Dystopian Open Source

[New to Gemini? Have a look at my Gemini FAQ.] This article was bi-posted to Gemini and the Web; Gemini version is here: gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/users/kraileth/neunix/2021/dystopian_open_source.gmi Happy New Year dear reader! The other day I watched a video on YouTube that had only 6 views since last October. It is about a very important topic, though, and …

Writing a daemon using FreeBSD and Python pt.3

Part 1 of this series covered Python fundamentals, signal handling and logging. We wrote an init script as well as a program that can be daemonized by daemon(8). In the previous part we modified the program as well as the init script so that it can daemonize itself using the Python daemon module. I also …

Writing a daemon using FreeBSD and Python pt.2

The previous part of this series left off with a running "baby daemon" example. It covered Python fundamentals, signal handling, logging as well as an init script to start the daemon. Daemonization with Python The outcome of part 1 was a program that needed external help actually to be daemonized. I used FreeBSD's handy daemon(8) …

Writing a daemon using FreeBSD and Python pt.1

Being a sysadmin by profession, I don't code. At least not often enough or with as high quality output that programmers would accept to call coding. I do write and maintain shell scripts. I also write new formulas for configuration management with SaltStack. The latter is Python-based and after hearing mostly good things about that …

The history of *nix package management

Very few people will argue against the statement that Unix-like operating systems conquered the (professional) world due to a whole lot of strong points - one of which is package management. Whenever you take a look at another *nix OS or even just another Linux distro, one of the first things (if not the first!) …

Precomp (or: How to compress already compressed data?)

It's a kind of strange feeling, but while half of the IT world seems to either already burn (or to tremble with fear), I can choose freely whatever topic I want to write about this month. I haven't had a Windows box for almost a decade now and people who I work or keep in …

Thea: The gain of giving away for free

This post is inspired by the game Thea: The Awakening. No, Eerie Linux has not mutated into a games blog. Yes, I will give a short description of the game. But what this post is really about is some thoughts about software development in the past, today and what could be a more open future. …

An interview with the Nanolinux developer

2014 is nearly over and for the last post this year I have something special for you again. Last year I posted an interview with the EDE developer and I thought that another interview would conclude this year of blogging quite fine. In the previous post I reviewed Nanolinux (and two years ago XFDOS). Since …

The concepts of complexity and simplicity

Life in general is a very complex thing. Society is a complex matter, too. Also the IT world is a complex one. And so are many of today's programs - for the good or the bad. In many fields complexity is a necessity. You cannot build a simple microprocessor that satisfies today's needs. And there …

Software licenses (pt. 1): A general introduction

This is obviously not about the EERIE distro or Arch:E5. The reason for that is simply that I didn't succeed in getting everything working. And to be honest, I didn't have much time to attempt it in the first place. My second child was born this month and I guess everybody would agree that family …