today's leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 17, 2023

• Installing Ruby with RVM on Alpine Linux

  For some on-going projects I need to switch to different versions of ruby. Although there exist many step-by-step instructions on installing and configuring rvm for most Linux distros, there aren't many focused on Alpine "daily drivers".

  So this post is more or less a helpful document for my future self. If it happens to help others then that's an added bonus!

• Toward Matrix support in Chats – Part 2

  Matrix integration within the Chats app is progressing and this post is detailing the development progress since the last one. This update is not so much about new features but more about bug fixes and great improvements that make Chats slowly becoming an everyday “1 to 1” and “small groups” messaging app for both SMS/MMS and the more private end to end encrypted IP conversations.

  Until now, one of the main issues that prevented me from using Chats for everyday Matrix conversations with my friends and family was the fact that after rebooting the phone, my session would constantly be re-created, along with a new session ID that made me have to re-verify the session from another device over and over again. This is now fixed, since v0.7.0 and after weeks of using it, my phone is still using the same session ID.

  Another annoying issue that was affecting both SMS/MMS and IP messaging was the duplication of messages in the conversation. A full restart of Chats by rebooting the phone would restore the conversation with no duplicated messages. This has also been fixed in v0.7.0.

• Call for Papers for LibreOffice Conference 2023

  Meet us in Bucharest, and tell us what you're doing with LibreOffice!

• A quick guide to getting Mozilla VPN working on a headless Linux server

  The Mozilla VPN service is great, but it doesn't work using the CLI if you have a "headless" server. After a bit of faffing about, I got it working. I suffered so you don't have to.

• “Run Your Own Mail Server” chapter 0

  I’m about to open “Run Your Own Mail Server” for sponsorships. This book is a little different than most other books I’ve written, so I’m sharing the introductory chapter.

  This is uncopyedited. Unreviewed. It exists to illustrate scope, not for folks to send me corrections. Yet. Before I complete the book, I will probably discard and redraft this chapter. Bridge Out Ahead. Slippery When Wet. No warranty of fitness for purpose. Probably causes cancer, chin hemorrhoids, and alternaria leaf blight.

• The birth of a package manager

  Since my time at the university, pursuing a Computer Science degree, I have always been fascinated by programming languages and the tooling around them: compilers, IDEs, package managers, etc. Eventually, that got me involved as a hobbyist in the development of the Rust compiler and rust-analyzer, but I never got the chance to work professionally on programming language tooling… until two months ago! In January, the nice folks at prefix.dev asked me to help them develop the rattler package manager, and there is lots to tell about what we have achieved since then, so buckle up!

• System76 Meerkat mini Linux PC now available with up to Intel Core i7-1260P

  While the design is similar for all models, models with newer processors tend to have slightly better specs. For example you get a Gigabit Ethernet port on Comet Lake systems, compared with 2.5 GbE Ethernet on Tiger Lake and Alder Lake models. The Alder Lake version also features support for WiFi 6E while versions with older chips top out at WiFi 6.