today's leftovers
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SQLite: QEMU all over again?
When I look around today, I see a very similar situation developing around SQLite. SQLite is the brainchild of D. Richard Hipp, who was also involved with the Tcl programming language, and his own version control system, among others. Same as Fabrice, an undoubtedly smart and achieved individual.
The code for SQLite is also available, but contributing is even harder than it was at the QEMU days: SQLite is explicitly and unequivocally “Open Source, not Open Contribution”. The few core developers they have do not work with modern tools like git and collaboration tools like Github, and don’t accept contributions, although they may or may not accept your suggestion for a new feature request.
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Contributing to OpenStreetMap
This week, I’ve been contributing to OpenStreetMap — a collaborative free software project that aims to create a free, editable map of the world.
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Under-Engineered Productivity > Over-Engineered Distractions
It’s hilarious because it perfectly captures how developers love to over-engineer their website. I know people that have rebuilt their website more times than they’ve actually written content for it.
And to be fair, I think that’s perfectly fine. Rebuilding your website is a great way to learn new technologies and keep our skills sharp.
But if you actually want to focus on writing, I recommend steering away from those technical distractions on your website. Dedicate side-projects for learning.
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SUSE documentation survey—share YOUR feedback! | SUSE Communities
Every year in late summer—or early autumn—the SUSE documentation team conducts a global survey to gather concrete feedback from our technical users at customers, partners and SUSE about what the current documentation might lack, and how we can improve our documentation services.
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OpenBSD: Manage DNS, DNSSEC (to automate TLSA records)
Since 2018, I asked me about how to manage TLSA records, according to the DANE and DNSSEC protocols, for my DNS. (I wroted one article in french, on March 2018, about creating TLSA records in shell or PHP languages; if you read french, see: DNS: Générer un enregistrement TLSA…)
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Joining my first W3C Sustainability CG meeting
Organisers at the W3C are working on various initiatives related to sustainability. Over the last few months, two new community groups (CGs) were started to focus on sustainability and how it pertains to the web and the W3C as an organisation. [^1] After doing some reading about the revived Sustainable Web (sustyweb) group, I decided to join and see how I could help.
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EU Votes For USB-C Chargers, Apple Must Comply - Invidious
The EU is now requiring chargers for consumer electronics to be USB C, this means Apple will have to drop their proprietary lightning connector, at least in the EU market.
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The EU will require all cellphones to have the same type of charging port
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to require cellphones and handheld electronic devices sold in the EU to have a USB-C charging port — a move likely to affect Apple, which uses Lightning chargers for its iPhones.
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Europe sets deadline for USB-C charging for (almost) all laptops
On the other hand, power-hungry laptops that need more than 100 watts still use proprietary connections for their massive adapters. The USB Implementers Forum is working on expanding that limit and some of these laptops can still charge slowly over USB-C. These are the only laptops that Europe will allow to be sold with proprietary chargers after the spring of 2026. While nothing forces manufacturers to follow this new law worldwide, streamlined manufacturing and economy of scale will effectively force the rest of the world to follow in practice if not in legislation.
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Matthew Garrett: Cloud desktops aren't as good as you'd think [Ed: Clown = someone else's computer. Clown desktop = someone else's desktop.]
Fast laptops are expensive, cheap laptops are slow. But even a fast laptop is slower than a decent workstation, and if your developers want a local build environment they're probably going to want a decent workstation. They'll want a fast (and expensive) laptop as well, though, because they're not going to carry their workstation home with them and obviously you expect them to be able to work from home. And in two or three years they'll probably want a new laptop and a new workstation, and that's even more money. Not to mention the risks associated with them doing development work on their laptop and then drunkenly leaving it in a bar or having it stolen or the contents being copied off it while they're passing through immigration at an airport. Surely there's a better way?