter.

Backticks now produce inline code blocks in the HTML output



The Gemtext format doesn't support inline code blocks, but Gemtexter now produces inline code blocks (means, small code fragments can be placed in the middle of a paragraph) in the HTML output when the code block is enclosed with Backticks. There were no adjustments required for the Markdown output format, because Markdown supports it already out of the box.

Cache for Atom feed generation



The Bash is not the most performant language. Gemtexter already takes a couple of seconds only to generate the Atom feed for around two hand full of articles on my slightly underpowered Surface Go 2 Linux tablet. Therefore, I introduced a cache, so that subsequent Atom feed generation runs finish much quicker. The cache uses a checksum of the Gemtext .gmi file to decide whether anything of the content has changed or not.

Input filter support



Once your capsule reaches a certain size, it can become annoying to re-generate everything if you only want to preview the HTML or Markdown output of one single content file. The following will add a filter to only generate the files matching a regular expression:

./gemtexter --generate '.*hello.*'

Revamped git support



The Git support has been completely rewritten. It's now more reliable and faster too. Have a look at the README for more information.

Addition of htmlextras and web font support



The htmlextras folder now contains all extra files required for the HTML output format such as cascading style sheet (CSS) files and web fonts.

Sub-section support



It's now possible to define sub-sections within a Gemtexter capsule. For the HTML output, each sub-section can use its own CSS and web font definitions. E.g.:

The foo.zone main site
The notes sub-section (with different fonts)

More



Additionally, there were a couple of bug fixes, refactorings and overall improvements in the documentation made.

Overall I think it's a pretty solid 1.1.0 release without anything groundbreaking (therefore no major version jump). But I am happy about it.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-24 Welcome to the Geminispace
2021-06-05 Gemtexter - One Bash script to rule it all
2022-08-27 Gemtexter 1.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again (You are currently reading this)
2023-03-25 Gemtexter 2.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again²
2023-07-21 Gemtexter 2.1.0 - Let's Gemtext again³
2024-10-02 Gemtexter 3.0.0 - Let's Gemtext again⁴

Back to the main site
 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-07-30-lets-encrypt-with-openbsd-and-rex.gmi 2022-07-30T12:14:31+01:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I was amazed at how easy it is to automatically generate and update Let's Encrypt certificates with OpenBSD.

Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex



Published at 2022-07-30T12:14:31+01:00

I was amazed at how easy it is to automatically generate and update Let's Encrypt certificates with OpenBSD.

                                               /    _    \
  The Hebern Machine                            \ ." ". /
                                  ___            /     \
                              ..""   ""..       |   O   |
                             /           \      |       |
                            /             \     |       |
                          ---------------------------------
                        _/  o     (O)     o   _            |
                      _/                    ." ".          |
                    I/    _________________/     \         |
                  _/I   ."                        |        |
          =====  /  I  /                         /         |
     =====  | | |   \ |       _________________."          |
=====  | |  | | |   /  \     /  _|_|__|_|_          __     |
  | |  | |  | | |   \   "._."  /  o    o  \       ."  ".   |
  |  --|  --|  -|   /          \         _/      /      \  |
   \____\____\__|   \  ______   |       /       |        | |
               --------      ---       /        |        | |
              ( )        (O)          /          \      /  |
               -----------------------            ".__."   |
               _|__________________________________________|_
              /                                              \
             /________________________________________________\
                                 ASCII Art by John Savard

Table of Contents




What's Let's Encrypt?



Let's Encrypt is a non-profit certificate authority run by Internet Security Research Group that provides X.509 certificates for Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption at no charge. It is the world's largest certificate authority, used by more than 265 million websites, with the goal of all websites being secure and using HTTPS.

Source: Wikipedia

In short, it gives away TLS certificates for your website - for free! The catch is, that the certificates are only valid for three months. So it is better to automate certificate generation and renewals.

Meet acme-client



acme-client is the default Automatic Certifcate Management Environment (ACME) client on OpenBSD and part of the OpenBSD base system.

When invoked, the client first checks whether certificates actually require to be generated.

  • It first checks whether a certificate already exists; if not, it will attempt to generate a new one.
  • If the certificate already exists but expires within the next 30 days, it will renew it.
  • Otherwise, acme-client won't do anything.

Oversimplified, the following steps are undertaken by acme-client for generating a new certificate:

  • Reading its config file /etc/acme-client.conf for a list of hosts (and their alternative names) to generate certificates. So it means you can also have certificates for arbitrary subdomains!
  • Automatic generation of the private certificate part (the certificate key) and the certificate signing request (CSR) to /etc/ssl/....
  • Requesting Let's Encrypt to sign the certificate. This also includes providing a set of temporary files requested by Let's Encrypt in the next step for verification.
  • Let's Encrypt then will contact the hostname for the certificate through a particular URL (e.g. http://foo.zone/.well-known/acme-challenge/...) to verify that the requester is the valid owner of the host.
  • Let's Encrypt generates a certificate, which then is downloaded to /etc/ssl/....

Configuration



There is some (but easy) configuration required to make that all work on OpenBSD.

acme-client.conf



This is how my /etc/acme-client.conf looks like (I copied a template from /etc/examples/acme-client.conf to /etc/acme-client.conf and added my domains to the bottom:

#
# $OpenBSD: acme-client.conf,v 1.4 2020/09/17 09:13:06 florian Exp $
#
authority letsencrypt {
    api url "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
    account key "/etc/acme/letsencrypt-privkey.pem"
}

authority letsencrypt-staging {
    api url "https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
    account key "/etc/acme/letsencrypt-staging-privkey.pem"
}

authority buypass {
    api url "https://api.buypass.com/acme/directory"
    account key "/etc/acme/buypass-privkey.pem"
    contact "mailto:me@example.com"
}

authority buypass-test {
    api url "https://api.test4.buypass.no/acme/directory"
    account key "/etc/acme/buypass-test-privkey.pem"
    contact "mailto:me@example.com"
}

domain buetow.org {
    alternative names { www.buetow.org paul.buetow.org }
    domain key "/etc/ssl/private/buetow.org.key"
    domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/buetow.org.fullchain.pem"
    sign with letsencrypt
}

domain dtail.dev {
    alternative names { www.dtail.dev }
    domain key "/etc/ssl/private/dtail.dev.key"
    domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/dtail.dev.fullchain.pem"
    sign with letsencrypt
}

domain foo.zone {
    alternative names { www.foo.zone }
    domain key "/etc/ssl/private/foo.zone.key"
    domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/foo.zone.fullchain.pem"
    sign with letsencrypt
}

domain irregular.ninja {
    alternative names { www.irregular.ninja }
    domain key "/etc/ssl/private/irregular.ninja.key"
    domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/irregular.ninja.fullchain.pem"
    sign with letsencrypt
}

domain snonux.land {
    alternative names { www.snonux.land }
    domain key "/etc/ssl/private/snonux.land.key"
    domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/snonux.land.fullchain.pem"
    sign with letsencrypt
}

httpd.conf



For ACME to work, you will need to configure the HTTP daemon so that the "special" ACME requests from Let's Encrypt are served correctly. I am using the standard OpenBSD httpd here. These are the snippets I use for the foo.zone host in /etc/httpd.conf (of course, you need a similar setup for all other hosts as well):

server "foo.zone" {
  listen on * port 80
  location "/.well-known/acme-challenge/*" {
    root "/acme"
    request strip 2
  }
  location * {
    block return 302 "https://$HTTP_HOST$REQUEST_URI"
  }
}

server "foo.zone" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/foo.zone.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/foo.zone.key"
  }
  location * {
    root "/htdocs/gemtexter/foo.zone"
    directory auto index
  }
}

As you see, plain HTTP only serves the ACME challenge path. Otherwise, it redirects the requests to TLS. The TLS section then attempts to use the Let's Encrypt certificates.

It is worth noticing that httpd will start without the certificates being present. This will cause a certificate error when you try to reach the HTTPS endpoint, but it helps to bootstrap Let's Encrypt. As you saw in the config snippet above, Let's Encrypt only requests the plain HTTP endpoint for the verification process, so HTTPS doesn't need to be operational yet at this stage. But once the certificates are generated, you will have to reload or restart httpd to use any new certificate.

CRON job



You could now run doas acme-client foo.zone to generate the certificate or to renew it. Or you could automate it with CRON.

I have created a script /usr/local/bin/acme.sh for that for all of my domains:

#!/bin/sh

function handle_cert {
    host=$1
    # Create symlink, so that relayd also can read it.
    crt_path=/etc/ssl/$host
    if [ -e $crt_path.crt ]; then
        rm $crt_path.crt
    fi
    ln -s $crt_path.fullchain.pem $crt_path.crt
    # Requesting and renewing certificate.
    /usr/sbin/acme-client -v $host
}

has_update=no
handle_cert www.buetow.org
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.paul.buetow.org
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.tmp.buetow.org
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.dtail.dev
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.foo.zone
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.irregular.ninja
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
handle_cert www.snonux.land
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi

# Pick up the new certs.
if [ $has_update = yes ]; then
    /usr/sbin/rcctl reload httpd
    /usr/sbin/rcctl reload relayd
    /usr/sbin/rcctl restart smtpd
fi

And added the following line to /etc/daily.local to run the script once daily so that certificates will be renewed fully automatically:

/usr/local/bin/acme.sh

I am receiving a daily output via E-Mail like this now:

Running daily.local:
acme-client: /etc/ssl/buetow.org.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/paul.buetow.org.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/tmp.buetow.org.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/dtail.dev.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/foo.zone.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/irregular.ninja.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 80 days left
acme-client: /etc/ssl/snonux.land.fullchain.pem: certificate valid: 79 days left

relayd.conf and smtpd.conf



Besides httpd, relayd (mainly for Gemini) and smtpd (for mail, of course) also use TLS certificates. And as you can see in acme.sh, the services are reloaded or restarted (smtpd doesn't support reload) whenever a certificate is generated or updated.

Rexification



I didn't write all these configuration files by hand. As a matter of fact, everything is automated with the Rex configuration management system.

https://www.rexify.org

At the top of the Rexfile I define all my hosts:

our @acme_hosts = qw/buetow.org paul.buetow.org tmp.buetow.org dtail.dev foo.zone irregular.ninja snonux.land/;

General ACME client configuration



ACME will be installed into the frontend group of hosts. Here, blowfish is the primary, and twofish is the secondary OpenBSD box.

group frontends => 'blowfish.buetow.org', 'twofish.buetow.org';

This is my Rex task for the general ACME configuration:

desc 'Configure ACME client';
task 'acme', group => 'frontends',
  sub {
    file '/etc/acme-client.conf',
      content => template('./etc/acme-client.conf.tpl',
        acme_hosts => \@acme_hosts,
        is_primary => $is_primary),
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644';

    file '/usr/local/bin/acme.sh',
      content => template('./scripts/acme.sh.tpl',
        acme_hosts => \@acme_hosts,
        is_primary => $is_primary),
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '744';

    file '/etc/daily.local',
      ensure => 'present',
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644';

    append_if_no_such_line '/etc/daily.local', '/usr/local/bin/acme.sh';
  };

And there is also a Rex task just to run the ACME script remotely:

desc 'Invoke ACME client';
task 'acme_invoke', group => 'frontends',
  sub {
    say run '/usr/local/bin/acme.sh';
  };

Furthermore, this snippet (also at the top of the Rexfile) helps to determine whether the current server is the primary server (all hosts will be without the www. prefix) or the secondary server (all hosts will be with the www. prefix):

# Bootstrapping the FQDN based on the server IP as the hostname and domain
# facts aren't set yet due to the myname file in the first place.
our $fqdns = sub {
  my $ipv4 = shift;
  return 'blowfish.buetow.org' if $ipv4 eq '23.88.35.144';
  return 'twofish.buetow.org' if $ipv4 eq '108.160.134.135';
  Rex::Logger::info("Unable to determine hostname for $ipv4", 'error');
  return 'HOSTNAME-UNKNOWN.buetow.org';
};

# To determine whether the server is the primary or the secondary.
our $is_primary = sub {
  my $ipv4 = shift;
  $fqdns->($ipv4) eq 'blowfish.buetow.org';
};

The following is the acme-client.conf.tpl Rex template file used for the automation. You see that the www. prefix isn't sent for the primary server. E.g. foo.zone will be served by the primary server (in my case, a server located in Germany) and www.foo.zone by the secondary server (in my case, a server located in Japan):

#
# $OpenBSD: acme-client.conf,v 1.4 2020/09/17 09:13:06 florian Exp $
#
authority letsencrypt {
	api url "https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
	account key "/etc/acme/letsencrypt-privkey.pem"
}

authority letsencrypt-staging {
	api url "https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory"
	account key "/etc/acme/letsencrypt-staging-privkey.pem"
}

authority buypass {
	api url "https://api.buypass.com/acme/directory"
	account key "/etc/acme/buypass-privkey.pem"
	contact "mailto:me@example.com"
}

authority buypass-test {
	api url "https://api.test4.buypass.no/acme/directory"
	account key "/etc/acme/buypass-test-privkey.pem"
	contact "mailto:me@example.com"
}

<%
  our $primary = $is_primary->($vio0_ip);
  our $prefix = $primary ? '' : 'www.';
%>

<% for my $host (@$acme_hosts) { %>
domain <%= $prefix.$host %> {
	domain key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix.$host %>.key"
	domain full chain certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix.$host %>.fullchain.pem"
	sign with letsencrypt
}
<% } %>

And this is the acme.sh.tpl:

#!/bin/sh

<%
  our $primary = $is_primary->($vio0_ip);
  our $prefix = $primary ? '' : 'www.';
-%>

function handle_cert {
    host=$1
    # Create symlink, so that relayd also can read it.
    crt_path=/etc/ssl/$host
    if [ -e $crt_path.crt ]; then
        rm $crt_path.crt
    fi
    ln -s $crt_path.fullchain.pem $crt_path.crt
    # Requesting and renewing certificate.
    /usr/sbin/acme-client -v $host
}

has_update=no
<% for my $host (@$acme_hosts) { -%>
handle_cert <%= $prefix.$host %>
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    has_update=yes
fi
<% } -%>

# Pick up the new certs.
if [ $has_update = yes ]; then
    /usr/sbin/rcctl reload httpd
    /usr/sbin/rcctl reload relayd
    /usr/sbin/rcctl restart smtpd
fi

Service rexification



These are the Rex tasks setting up httpd, relayd and smtpd services:

desc 'Setup httpd';
task 'httpd', group => 'frontends',
  sub {
    append_if_no_such_line '/etc/rc.conf.local', 'httpd_flags=';

    file '/etc/httpd.conf',
      content => template('./etc/httpd.conf.tpl',
        acme_hosts => \@acme_hosts,
        is_primary => $is_primary),
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644',
      on_change => sub { service 'httpd' => 'restart' };

    service 'httpd', ensure => 'started';
  };

desc 'Setup relayd';
task 'relayd', group => 'frontends',
  sub {
    append_if_no_such_line '/etc/rc.conf.local', 'relayd_flags=';

    file '/etc/relayd.conf',
      content => template('./etc/relayd.conf.tpl',
        ipv6address => $ipv6address,
        is_primary => $is_primary),
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '600',
      on_change => sub { service 'relayd' => 'restart' };

    service 'relayd', ensure => 'started';
  };

desc 'Setup OpenSMTPD';
task 'smtpd', group => 'frontends',
  sub {
    Rex::Logger::info('Dealing with mail aliases');
    file '/etc/mail/aliases',
      source => './etc/mail/aliases',
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644',
      on_change => sub { say run 'newaliases' };

    Rex::Logger::info('Dealing with mail virtual domains');
    file '/etc/mail/virtualdomains',
      source => './etc/mail/virtualdomains',
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644',
      on_change => sub { service 'smtpd' => 'restart' };

    Rex::Logger::info('Dealing with mail virtual users');
    file '/etc/mail/virtualusers',
      source => './etc/mail/virtualusers',
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644',
      on_change => sub { service 'smtpd' => 'restart' };

    Rex::Logger::info('Dealing with smtpd.conf');
    file '/etc/mail/smtpd.conf',
      content => template('./etc/mail/smtpd.conf.tpl',
        is_primary => $is_primary),
      owner => 'root',
      group => 'wheel',
      mode => '644',
      on_change => sub { service 'smtpd' => 'restart' };

    service 'smtpd', ensure => 'started';
  };

This is the httpd.conf.tpl:

<%
  our $primary = $is_primary->($vio0_ip);
  our $prefix = $primary ? '' : 'www.';
%>

# Plain HTTP for ACME and HTTPS redirect
<% for my $host (@$acme_hosts) { %>
server "<%= $prefix.$host %>" {
  listen on * port 80
  location "/.well-known/acme-challenge/*" {
    root "/acme"
    request strip 2
  }
  location * {
    block return 302 "https://$HTTP_HOST$REQUEST_URI"
  }
}
<% } %>

# Gemtexter hosts
<% for my $host (qw/foo.zone snonux.land/) { %>
server "<%= $prefix.$host %>" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix.$host %>.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix.$host %>.key"
  }
  location * {
    root "/htdocs/gemtexter/<%= $host %>"
    directory auto index
  }
}
<% } %>

# DTail special host
server "<%= $prefix %>dtail.dev" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>dtail.dev.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>dtail.dev.key"
  }
  location * {
    block return 302 "https://github.dtail.dev$REQUEST_URI"
  }
}

# Irregular Ninja special host
server "<%= $prefix %>irregular.ninja" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>irregular.ninja.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>irregular.ninja.key"
  }
  location * {
    root "/htdocs/irregular.ninja"
    directory auto index
  }
}

# buetow.org special host.
server "<%= $prefix %>buetow.org" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>buetow.org.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>buetow.org.key"
  }
  block return 302 "https://paul.buetow.org"
}

server "<%= $prefix %>paul.buetow.org" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>paul.buetow.org.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>paul.buetow.org.key"
  }
  block return 302 "https://foo.zone/contact-information.html"
}

server "<%= $prefix %>tmp.buetow.org" {
  listen on * tls port 443
  tls {
    certificate "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>tmp.buetow.org.fullchain.pem"
    key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>tmp.buetow.org.key"
  }
  root "/htdocs/buetow.org/tmp"
  directory auto index
}

and this the relayd.conf.tpl:

<%
  our $primary = $is_primary->($vio0_ip);
  our $prefix = $primary ? '' : 'www.';
%>

log connection

tcp protocol "gemini" {
    tls keypair <%= $prefix %>foo.zone
    tls keypair <%= $prefix %>buetow.org
}

relay "gemini4" {
    listen on <%= $vio0_ip %> port 1965 tls
    protocol "gemini"
    forward to 127.0.0.1 port 11965
}

relay "gemini6" {
    listen on <%= $ipv6address->($hostname) %> port 1965 tls
    protocol "gemini"
    forward to 127.0.0.1 port 11965
}

And last but not least, this is the smtpd.conf.tpl:

<%
  our $primary = $is_primary->($vio0_ip);
  our $prefix = $primary ? '' : 'www.';
%>

pki "buetow_org_tls" cert "/etc/ssl/<%= $prefix %>buetow.org.fullchain.pem"
pki "buetow_org_tls" key "/etc/ssl/private/<%= $prefix %>buetow.org.key"

table aliases file:/etc/mail/aliases
table virtualdomains file:/etc/mail/virtualdomains
table virtualusers file:/etc/mail/virtualusers

listen on socket
listen on all tls pki "buetow_org_tls" hostname "<%= $prefix %>buetow.org"
#listen on all

action localmail mbox alias <aliases>
action receive mbox virtual <virtualusers>
action outbound relay

match from any for domain <virtualdomains> action receive
match from local for local action localmail
match from local for any action outbound

All pieces together



For the complete Rexfile example and all the templates, please look at the Git repository:

https://codeberg.org/snonux/rexfiles

Besides ACME, other things, such as DNS servers, are also rexified. The following command will run all the Rex tasks and configure everything on my frontend machines automatically:

rex commons

The commons is a group of tasks I specified which combines a set of common tasks I always want to execute on all frontend machines. This also includes the ACME tasks mentioned in this article!

Conclusion



ACME and Let's Encrypt greatly help reduce recurring manual maintenance work (creating and renewing certificates). Furthermore, all the certificates are free of cost! I love to use OpenBSD and Rex to automate all of this.

OpenBSD suits perfectly here as all the tools are already part of the base installation. But I like underdogs. Rex is not as powerful and popular as other configuration management systems (e.g. Puppet, Chef, SALT or even Ansible). It is more of an underdog, and the community is small.

Why re-inventing the wheel? I love that a Rexfile is just a Perl DSL. Also, OpenBSD comes with Perl in the base system. So no new programming language had to be added to my mix for the configuration management system. Also, the acme.sh shell script is not a Bash but a standard Bourne shell script, so I didn't have to install an additional shell as OpenBSD does not come with the Bash pre-installed.

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other *BSD related posts are:

2016-04-09 Jails and ZFS with Puppet on FreeBSD
2022-07-30 Let's Encrypt with OpenBSD and Rex (You are currently reading this)
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2024-01-13 One reason why I love OpenBSD
2024-04-01 KISS high-availability with OpenBSD
2024-11-17 f3s: Kubernetes with FreeBSD - Part 1: Setting the stage

Back to the main site
 Sweating the small stuff - Tiny projects of mine gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-06-15-sweating-the-small-stuff.gmi 2022-06-15T08:47:44+01:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org This blog post is a bit different from the others. It consists of multiple but smaller projects worth mentioning. I got inspired by Julia Evan's 'Tiny programs' blog post and the side projects of The Sephist, so I thought I would also write a blog posts listing a couple of small projects of mine:

Sweating the small stuff - Tiny projects of mine



Published at 2022-06-15T08:47:44+01:00; Updated at 2022-06-18

This blog post is a bit different from the others. It consists of multiple but smaller projects worth mentioning. I got inspired by Julia Evan's "Tiny programs" blog post and the side projects of The Sephist, so I thought I would also write a blog posts listing a couple of small projects of mine:

Tiny programs
The Sephist's project list

Working on tiny projects is a lot of fun as you don't need to worry about any standards or code reviews and you decide how and when you work on it. There aren't restrictions regarding technologies used. You are likely the only person working on these tiny projects and that means that there is no conflict with any other developers. This is complete freedom :-).

But before going through the tiny projects let's take a paragraph for the 1y anniversary retrospective.

         _
        /_/_      .'''.
     =O(_)))) ...'     `.
 jgs    \_\              `.    .'''
                           `..'

Table of Contents




1y anniversary



It has been one year since I started posting regularly (at least once monthly) on this blog again. It has been a lot of fun (and work) doing so for various reasons:

  • I practice English writing (I am not a native speaker). I am far from being a novelist, but this blog helps improves my writing skills. I also tried out tools like Grammarly.com and Languagetool.org and also worked with :spell in Vim or the LibreOffice checker. This post was checked with the write-better Node application.
  • I force myself to "finish" some kind of project worth writing about every month. If its not a project, then its still a topic which requires research and deep thinking. Producing 2k words of text can actually be challenging.
  • It's fun to rely on KISS (keep it simple & stupid) tools. E.g. use of Gemtexter and not WordPress, use of Vim instead of an office suite or a rich web editor.

Retrospectively, these have been the most popular blog posts of mine over the last year:

Keep it simple and stupid
Creative universe
Bash Golf series
How to stay sane as a DevOps person
Perl is still a great choice

But now, let's continue with the small projects worth mentioning :-)

Static photo album generator



photoalbum.sh is a minimal static HTML photo album generator. I use it to drive "The Irregular Ninja" site and for some ad-hoc (personal) albums to share photos with the family and friends.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/photoalbum

The Irregular Ninja



Photography is one of my casual hobbies. I love to capture interesting perspectives and motifs. I love to walk new streets and neighbourhoods I never walked before so I can capture those unexpected motifs, colours and moments. Unfortunately, because of time constraints (and sometime weather constraints), I do that on a pretty infrequent basis.



More than 10 years ago I wrote the bespoke small static photo album generator in Bash photoalbum.sh which I recently refactored to a modern Bash coding style and also freshened up the Cascading Style Sheets. Last but not least, the new domain name irregular.ninja has been registered.

The thumbnails are presented in a random order and there are also random CSS effects for each preview. There's also a simple background blur for each page generated. And that's all in less than 300 lines of Bash code! The script requires ImageMagick (available for all common Linux and *BSD distributions) to be installed.

As you can see, there is a lot of randomization and irregularity going on. Thus, the name "Irregular Ninja" was born.

https://irregular.ninja

I only use a digital compact camera or a smartphone to take the photos. I don't like the idea of carrying around a big camera with me "just in case" so I keep it small and simple. The best camera is the camera you have with you. :-)

I hope you like this photo site. It's worth checking it out again around once every other month!

Random journal page extractor



I bullet journal. I write my notes into a Leuchtturm paper notebook. Once full, I am scanning it to a PDF file and archive it. As of writing this, I am at journal #7 (each from 123 up to 251 pages in A5). It means that there is a lot of material already.

Once in a while I want to revisit older notes and ideas. For that I have written a simple Bash script randomjournalpage.sh which randomly picks a PDF file from a folder and extracts 42 pages from it at a random page offset and opens them in a PDF viewer (Evince in this case, as I am a GNOME user).

https://codeberg.org/snonux/randomjournalpage

There's also a weekly CRON job on my servers to send me a reminder that I might want to read in my old journals again. My laptop also runs this script each time it boots and saves the output to a NextCloud folder. From there, it's synchronized to the NextCloud server so I can pick it up from there with my smartphone later when I am "on the road".

Global uptime records statistic generator



guprecords is a Perl script which reads multiple uprecord files (produced by uptimed - a widely available daemon for recording server uptimes) and generates uptime statistics of multiple hosts combined. I keep all the record files of all my personal computers in a Git repository (I even keep the records of the boxes I don't own or use anymore) and there's already quite a collection of it. It looks like this:

❯ perl ~/git/guprecords/src/guprecords --indir=./stats/ --count=20 --all
Pos |            System |               Kernel |        Uptime |                Boot time
  1 |               sun | FreeBSD 10.1-RELEA.. | 502d 03:29:19 | Sun Aug 16 15:56:40 2015
  2 |            vulcan | Linux 3.10.0-1160... | 313d 13:19:39 | Sun Jul 25 18:32:25 2021
  3 |             uugrn | FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE | 303d 15:19:35 | Tue Dec 22 21:33:07 2015
  4 |             uugrn | FreeBSD 11.0-RELEA.. | 281d 14:38:04 | Fri Oct 21 15:22:02 2016
  5 |         deltavega | Linux 3.10.0-957.2.. | 279d 11:15:00 | Sun Jun 30 11:42:38 2019
  6 |            vulcan | Linux 3.10.0-957.2.. | 279d 11:12:14 | Sun Jun 30 11:43:41 2019
  7 |         deltavega | Linux 3.10.0-1160... | 253d 04:42:22 | Sat Apr 24 13:34:34 2021
  8 |             host0 | FreeBSD 6.2-RELEAS.. | 240d 02:23:23 | Wed Jan 31 20:34:46 2007
  9 |             uugrn | FreeBSD 11.1-RELEA.. | 202d 21:12:41 | Sun May  6 18:06:17 2018
 10 |           tauceti |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 197d 18:45:40 | Mon Dec 16 19:47:54 2013
 11 |             pluto | Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 | 185d 11:53:04 | Wed Aug  1 07:34:10 2012
 12 |               sun | FreeBSD 10.3-RELEA.. | 164d 22:31:55 | Sat Jul 22 18:47:21 2017
 13 |            vulcan | Linux 3.10.0-1160... | 161d 07:08:43 | Sun Feb 14 10:05:38 2021
 14 |               sun | FreeBSD 10.3-RELEA.. | 158d 21:18:36 | Sat Jan 27 10:18:57 2018
 15 |             uugrn | FreeBSD 11.1-RELEA.. | 157d 20:57:24 | Fri Nov  3 05:02:54 2017
 16 |         tauceti-f |  Linux 3.2.0-3-amd64 | 150d 04:12:38 | Mon Sep 16 09:02:58 2013
 17 |           tauceti |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 149d 09:21:43 | Mon Aug 11 09:47:50 2014
 18 |             pluto |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 142d 02:57:31 | Mon Sep  8 01:59:02 2014
 19 |         tauceti-f |  Linux 3.2.0-3-amd64 | 132d 22:46:26 | Mon May  6 11:11:35 2013
 20 |       keppler-16b |        Darwin 13.4.0 | 131d 08:17:12 | Thu Jun 11 10:44:25 2015

It can also sum up all uptimes for each host to generate a total per host uptime top list:

❯ perl ~/git/guprecords/src/guprecords --indir=./stats/ --count=20 --total
Pos |            System |               Kernel |        Uptime |
  1 |            uranus | Linux 5.4.17-200.f.. | 1419d 19:05:39 |
  2 |               sun | FreeBSD 10.1-RELEA.. | 1363d 11:41:14 |
  3 |            vulcan | Linux 3.10.0-1160... | 1262d 20:27:48 |
  4 |             uugrn | FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE | 1219d 15:10:16 |
  5 |         deltavega | Linux 3.10.0-957.2.. | 1115d 06:33:55 |
  6 |             pluto | Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 | 1086d 10:44:05 |
  7 |           tauceti |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 846d 12:58:21 |
  8 |         tauceti-f |  Linux 3.2.0-3-amd64 | 625d 07:16:39 |
  9 |             host0 | FreeBSD 6.2-RELEAS.. | 534d 19:50:13 |
 10 |       keppler-16b |        Darwin 13.4.0 | 448d 06:15:00 |
 11 |         tauceti-e |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 415d 18:14:13 |
 12 |              moon |        Darwin 18.7.0 | 326d 11:21:42 |
 13 |          callisto | Linux 4.0.4-303.fc.. | 303d 12:18:24 |
 14 |     alphacentauri | FreeBSD 10.1-RELEA.. | 300d 20:15:00 |
 15 |             earth | Linux 5.13.14-200... | 289d 08:05:05 |
 16 |          makemake | Linux 5.11.9-200.f.. | 286d 21:53:03 |
 17 |            london |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 258d 15:10:38 |
 18 |          fishbone | OpenBSD 4.1       .. | 223d 05:55:26 |
 19 |       sagittarius |        Darwin 15.6.0 | 198d 23:53:59 |
 20 |              mars |  Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 | 190d 05:44:21 |

https://codeberg.org/snonux/guprecords

This all is of no real practical use but fun!

Server configuration management



The rexfiles project contains all Rex files for my (personal) server setup automation. A Rexfile is written in a Perl DSL run by the Rex configuration management system. It's pretty much KISS and that's why I love it. It suits my personal needs perfectly.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/rexfiles
https://www.rexify.org

This is an E-Mail I posted to the Rex mailing list:

Hi there! I was searching for a simple way to automate my personal OpenBSD setup. I found that configuration management systems like Puppet, Salt, Chef, etc.. were too bloated for my personal needs. So for a while I was configuring everything by hand. At one point I got fed up and started writing Shell scripts. But that was not the holy grail so that I looked at Ansible. I found that Ansible had some dependencies on Python on the target machine when you want to use all the features. Furthermore, I am not really familiar with Python. But then I remembered that there was also Rex. It's written in my beloved Perl. Also, OpenBSD comes with Perl in the base system out of the box which makes it integrate better than all my scripts (automation and also scripts deployed via the automation to the system) are all in the same language. Rex may not have all the features like other configuration management systems, but its easy to work-around or extend when you know Perl. Thanks!

Fancy SSH execution loop



rubyfy is a fancy SSH loop wrapper written in Ruby for running shell commands on multiple remote servers at once. I also forked this project for work (under a different name) where I added even more features such as automatic server discovery. It's used by many colleagues on a frequent basis. Here are some examples:

# Run command 'hostname' on server foo.example.com
./rubyfy.rb -c 'hostname' <<< foo.example.com

# Run command 'id' as root (via sudo) on all servers listed in the list file
# Do it on 10 servers in parallel
./rubyfy.rb --parallel 10 --root --command 'id' < serverlist.txt

# Run a fancy script in background on 50 servers in parallel
./rubyfy.rb -p 50 -r -b -c '/usr/local/scripts/fancy.zsh' < serverlist.txt

# Grep for specific process on both servers and write output to ./out/grep.txt
echo {foo,bar}.example.com | ./rubyfy.rb -p 10 -c 'pgrep -lf httpd' -n grep.txt

# Reboot server only if file /var/run/maintenance.lock does NOT exist!
echo foo.example.com |
./rubyfy.rb --root --command reboot --precondition /var/run/maintenance.lock

https://codeberg.org/snonux/rubyfy

A KISS dynamic DNS solution



dyndns is a tiny shell script which implements "your" own DynDNS service. It relies on SSH access to the authoritative DNS server and the nsupdate command. There is really no need to use any of the "other" free DynDNS services out there.

Syntax (this must run from the client connecting to the DNS server through SSH): 

ssh dyndns@dyndnsserver /path/to/dyndns-update \
    your.host.name. TYPE new-entry TIMEOUT

This is a real world example: 

ssh dyndns@dyndnsserver /path/to/dyndns-update \
  local.buetow.org. A 137.226.50.91 30

https://codeberg.org/snonux/dyndns

CPU information gatherer for Linux



This is a tiny GNU Awk script for Linux which displays information about the CPU. All what it does is presenting /proc/cpuinfo in an easier to read way. The output is somewhat more compact than the standard lscpu command you find commonly on Linux distributions.

❯ ./cpuinfo
cpuinfo (c) 1.0.2 Paul Buetow

 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz GenuineIntel 12288 KB cache

p = 001 Physical processors
c = 004 Cores
s = 008 Siblings (Hyper-Threading enabled if s != c)
v = 008 [v = p*c*(s != c ? 2 : 1)] Total logical CPUs
 Hyper-Threading is enabled

0003000 MHz each core
0012000 MHz total
0005990 Bogomips each processor (including virtual)
0023961 Bogomips total

https://codeberg.org/snonux/cpuinfo

Show differences of two files over the network



This is a shell wrapper to use the standard diff tool over the network to compare a file between two computers. It uses NetCat for the network part and also encrypts all traffic using OpenSSL. This is how its used:

1. Open two terminal windows and login to two different hosts (you could use ClusterSSH or tmux here). 2. Run on the first host netdiff otherhost.example.org /file/to/diff.txt and run on the second host netdiff firsthost.example.org /file/to/diff.txt. 3. You then will see the file differences.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/netdiff

Delay sending out E-Mails with Mutt



This is a shell script for the Mutt email client for delaying sending out E-Mails. For example, you want to write an email on Saturday but don't want to bother the recipient earlier than Monday. It relies on CRON.

https://codeberg.org/snonux/muttdelay

Graphical UI for sending text messages



jsmstrade is a minimalistic graphical Java swing client for sending SMS messages over the SMStrade service.



https://codeberg.org/snonux/jsmstrade
https://smstrade.de

IPv6 and IPv4 connectivity testing site



ipv6test is a quick and dirty Perl CGI script for testing whether your browser connects via IPv4 or IPv6. It requires you to setup three sub-domains: One reachable only via IPv4 (e.g. test4.ipv6.buetow.org), another reachable only via IPv6 (e.g. test6.ipv6.buetow.org) and the main one reachable through both protocols (e.g. ipv6.buetow.org).

I don't have it running on any of my servers at the moment. This means that there is no demo to show now. Sorry!

List open Jira tickets in the terminal



japi s a small Perl script for listing open Jira issues. It might be broken by now as the Jira APIs may have changed. Sorry! But feel free to fork and modernize it. :-)

https://codeberg.org/snonux/jsmstrade

Debian running on "your" Android phone



Debroid is a tutorial and a set of scripts to install and to run a Debian chroot on an Android phone.

Check out my previous post about it

I am not using Debroid anymore as I have switched to Termux now.

https://termux.com

Perl service framework



PerlDaemon is a minimal daemon for Linux and other Unix like operating systems programmed in Perl. It is a minimal but pretty functional and fairly generic service framework. This means that it does not do anything useful other than providing a framework for starting, stopping, configuring and logging. To do something useful, a module (written in Perl) must be provided.

Checkout my previous post about it

More



There are more projects on my Codeberg page but they aren't as tiny as the ones mentioned in this post or aren't finished yet so I won't bother listing them here. However, there also a few more scripts used frequently by me (not publicly accessible (yet?)) which I would like to mention here:

Work time tracker



worktime.rb, for example, is a command line Ruby script I use to track my time spent working. This is to make sure that I don't overwork (in particular useful when working from home). It also generates some daily and weekly stats and carries over work time (surpluses or minuses) to the next work day, week or even year.

It has some special features such as tracking time for self-improvement/development, days off and time spent at the lunch break and time spent on Pet Projects.

An example weekly report looks like this (I often don't track my lunch time but what I do instead I stop the work timer when I go out for lunch and start the work timer once back at the desk):

     Mon 20211213 50: work:5.92h
     Tue 20211214 50: work:7.47h lunch:0.50h pet:0.42h
     Wed 20211215 50: work:8.86h pet:0.50h
     Thu 20211216 50: work:8.02h pet:0.50h
     Fri 20211217 50: work:9.81h
   * Sat 20211218 50: work:0.00h selfdevelopment:1.00h
   * Sun 20211219 50: work:2.08h pet:1.00h selfdevelopment:-2.08h
================================================
 balance:0.06h work:42.15h lunch:0.50h pet:2.42h selfdevelopment:-1.08h buffer:8.38h

All I do when I start work is to run the wtlogin command and after finishing work to run the wtlogout command. My shell will remind me when I work without having logged in. It uses a simple JSON database which is editable with wtedit (this opens the JSON in Vim). The report shown above can be generated with wtreport. Any out-of-bounds reporting can be added with the wtadd command.

Password and document store



geheim.rb is my personal password and document store ("geheim" is the German word for secret). It's written in Ruby and heavily relies on Git, FZF (for search), Vim and standard encryption algorithms. Other than the standard pass Unix password manager, geheim also encrypts the file names and password titles.

The tool is command line driven but also provides an interactive shell when invoked with geheim shell. It also works on my Android phone via Termux so I have all my documents and passwords always with me.

Backup procedure



backup is a Bash script which does run once daily (or every time on boot) on my home FreeBSD NAS server and performs backup related tasks such as creating a local backup of my remote NextCloud instance, creating encrypted (incremental) ZFS snapshots of everything what's stored on the NAS and synchronizes (via rsync) backups to a remote cloud storage. It also can synchronize backups to a local external USB drive.

Check out my offsite backup series

konpeito.media



Here's a bonus...

                                                           ▄ █ ▄  ▄ █ ▄  ▄ █ ▄
                                                           ▄▀█▀▄  ▄▀█▀▄  ▄▀█▀▄
  ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄                                            ▀      ▀      ▀
 █   ▄▄     ▄▄   █
 █  █  █▀▀▀█  █  █  █   ▄▀  ▄▀▀▀▀▄  █▄    █ █▀▀▀▀▀▄  ▄▀▀▀▀▄  █ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ ▄▀▀▀▀▄
 █   ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀   █  █ ▄█   █      █ █ ▀▄  █ █▄▄▄▄▄▀ █▄▄▄▄▄▄█ █    █   █      █
 █ ▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄ █  █▀  ▀▄ ▀▄    ▄▀ █   ▀▄█ █       ▀▄    ▄  █    █   ▀▄    ▄▀
 ▀▄█▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄█▄▀  ▀     ▀  ▀▀▀▀   ▀     ▀ ▀         ▀▀▀▀   ▀    ▀     ▀▀▀

*THIS ISN'T MY PROJECT* but I found KONPEITO an interesting Gemini capsule. It's a quarterly released Low-Fi music mix tape distributed only through Gemini (and not the web).

gemini://konpeito.media

If you wonder what Gemini is:

Welcome to the Geminispae

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Back to the main site
 Perl is still a great choice gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-05-27-perl-is-still-a-great-choice.gmi 2022-05-27T07:50:12+01:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org Perl (the Practical Extraction and Report Language) is a battle-tested, mature, multi-paradigm dynamic programming language. Note that it's not called PERL, neither P.E.R.L. nor Pearl. 'Perl' is the name of the language and `perl` the name of the interpreter or the interpreter command.

Perl is still a great choice



Published at 2022-05-27T07:50:12+01:00; Updated at 2023-01-28

Perl (the Practical Extraction and Report Language) is a battle-tested, mature, multi-paradigm dynamic programming language. Note that it's not called PERL, neither P.E.R.L. nor Pearl. "Perl" is the name of the language and perl the name of the interpreter or the interpreter command.

Unfortunately (it makes me sad), Perl's popularity has been declining over the last years as Google trends shows:



So why is that? Once the de-facto standard super-glue language for the web nowadays seems to have a bad reputation. Often, people state:

  • Perl is a write-only language. Nobody can read Perl code.
  • Perl? Isn't it abandoned? It's still at version 5!
  • Why use Perl as there are better alternatives?
  • Why all the sigils? It looks like an exploding ASCII factory!!

Comic source: XKCD

Table of Contents




Write-only language



Is Perl really a write-only language? You have to understand that Perl 5 was released in 1994 (28 years ago as of this writing) and when we refer to Perl we usually mean Perl 5. That's many years, and there are many old scripts not following the modern Perl best practices (as they didn't exist yet). So yes, legacy scripts may be difficult to read. Japanese may be difficult to read too if you don't know Japanese, though.

To come back to the question: Is Perl a write-only language? I don't think so. Like in any other language, you have to apply best practices in order to keep your code maintainable. Some other programming languages enforce best practices, but that makes these languages less expressive. Perl follows the principles "there is more than one way to do it" (aka TIMTOWDI) and "making easy things easy and hard things possible".

Perl gives the programmer more flexibility in how to do things, and this results in a stronger learning curve than for lesser expressive languages like for example Go or Python. But, like in everything in life, common sense has to be applied. You should not take TIMTOWDI to the extreme in a production piece of code. In my personal opinion, it is also more satisfying to program in an expressive language.

Some good books on "good" Perl I can recommend are:

Modern Perl
Higher Order Perl

Due to Perl's expressiveness you will find a lot of obscure code in the interweb in form of obfuscation, fancy email signatures (JAPHs), art, polyglots and even poetry in Perl syntax. But that's not what you will find in production code. That's only people having fun with the language which is different to "getting things done". The expressiveness is a bonus. It makes the Perl programmers love Perl.

JAPH
http://www.cpan.org/misc/japh
Perl Poetry

Even I personally have written some poetry in Perl and experimented with a polyglot script:

My very own Perl Poetry
A Perl-Raku-C polyglot generating the Fibonacci sequence

This all doesn't mean that you can't "get things done" with Perl. Quite the opposite is the case. Perl is a very pragmatic programming language and is suitable very well for rapid prototyping and any kind of small to medium-sized scripts and programs. You can write large enterprise scale application in Perl too, but that wasn't the original intend of why Perl was invented (more on that later).

Is Perl abandoned?



As I pointed out in the previous section, Perl 5 is around for quite some time without any new major version released. This can lead to the impression that development is not progressing and that the project is abandoned. Nothing can be further from the truth. Perl 5.000 was released in 1994 and the latest version (as of this writing) Perl 5.34.1 was released two months ago in 2022. You can check the version history on Wikipedia. You will notice releases being made regularly:

Perl 5 version history

As you can see, Perl 5 is under active development. I can also recommend to have a look at the following book, it summarizes all new Perl features which showed up after Perl v5.10:

Perl New Features by Joshua McAdams and brian d foy

Actually, Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was officially changed to Raku in October 2019 as the differences between Perl 5 and Perl 6 were too groundbreaking. Raku would be a different topic (mostly out of scope of this blog article) but I at least wanted it to mention here. In my opinion, Raku is the "most powerful" programming language out there (I recently started learning it and intend to use it for some of my future personal programming projects):

The Raku Programming Language

So it means that Perl and Raku now exist in parallel. They influence each other, but are different programming languages now. So why not just all use Raku instead of Perl? There are still a couple of reasons of why to choose Perl over Raku:

  • Many programmers already know Perl and many scripts are already written in Perl. It's possible to call Perl code from Raku (either inline or as a library) and it is also possible to auto-convert Perl code into Raku code, but that's either a workaround or involves some kind of additional work.
  • Perl 5 comes with a great backwards compatibility. Perl scripts from 5.000 will generally still work on a recent version of Perl. New features usually have to be enabled via a so-called "use pragmas". For example, in order to enable sub signatures, use signatures; has to be specified.
  • Perl is pre-installed almost everywhere. Fancy running a quick one-off script? In almost all cases, there's no need to install Perl first - it's already there on almost any Linux or *BSD or Unix or other Unix like operating system!
  • Perl has been ported to "zillions" of platforms. One day I found myself on a VMS box. Perl doesn't come installed by default on VMS, but the admin installed Perl there already. The whole operating system was very strange to me, but I was able to write "shell scripts" in Perl and became productive pretty quickly on VMS without knowing almost anything about VMS :-).
  • Perl is reliable. It has been proven itself "millions" of times, over and over again. Large enterprises, such as booking.com, heavily rely on Perl. Did you know that the package manager of the OpenBSD operating system is programmed in Perl, too?
  • Perl is a great language to program in (given that you follow the modern best practices). Don't get confused when Perl is doing some things differently than other programming languages.

Perl feature pragmas
The OpenBSD Operating System
Why does OpenBSD still include Perl in its base installation?

The renaming of Perl 6 to Raku has now opened the door for a future Perl 7. As far as I understand, Perl 7 will be Perl 5 but with modern features enabled by default (e.g. pragmas use strict;, use warnings;, use signatures; and so on. Also, the hope is that a Perl 7 with modern standards will attract more beginners. There aren't many Perl jobs out there nowadays. That's mostly due to Perl's bad (bad for no real reasons) reputation.

Update 2022-12-10: A reader pointed out, that use v5.36; already turns strict, warnings and signatures pragmas automatically on!

Announcing Perl 7
What happened to Perl 7? (maybe have to use use v7;)

Update 2022-12-10: A reader pointed out, that Perl 7 needs to provide a big improvement to earn and keep the attention for a major version bump.

Update 2023-01-28: Meanwhile, I was also reading brian d foy's Perl New Feature book. It nicely presents all new features added to Perl since v5.10.

Perl New Features

Why use Perl as there are better alternatives?



Here, common sense must be applied. I don't believe there is anything like "the perfect" programming language. Everyone has got his preferred (or a set of preferred) programming language to chose from. All programming languages come with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. These are the strengths making Perl shine, and you (technically) don't need to bother to look for "better" alternatives:

  • Perl is better than Shell/AWK/SED scripts. There's a point where shell scripts become fairly complex. The next step-up is to switch to Perl. There are many different versions of shells and AWK and SED interpreters. Do you always know which versions (mawk, nawk, gawk, sed, gsed, grep, ggrep...) are currently installed? These commands aren't fully compatible to each other. However, there is only one Perl 5. Simply: Perl is faster, more powerful, more expressive than any shell script can ever be, and it is also extendible through CPAN. Perl can directly talk to databases, which shell scripts can't.
  • Perl code tends to be compact so that it's much better suitable for "shell scripting" and quick "one-liners" than other languages. In my own experience: Ruby and Python code tends to blow up quickly. It doesn't mean that Ruby and Python are not suitable for this task, but I think Perl does much better.
  • Perl 5 has proven itself for decades and is a very stable/robust language. It is a battle-tested and mature as something can ever become.
  • Perl is the reference standard for regular expressions. Even so much that there is a PCRE library (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions) used by many other languages now. Perl fully integrates regular expression syntax into the language, which doesn't feel like an odd add-on like in most other languages.
  • Perl 5 is the master of text processing (well, maybe after Raku now. But you might not have the latest Raku available everywhere). The chief objective of developing the language was for text processing, and this is where Perl (Practical extraction and report language) really shines.
  • Perl is a "deep" language. That means Perl got a lot of features and syntactic sugar and magic. Depending on the perspective, this could be interpreted as a downside too. But IMHO mastery of a "deep" language brings big rewards. The code can be very compact, and it is fun to code in it.
  • Perl is the only language I know which can do "taint checking". Running a script in taint mode makes Perl sanitize all external input and that's a great security feature. Ruby used to have this feature too, but it got removed (as I understand there were some problems with the implementation not completely safe and it was easier just to remove it from the language than to fix it).

About the first point, using Perl for better "shell" scripts was actually the original intend of why Perl was invented in the first place.

Perl one-liners
Mastering Regular Expressions
Taint checking

Here are some reasons why not to chose Perl and look for "better" alternatives:

  • If performance is your main objectives, then Perl might not be the language to use. Perl is a dynamic interpreted language, and it will generally never be as fast as statically typed languages compiled to native binaries (e.g. C/C++/Rust/Haskell) or statically typed languages run in a VM with JIT (e.g. Java) or languages like Golang (statically typed, compiled to a binary but still with a runtime in the binary). Perl might be still faster than the other language listed here in certain circumstances (e.g. faster startup time than Java or faster regular expressions engine), but usually it's not. It's not a problem of Perl, it's a problem of all dynamic scripting languages including Python, Ruby, ....
  • Don't use Perl (just yet) if you want to code object-oriented. Perl supports OOP, but it feels clunky and odd to use (blessed references to any data types are objects) and doesn't support real encapsulation out of the box. There are many (many) extensions available on CPAN to make OOP better, but that's totally fragmented. The most popular extension, Moose, comes with a huge dependency tree. But wait for Perl 7. It will maybe come with a new object system (an object system inspired by Raku).
  • It's possible to write large programs in Perl (make difficult things possible), but it might not be the best choice here. This also leads back to the clunky object system Perl has. You could write your projects in a procedural or functional style (Perl perfectly fits here), but OOP seems to be the gold standard for large projects nowadays. Functional programming requires a different mindset, and pure procedural programming lacks abstractions.
  • Apply common sense. What is the skill set your team has? What's already widely used and supported at work? Which languages comes with the best modules for the things you want to work on? Maybe Python is the answer (better machine learning modules). Maybe Perl is the better choice (better Bioinformatic modules). Perhaps Ruby is already the de-facto standard at work and everyone knows at least a little Ruby (as it happened to be at my workplace) and Ruby is "good enough" for all the tasks already. But that's not a hindrance to throw in a Perl one-liner once in a while :P.

Cor - Bringing modern OOP to the Perl Core

Why all the sigils? It looks like an exploding ASCII factory!!



The sigils $ @ % & (where Perl is famously known for) serve a purpose. They seem confusing at first, but they actually make the code better readable. $scalar is a scalar variable (holding a single value), @array is an array (holding a list of values), %hash holds a list of key-value pairs and &sub is for subroutines. A given variable $ref can also hold reference to something. @$arrayref dereferences a reference to an array, %$hashref to a hash, $$scalarref to a scalar, &$subref dereferences a referene to a subroutine, etc. That can be encapsulated as deep as you want. (This paragraph only scratched the surface here of what Perl can do, and there is a lot of syntactic sugar not mentioned here).

In most other programming languages, you won't know instantly what's the "basic type" of a given variable without looking at the variable declaration or the variable name (If named intelligently, e.g. a variable name containing a list of cats is cat_list). Even Ruby makes some use of sigils (@, @@ and $), but that's for a different purpose than in Perl (in Ruby it is about object scope, class scope and global scope). Raku uses all the sigils Perl uses plus an additional bunch of twigils, e.g. $.foo for a scalar object variable with public accessors, $!foo for a private scalar object variable, @.foo, @!foo, %.foo, %!foo and so on. Sigils (and twigils) are very convenient once you get used to them. Don't let them scare you off - they are there to help you!

https://www.perl.com/article/on-sigils/

Where do I personally still use perl?



  • I use Rexify for my OpenBSD server automation. Rexify is a configuration management system developed in Perl with similar features to Ansible but less bloated. It suits my personal needs perfectly.
  • I have written a couple of smaller to medium-sized Perl scripts which I (mostly) still use regularly. You can find them on my Codeberg page.
  • My day-to-day workflow heavily relies on "ack-grep". Ack is a tool developed in Perl aimed at programmers and can be used for quick searches on source code at the command line.
  • I aim to leave my OpenBSD servers as "vanilla" as possible (trying to rely only on the standard/base installation without installing additional software from the packaging system or ports tree). All my scripts are written either Bourne shell or in Perl here. So there is no need to install additional interpreters.
  • Here and there, I drop a Perl one-liner in order to get stuff done (work and personally). A wise Perl Monk would say: "One one-liner a day keeps the troubles away".

Btw.: Did you know that the first version of PHP was a set of Perl snippets? Only later, PHP became an independent programming language.

https://www.perl.org

Update 2022-12-17: The following is another related post. I don't agree to the statement made there, that Python code tends to be shorter than Perl code, though!

Why Perl is still relevant in 2022

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2008-06-26 Perl Poetry
2011-05-07 Perl Daemon (Service Framework)
2022-05-27 Perl is still a great choice (You are currently reading this)
2023-05-01 Unveiling guprecords.raku: Global Uptime Records with Raku

Back to the main site
 Creative universe gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-04-10-creative-universe.gmi 2022-04-10T10:09:11+01:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I have been participating in an annual work-internal project contest (we call it Pet Project contest) since I moved to London and switched jobs to my current employer. I am very happy to say that I won a 'silver' prize last week here 🎆. Over the last couple of years I have been a finalist in this contest six times and won some kind of prize five times. Some of my projects were also released as open source software. One had a magazine article published, and for another one I wrote an article on my employer's engineering blog. If you have followed all my posts on this blog (the one you are currently reading), then you have probably figured out what these projects were:

Creative universe



Published at 2022-04-10T10:09:11+01:00; Updated at 2022-04-18

I have been participating in an annual work-internal project contest (we call it Pet Project contest) since I moved to London and switched jobs to my current employer. I am very happy to say that I won a "silver" prize last week here 🎆. Over the last couple of years I have been a finalist in this contest six times and won some kind of prize five times. Some of my projects were also released as open source software. One had a magazine article published, and for another one I wrote an article on my employer's engineering blog. If you have followed all my posts on this blog (the one you are currently reading), then you have probably figured out what these projects were:

DTail - The distributed log tail program
Realistic load testing with I/O Riot for linux

Note that my latest silver prize project isn't open source software and because of that there is no public material I can refer to. Maybe the next one again?

I want to point out that I never won the "gold" prize and it's the first time I won "silver", though. I believe, looking at the company's contest history, I am the employee with the most consecutive successful project submissions (my streak broke as I didn't participate last year) and am also the one with the highest successful project count in total. Sorry if this all sounds a bit self-promotional, but I think it is something to be proud of. Consistency beats a one-off success.

I often put endless hours and sometimes sleepless nights into such projects and all of that in my own time. I, an engineer whose native tongue is not English, also have to present such a project in front of the CEO, CTO and CPO, the Chief Scientist, the founders of the company, and, if it is not enough, to all other staff of the company too. I usually also demonstrate a working prototype live on a production grid during the presentation. 😓

So why would I sign up myself for such side projects? Isn't it a lot of stress and extra work? Besides the prize in form of money (you can not count on that, you may win or you may not win something) and recognition, there are also other motivational points:

  • I want to learn new technologies or to deepen my knowledge of a given technology. I want to have a personal benefit from the project, even when I don't win any prize. So when the company is offering a contest, why not use it as a motivational trampoline? It's good to have a hard deadline for a project. And the project will also benefit the company in some way. So it's a win-win.
  • I love the idea of combining several old things into a new thing. You can call this creativity. At work, we call this sometimes Lego: Building new things from given blocks. But I also love to add something new and unique to the mix, something that didn't exist as a Lego block before and could not be built by using only the already existing blocks.

 .              +   .                .   . .     .  .
                   .                    .       .     *
  .       *                        . . . .  .   .  + .
            "You Are Here"            .   .  +  . . .
.                 |             .  .   .    .    . .
                  |           .     .     . +.    +  .
                 \|/            .       .   . .
        . .       V          .    * . . .  .  +   .
           +      .           .   .      +
                            .       . +  .+. .
  .                      .     . + .  . .     .      .
           .      .    .     . .   . . .        ! /
      *             .    . .  +    .  .       - O -
          .     .    .  +   . .  *  .       . / |
               . + .  .  .  .. +  .
.      .  .  .  *   .  *  . +..  .            *
 .      .   . .   .   .   . .  +   .    .            +
                                         - the universe

Table of Contents




How to be creative



How did I manage to be creative with all these Pet Projects? Unfortunately, there is no step-by-step guide I could point you to. But what I want to do in this blog post is share my personal experience so far.

Know which problem you want to solve



There must be a problem to be solved or a thing to be improved. It makes no sense to have a project without a goal. A problem might be obvious to you, and you don't even need to think about it. In that case, you are all set, and you can immerse yourself with the problem.

If, however, you don't know what problem you want to solve: Do you really need to be creative? All problems are solved anyway, correct? In that case, just go on with your work. As you immerse yourself with your daily work, you will find a project naturally after a while. I don't believe you should artificially find a project. It should come naturally to you. You should have an interest in the problem domain and a strong desire to find a proper solution for the problem. Artificially created projects come with the catch that you might give up on it rather sooner than later due to lack of motivation and desire.

Immerse / deep dive



If you want to be creative in a field, you must know a lot about it. The more you know about it, the more dots you can connect. When you are learning a new technology or if you are thinking about a tough problem, do it thoroughly. Don't let anything distract you. Read books, watch lectures, listen to podcasts or audiobooks about the topic, talk to other people working on similar topics. Immerse yourself for multiple hours per day, multiple days per week, multiple weeks and maybe even months. Create your own inner universe.

But once a day is over, shut your thoughts down. Hit the off-switch. Stop thinking about this problem for the remainder of the day. This can be difficult, as you didn't solve the problem- or didn't understand everything of the new technology yet, and you really want to get to the point. But be strict to yourself and stop thinking about it for a while.

You must understand that you are more than just your conscious thoughts. Your brain does a lot of work in the background that you aren't aware of consciously. What happens when you stop consciously thinking about a problem is that your brain continues processing it. You might have experienced the "AHA"-effect, where suddenly you had an idea out of nowhere (e.g. during a walk, in the shower, or in the morning when you woke up)? This is your conscious self downloading a result from the background thread of your brain. You can elevate this effect by immersing with the problem immensely before giving your conscious self a break.

Sometimes, depending on how deeply you were immersed, you may need to let the problem go for a couple of days (e.g. over a weekend) before you can download a new insight.

Always have a notebook with you



Wherever you go, ensure that you always have something to take notes with you. Once you have an idea from nowhere (or from your unconscious but volatile brain), you really want to write it down to persistent storage. It doesn't matter what kind of note-taking device you use here. It can be a paper journal, or it can be your smartphone. 

My advice is to have a separate section where you put your notes of all of your ideas. At home or in the office, I write everything in my paper journal. When I am not at home, I use a digital note-taking app on my phone. Later, I copy the digital notes from it into a project-specific section of my paper journal.

I prefer taking notes on paper, as it gives you more freedom of how to structure it. You can use any colour, and you can also quickly create diagrams without the use of any complex computer program.

When you didn't sleep enough



I noticed while being sleep-deprived I am (obviously) unable to concentrate so much, and it is difficult to be immersed in a focused way. But on the other hand, I am a lot more creative compared to when I am not sleep-deprived. Then, my brain suddenly presents me with connections I have not thought of before. Here, I usually write any idea I have down on a sheet of paper or in my journal, so I can pick it up later. I then often continue to philosophise about a possible solution. Sometimes to the absurd, and sometimes to something pretty useful.

I am not saying that you should skip sleep. By all means, if you can sleep, then sleep. But there are some days when you don't manage to sleep (e.g. think too much about a project and didn't manage to hit the off switch). This is, where you can take advantage of your current state of mind. Disclaimer: Skipping sleep damages your health. So, please don't try this out on purpose. But in case you had a bad night, remember this trick.

Have regular breaks and relax



Have regular breaks. Don't skip your lunch break. Best, have a walk during lunchtime. And after work, do some kind of workout or visit a sports class. Do something completely unrelated to work before going to sleep (e.g. visit a parallel universe and read a Science Fiction novel). In short: Totally hit the off-switch after your work for the day is finished. You will be much more energised and motivated the next time you open your work laptop.

I personally love to read Science Fiction novels

I skip breakfast and lunch during the week. This means that on average, I intermittent fast on average 18-20 hours daily. It may sound odd to most people (who don't intermittent fast), but in a fasted state, I can be even more focused, thus helping me immerse myself in something even more. Not having breakfast and lunch also gives me back some time for other things (e.g. a nice walk, where I listen to podcasts or audiobooks or practise using my camera (street photography)). I relax my routine during the week ends, where I may enjoy a meal at any given time of the day.

It also helps a lot eat healthy. Healthy food makes your brain work more efficiently. But I won't go into more details here, as nothing is as contradictory as the health and food industry. Conduct your own research. Your opinion may be different from mine anyway, and everyone's body reacts to certain foods differently. What for one person works may not work for another person. But be aware that you will find a lot of wrong and also conflicting information on the internet. So always use multiple resources for your research.

Upside-down approach



It's easy to fall into the habit of "boxed" thinking, but creativity is exactly the opposite. Once in a while, make yourself think "Is A really required to do B?". Many assumptions are believed to be true. But are they really? A concrete example: "At work we only use the programming language L and framework F" and therefore, it is the standard we must use.

Another way to think about it is "Is there an alternative way to accomplish the desired result? What if there were no programming language L and framework F? What would I do instead?". Maybe you would use programming language X to implement your own domain-specific language, which does what framework F would have done but in exactly the way you want to + much more flexible than F! And maybe language X would be much better suitable than L to implement a DSL anyway. Conclusion: It never hurts to verify your assumptions.

Often, you will also find solutions to problems you never intended to solve and find new problems you never imagined to actually exist. That might not be a bad thing, but it might sidetrack you on your path to finding a solution for a particular problem. So be careful not to get sidetracked too much. In this case, just save a note for later reference (maybe your next Pet Project?) somewhere and go on with your actual problem.

Don't be afraid to think about weird and unconventional solutions. Sometimes, the most unconventional solution is the best solution to a problem. Also, try to keep to the basics. The best solutions are KISS.

Keep it simple and stupid

A small additional trick: you can train yourself to generate new and unconventional ideas. Just write down 20 random ideas every day. It doesn't matter what the ideas are about and whether they are useful or not. The purpose of this exercise is to make your brain think about something new and unconventional. These can be absurd ideas such as "Jump out of the window naked in the morning in order to wake up faster". Of course, you would never do that, but at least you had an idea and made your brain generate something.

Don't be busy all the time



Especially as a DevOps Engineer, you could be busy all the time with small, but frequent, ad hoc tasks. Don't lose yourself here. Yes, you should pay attention to your job and those tasks, but you should also make some room for creativity. Don't schedule meeting after ad hoc work after meeting after Jira ticket work after another Jira ticket. There should also be some "free" space in your calendar.

Use the "free" time to play around with your tech stack. Try out new options, explore the system metrics, explore new tools, etc. Dividends will pay off with new ideas, which you would have never come up with if you were "just busy" like a machine.

Sometimes, I pick a Unix manual page of a random command and start reading it. I have a bash helper function which will pick one for me:

❯ where learn
learn () {
  man $(ls /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin 2>/dev/null | shuf -n 1) |
    sed -n "/^NAME/ { n;p;q }"
}
❯ learn
       perltidy - a perl script indenter and reformatter
❯ learn
       timedatectl - Control the system time and date

Conclusion



This all summarises advice I have, really.  I hope this was interesting and helpful for you.

I have one more small tip: I never published a blog post the same day I wrote it. After finishing writing it, I always wait for a couple of days. In all cases so far, I had an additional idea to add or to fine tune the blog post.

Another article I found interesting and relevant is

Creative Paradise by The Sephist

Relevant books I can recommend are:

  • Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction; Susan Blackmore; Oxford Uiversity Press
  • Deep Work; Cal Newport; Piatkus
  • So Good They Can't Ignore You; Cal Newport; Business Plus
  • The Off Switch; Mark Cropley; Virgin Books
  • Ultralearning; Scott Young; Thorsons

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

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 The release of DTail 4.0.0 gemini://foo.zone/gemfeed/2022-03-06-the-release-of-dtail-4.0.0.gmi 2022-03-06T18:11:39+00:00 Paul Buetow aka snonux paul@dev.buetow.org I have recently released DTail 4.0.0 and this blog post goes through all the new goodies. If you want to jump directly to DTail, do it here (there are nice animated gifs which demonstrates the usage pretty well):

The release of DTail 4.0.0



Published at 2022-03-06T18:11:39+00:00

I have recently released DTail 4.0.0 and this blog post goes through all the new goodies. If you want to jump directly to DTail, do it here (there are nice animated gifs which demonstrates the usage pretty well):

https://dtail.dev

                              ,_---~~~~~----._
                        _,,_,*^____      _____``*g*\"*,
  ____ _____     _ _   / __/ /'     ^.  /      \ ^@q   f
 |  _ \_   _|_ _(_) |   @f | @))    |  | @))   l  0 _/
 | | | || |/ _` | | |  \`/   \~____ / __ \_____/    \
 | |_| || | (_| | | |   |           _l__l_           I
 |____/ |_|\__,_|_|_|   }          [______]           I
                        ]            | | |            |
                        ]             ~ ~             |
                        |                            |
                         |                           |

Table of Contents




So, what's new in 4.0.0?



Rewritten logging



For DTail 4, logging has been completely rewritten. The new package name is "internal/io/dlog". I rewrote the logging because DTail is a special case here: There are logs processed by DTail, there are logs produced by the DTail server itself, there are logs produced by a DTail client itself, there are logs only logged by a DTail client, there are logs only logged by the DTail server, and there are logs logged by both, server and client. There are also different logging levels and outputs involved.

As you can imagine, it becomes fairly complex. There is no ready Go off-shelf logging library which suits my needs and the logging code in DTail 3 was just one big source code file with global variables and it wasn't sustainable to maintain anymore. So why not rewrite it for profit and fun?

There's a are new log level structure now (The log level now can be specified with the "-logLevel" command line flag):

// Available log levels.
const (
	None    level = iota
	Fatal   level = iota
	Error   level = iota
	Warn    level = iota
	Info    level = iota
	Default level = iota
	Verbose level = iota
	Debug   level = iota
	Devel   level = iota
	Trace   level = iota
	All     level = iota
)

DTail also supports multiple log outputs (e.g. to file or to stdout). More are now easily pluggable with the new logging package. The output can also be "enriched" (default) or "plain" (read more about that further below).

Configurable terminal color codes



A complaint I received from the users of DTail 3 were the terminal colors used for the output. Under some circumstances (terminal configuration) it made the output difficult to read so that users defaulted to "--noColor" (disabling colored output completely). I toke it by heart and also rewrote the color handling. It's now possible to configure the foreground and background colors and an attribute (e.g. dim, bold, ...).

The example "dtail.json" configuration file represents the default (now, more reasonable default) color codes used, and it is free to the user to customize them:

{
  "Client": {
    "TermColorsEnable": true,
    "TermColors": {
      "Remote": {
        "DelimiterAttr": "Dim",
        "DelimiterBg": "Blue",
        "DelimiterFg": "Cyan",
        "RemoteAttr": "Dim",
        "RemoteBg": "Blue",
        "RemoteFg": "White",
        "CountAttr": "Dim",
        "CountBg": "Blue",
        "CountFg": "White",
        "HostnameAttr": "Bold",
        "HostnameBg": "Blue",
        "HostnameFg": "White",
        "IDAttr": "Dim",
        "IDBg": "Blue",
        "IDFg": "White",
        "StatsOkAttr": "None",
        "StatsOkBg": "Green",
        "StatsOkFg": "Black",
        "StatsWarnAttr": "None",
        "StatsWarnBg": "Red",
        "StatsWarnFg": "White",
        "TextAttr": "None",
        "TextBg": "Black",
        "TextFg": "White"
      },
      "Client": {
        "DelimiterAttr": "Dim",
        "DelimiterBg": "Yellow",
        "DelimiterFg": "Black",
        "ClientAttr": "Dim",
        "ClientBg": "Yellow",
        "ClientFg": "Black",
        "HostnameAttr": "Dim",
        "HostnameBg": "Yellow",
        "HostnameFg": "Black",
        "TextAttr": "None",
        "TextBg": "Black",
        "TextFg": "White"
      },
      "Server": {
        "DelimiterAttr": "AttrDim",
        "DelimiterBg": "BgCyan",
        "DelimiterFg": "FgBlack",
        "ServerAttr": "AttrDim",
        "ServerBg": "BgCyan",
        "ServerFg": "FgBlack",
        "HostnameAttr": "AttrBold",
        "HostnameBg": "BgCyan",
        "HostnameFg": "FgBlack",
        "TextAttr": "AttrNone",
        "TextBg": "BgBlack",
        "TextFg": "FgWhite"
      },
      "Common": {
        "SeverityErrorAttr": "AttrBold",
        "SeverityErrorBg": "BgRed",
        "SeverityErrorFg": "FgWhite",
        "SeverityFatalAttr": "AttrBold",
        "SeverityFatalBg": "BgMagenta",
        "SeverityFatalFg": "FgWhite",
        "SeverityWarnAttr": "AttrBold",
        "SeverityWarnBg": "BgBlack",
        "SeverityWarnFg": "FgWhite"
      },
      "MaprTable": {
        "DataAttr": "AttrNone",
        "DataBg": "BgBlue",
        "DataFg": "FgWhite",
        "DelimiterAttr": "AttrDim",
        "DelimiterBg": "BgBlue",
        "DelimiterFg": "FgWhite",
        "HeaderAttr": "AttrBold",
        "HeaderBg": "BgBlue",
        "HeaderFg": "FgWhite",
        "HeaderDelimiterAttr": "AttrDim",
        "HeaderDelimiterBg": "BgBlue",
        "HeaderDelimiterFg": "FgWhite",
        "HeaderSortKeyAttr": "AttrUnderline",
        "HeaderGroupKeyAttr": "AttrReverse",
        "RawQueryAttr": "AttrDim",
        "RawQueryBg": "BgBlack",
        "RawQueryFg": "FgCyan"
      }
    }
  },
  ...
}

You notice the different sections - these are different contexts:

  • Remote: Color configuration for all log lines sent remotely from the server to the client.
  • Client: Color configuration for all lines produced by a DTail client by itself (e.g. status information).
  • Server: Color configuration for all lines produced by the DTail server by itself and sent to the client (e.g. server warnings or errors)
  • MaprTable: Color configuration for the map-reduce table output.
  • Common: Common color configuration used in various places (e.g. when it's not clear what's the current context of a line).

When you do so, make sure that you check your "dtail.json" against the JSON schema file. This is to ensure that you don't configure an invalid color accidentally (requires "jsonschema" to be installed on your computer). Furthermore, the schema file is also a good reference for all possible colors available:

jsonschema -i dtail.json schemas/dtail.schema.json

Serverless mode



All DTail commands can now operate on log files (and other text files) directly without any DTail server running. So there isn't a need anymore to install a DTail server when you are on the target server already anyway, like the following example shows:

% dtail --files /var/log/foo.log

or

% dmap --files /var/log/foo.log --query 'from TABLE select .... outfile result.csv'

The way it works in Go code is that a connection to a server is managed through an interface and in serverless mode DTail calls through that interface to the server code directly without any TCP/IP and SSH connection made in the background. This means, that the binaries are a bit larger (also ship with the code which normally would be executed by the server) but the increase of binary size is not much.

Shorthand flags



The "--files" from the previous example is now redundant. As a shorthand, It is now possible to do the following instead:

% dtail /var/log/foo.log

Of course, this also works with all other DTail client commands (dgrep, dcat, ... etc).

Spartan (aka plain) mode



There's a plain mode, which makes DTail only print out the "plain" text of the files operated on (without any DTail specific enriched output). E.g.:

% dcat --plain /etc/passwd > /etc/test
% diff /etc/test /etc/passwd  # Same content, no diff

This might be useful if you wanted to post-process the output.

Standard input pipe



In serverless mode, you might want to process your data in a pipeline. You can do that now too through an input pipe:

% dgrep --plain --regex 'somethingspecial' /var/log/foo.log |
    dmap --query 'from TABLE select .... outfile result.csv'

Or, use any other "standard" tool:

% awk '.....' < /some/file | dtail ....

New command dtailhealth



Prior to DTail 4, there was a flag for the "dtail" command to check the health of a remote DTail server (for use with monitoring system such as Nagios). That has been moved out to a separate binary to reduce complexity of the "dtail" command. The following checks whether DTail is operational on the current machine (you could also check a remote instance of DTail server, just adjust the server address).

% cat check_dtail.sh
#!/bin/sh

exec /usr/local/bin/dtailhealth --server localhost:2222

Improved documentation



Some features, such as custom log formats and the map-reduce query language, are now documented. Also, the examples have been updated to reflect the new features added. This also includes the new animated example Gifs (plus documentation how they were created).

I must admit that not all features are documented yet:

  • Server side scheduled map-reduce queries
  • Server side continuous map-reduce queries
  • Some more docs about terminal color customization
  • Some more docs about log levels

That will be added in one of the future releases.

Integration testing suite



DTail comes already with some unit tests, but what's new is a full integration testing suite which covers all common use cases of all the commands (dtail, dcat, dgrep, dmap) with a server backend and also in serverless mode.

How are the tests implemented? All integration tests are simply unit tests in the "./integrationtests" folder. They must be explicitly activated with:

% export DTAIL_INTEGRATION_TEST_RUN_MODE=yes

Once done, first compile all commands, and then run the integration tests:

% make
.
.
.
% go clean -testcache
% go test -race -v ./integrationtests

Improved code



Not that the code quality of DTail has been bad (I have been using Go vet and Go lint for previous releases and will keep using these), but this time I had new tools (such as SonarQube and BlackDuck) in my arsenal to:

  • Reduce the complexity of a couple of functions (splitting code up into several smaller functions)
  • Avoid repeating code (this version of DTail doesn't use Go generics yet, though).

Other than that, a lot of other code has been refactored as I saw fit.

Use of memory pools



DTail makes excessive use of string builder and byte buffer objects. For performance reasons, those are now re-used from memory pools.

What's next



DTail 5 won't be released any time soon I guess, but some 4.x.y releases will follow this year fore sure. I can think of:

  • New (but backwards compatible) features which don't require a new major version bump (some features have been requested at work internally).
  • Even more improved documentation.
  • Dependency updates.

I use usually DTail at work, but I have recently installed it on my personal OpenBSD machines too. I might write a small tutorial here (and I might also add the rc scripts as examples to one of the next DTail releases).

I am a bit busy at the moment with two other pet projects of mine (one internal work-project, and one personal one, the latter you will read about in the next couple of months). If you have ideas (or even a patch), then please don't hesitate to contact me (either via E-Mail or a request at GitHub).

E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

Other related posts are:

2021-04-22 DTail - The distributed log tail program
2022-03-06 The release of DTail 4.0.0 (You are currently reading this)
2022-10-30 Installing DTail on OpenBSD
2023-09-25 DTail usage examples

Thanks!

Paul

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