Gokul Das

Rocket engineer, electronics and programming enthusiast, amateur astronomer, free software enthusiast. I like everything STEM

Public Key

npub1269nntq8c424muqgtp34p7rct4fcfdv75ww52dtmfgcu7sekjqzq36zywh

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[email protected]

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nprofile1qqs9dzee4sru242a7qy9sc6slpu965uykk028829x4a55vw0gvmfqpqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsy3hk8c

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1269nntq8c424muqgtp34p7rct4fcfdv75ww52dtmfgcu7sekjqzq36zywh

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Last Notes

2024-03-30 15:32:21

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@npub13wq…35s0 https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/20240330144848.102a1e8c@kaneli/ (reply from Lasse Collin, the original maintainer who is currently on a vacation)

2024-01-29 18:58:52

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@npub1w66…rc58 @npub179n…3lpm @npub15fe…x47v It's probably not as hard as you think. Clippy the linter helps a lot in writing idiomatic Rust. Meanwhile, the number of borrow checker complaints seems to be related to how badly your program is designed and structured. Trying to satisfy the borrow checker feels like descending the gradient into a minima of reasonable design.

2024-01-29 17:58:49

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@npub1w66…rc58 @npub1wcn…s6w5 Rust's runtime safety features like Rc and Refcell use features outside the purview of the borrow checker. In other words, unsafe blocks. Even then, they uphold the basic safety invariant - of multiple shared references or a single mutable reference.
Perhaps, a GC needs a similar approach. You may need to step outside the comfort zone of the borrow checker to make great things happen.

2024-01-29 09:17:38

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@npub1w66…rc58 Anecdata: I'm training a few experienced (JS/Python) developers in Rust. They actually like the fact that the Rust compiler is strict and hard to satisfy. This extends beyond just the borrow checker complaints.
The down side is that you need lower-level system knowledge (stack, heap, data segment, etc) to make sense of the error messages and correct them. But that method works well with these guys due to their IT experience.

2024-01-29 08:22:54

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@npub1w66…rc58 Haven't tried Go or Zig yet - so I can't make a fair comparison. But I'm certainly in love with Rust. Even my shell scripts are getting ported to it - and I love it.
Coming from Python bg, Rust has opened up several domains for me - system programming, embedded, WASM,... While I did have experience with C and C++, I was never as comfortable with them.
PS: They are trying to make Rust usable as a (compiled) scripting lang.

2024-01-28 14:50:41

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@npub1920…ksgt Are you implying that matrix alone accounted for 66% of the cost? What other services (other than xmpp and diaspora) account for the remaining 33%?

2024-01-12 11:05:32

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@npub1mhp…6t73 @npub14zv…fm85 @npub1gfd…7gg6 The only difference for me is that I choose not to use Google services (or any other service) if it works only on Chrome. Frankly, it's barely noticeable without Google services.

2024-01-12 09:32:49

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@npub1mhp…6t73 @npub14zv…fm85 @npub1gfd…7gg6 That would make sense, right? Those who use Linux (or other free OSs like BSDs) voluntarily are likely to know about Chrome shenanigans and use Firefox anyway. Choosing a browser isn't as hard as choosing an OS.
The real hard part is pivot those who don't have any opinion about computing.

2024-01-08 07:53:16

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@npub17e2…qj4x The big one is finally here! I wonder if bcachefs will eat the files.

2023-12-29 15:17:51

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@npub1lxt…wnka Hope they don't forget libc. Imagine having a crap ton of crates that are all useless because they took RIIR too seriously!

2023-12-29 15:03:00

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@npub129g…4kwg I guessed docs.rs. But 17 different downloads? Do they have that many places to store the same code? My honest worry is that it's being vacuumed up by LLM companies.

2023-12-29 13:45:36

I just published a #Rust binary crate on #crates.io. It got 17 downloads within seconds of the upload. Anybody has any idea where this might be going?

2023-12-22 05:49:26

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@npub1pxt…pdwx Arch is my secondary distro that I keep around in case I manage to brick Gentoo. I have done PKGBUILDs too. But one area where Gentoo dominates is EClasses - shell script libraries that handle corner cases. IMO, it makes packaging for Gentoo very pleasant. I don't remember seeing something similar for Arch.

2023-12-22 05:03:47

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@npub17td…apfk I wonder how likely it will be to see a BSOD. I don't remember the last time a Linux distro crashed on me - even unstable ones like Arch or Gentoo. Or is the SystemD team going to assimilate the crash functionality too? Just to show off their new feature?

2023-12-22 04:54:56

#Gentoo #Linux has become my daily driver over the last few months. The biggest advantage of Gentoo isn't the bragging rights (that still belongs to the #Arch users 😆 ). It's the fact that it's damn easy to package anything for the #Portage #package_management system. EClasses handle a lot of corner cases for you. And development tooling is top notch (I will be release one of my own soon).
For those who are familiar with #packaging on other #distros, do you know of anything more convenient?

2023-09-24 12:10:26

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@npub1wst…ez75 Perhaps it's relevant that the Linux Foundation spends just 3.2% of its budget on its namesake - a figure that keeps falling (was 3.4% the previous year). It's time to question the priorities and ethics when important FOSS projects run on unpaid volunteer work, while institutions collect funds in their name.
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/linux-foundation-spends-just-34-of
https://project.linuxfoundation.org/hubfs/LF%20Research/2022%20Linux%20Foundation%20Annual%20Report.pdf

2023-09-17 13:44:33

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@npub1sg4…xslc Somebody flagged the news. Has HN become conservative enough to not even tolerate discussion of toxicity?

2023-09-13 10:49:59

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@npub1zgl…rqd7 They seem to have surprisingly similar end goals with different approaches on how to achieve it. This should be an interesting trial.

2023-09-13 10:06:01

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@npub1zgl…rqd7 Me wondering where Zotero fits into all of this! Seriously though, Zotero is good at extracting metadata and archiving linked data. It should get a better representation in the workflow. Zotra (https://github.com/mpedramfar/zotra) looks promising.

2023-07-22 14:41:49

I know I'm preaching to the choir - but please please persuade as many as you can to use any browser that doesn't use the blink engine. Firefox, for example is at least as fast as Chromium these days.
The market share of Chromium and its derivatives are a way for ad and media companies to impose arbitrary limits on Web users. For example, they're testing what is essentially #DRM on the web. Blink is a threat to the #OpenWeb as we know it.

2023-07-13 17:34:54

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@npub1sg4…xslc Or, always avoid DRM-infested material. There are so many DRM-free direct vendors (at least for ebooks) if you're willing to forgo some conveniences of the big middlemen. We need to cheer them on with our wallets.

2023-07-11 14:00:41

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@npub1w66…rc58 Your post made me question my motivations to distro hop. I came to the conclusion that it's not because I'm dissatisfied. It's because I can learn new things. Two decades into using GNU/Linux, there is still no end in sight for things to explore.