Migrating to fish shell

Posted on 2023-12-07 in Software • Tagged with fish , shell , linux

I'm a heavy shell user. As a programmer I enjoy the power and flexibility of the shell, so I always keep multiple terminals open (just one keystroke away thanks to Yakuake).

I have been using Bash for as long as I have been a GNU/Linux user, that's 24 years …


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Replacing Nginx with Caddy in Docker Compose

Posted on 2023-11-09 in Software • Tagged with caddy , docker , homelab , nginx

The main server in my homelab runs a bunch of services, but the heart of it is a Docker Compose configuration, several of them exposed to the Internet via a reverse proxy webserver.

Before I was using three Docker images to run Nginx, proxy traffic to other services and have …


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Automating Python code quality

Posted on 2023-06-23 in Software • Tagged with programming , python , automation , howto , free-software

In this article I explain what I mean by code quality and how it benefits developers.

In the first half I discuss general concepts and workflows that apply to most software projects. Even if you are not writing Python code you might learn something from it.

In the second half …


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Public record: my BTC bet with tripu

Posted on 2023-05-06 in Cryptocurrency • Tagged with cryptocurrency , bitcoin , btc , fiat , money , inflation

On the back of the bet on the future relative prices of Bitcoin and US dollars that Balaji and Medlock settled publicly on 2023-05-02 (confirmation by Balaji; confirmation by Medlock), today tripu and I agree on the following terms of a bet:

  1. The object of the bet is whether Bitcoin …

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Privacy-respecting self-hosted Web Analytics

Posted on 2022-05-27 in Software • Tagged with privacy , web , analytics , self-hosting

It all started with a desire: I wanted some basic analytics for this blog to know how it's doing, which articles are popular and which are the main referrers. But therein lied the conundrum: I am a privacy zealot, very much against extensive online tracking (just look at the browser …


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My free-software photography workflow

Posted on 2022-03-31 in Photography • Tagged with photography , free-software

In this article I present a step-by-step walkthrough of my photography workflow. I won't go through all the details of every piece of software I mention, they have their own manuals and documentation for that, I will highlight the operations I do.

My main goals are:

  1. Full ownership of all …

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Web browser add-ons I use

Posted on 2022-02-23 in Software • Tagged with firefox , web , addons , privacy , security , cryptocurrency

This article lists the web browser extensions I use and why. I will keep it updated from time to time.

I use Firefox as my main web browser, because despite its shortcomings I think it's still the best available option for me, for reasons that would be worthy of a …


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Nextcloud CardDAV and CalDAV discovery with DNS records

Posted on 2022-02-17 in Software • Tagged with nextcloud , howto , self-hosting , dns

I use a self-hosted Nextcloud instance to hold a lot of my personal data, and that includes my contacts and calendars. Recently I had to reinstall DAVx5 on my phone, and I was surprised that the Nextcloud account was failing to be added.

The DAVx5 error logs showed that it …


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Unlocking a LUKS-encrypted partition on boot with an USB drive

Posted on 2019-10-13 in Software • Tagged with linux , encryption , security , howto

The use case I wanted to solve was this: I have a headless server with a LUKS software-encrypted hard drive, and I want to be able to reboot it without having to input the password on a keyboard. The solution I implemented is to create a LUKS keyfile on a …


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