Simplifying the xz backdoor

Step by step I simplify the beginning of the xz backdoor so there's no doubt of what it does.

xz backdoor and autotools insanity

I argue autotools' convoluted nature is what enabled the xz backdoor in the first place. The truth is nobody needs to use autotools, and I show why.

git-fc 0.1: a new fork of git for users

Announcing git-fc 0.1: a new fork git for users. Same as git 2.40.0, except with more features.

One decade later, GNOME still sucks

It has been more than a decade of GNOME 3's initial release and GNOME still sucks. Two of my most popular posts have been about GNOME 3 (#3 and #5), and in 2023 people still keep referencing them. GNOME 3 is still discussed today as a major blunder, similar to what happened with New Coke, …

Fixing Ruby gems installation part 2

This is a continuation of my previous post due to the fact that Ruby gems installation is still not fixed. It's been more than twelve years now since the first bug report. The big update since part 1 is that the whole sudo functionality of bundler has been removed. It is curious that happened just …

GNOME’s horrid coding practices

I stopped using GNOME more than a decade ago, yet my desktop environment of choice--Xfce--keeps using GNOME libraries, and every time I notice a sudden problem, every time it's GNOME's fault. But because I'm a developer, I can track down the problems and fix them myself, though why is it that GNOME developers keep making …

Fixing Ruby gems installation once and for all

ruby bundle by default installs gems into system directories calling sudo without asking the user, let's fix that.

dot-team: a new way of managing dotfiles

dot-team is a new project with the aim of sharing configurations in a distributed and collaborative way

xfce-config-helper 0.1 released

Over the years I've tried many ways to store my Xfce configuration in a way that is easier to read and maintain, and ultimately I ended up creating my own format and developed a tool to make use of it. Xfconf Xfce's configurations are handled with Xfconf, a hierarchical configuration system. Essentially configurations are grouped …

Why renaming Git’s master branch is a terrible idea

Back in May (in the inauspicious year of 2020) a thread in the Git mailing list with the tile of "rename offensive terminology (master)" was started, it lasted for more than a month, and after hundreds of replies, no clear ground was gained. The project took the path of least resistance (as you do), and …