Julia Evans

https://social.jvns.ca/@b0rk

programming and exclamation marks

I have DMs muted from people I don’t follow.

blog: https://jvns.ca
zines: https://wizardzines.com

Public Key

npub1hyjddt50dwcvjmtgr7t4czg4tt9j5xajavl0uvkt0v7wksx0460sp0avly

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

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Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1hyjddt50dwcvjmtgr7t4czg4tt9j5xajavl0uvkt0v7wksx0460sp0avly

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Last Notes

2026-08-17 21:21:32 GMT

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thanks this is very helpful!
(as an aside recently i got funding through https://www.sovereign.tech/news/fellowship-documentation-sprint-technical-writers to contribute some docs to Git, if they run the program again it feels like someone else perhaps could do something similar for openssh)

2026-08-17 20:36:41 GMT

wondering today about how people are intended to learn how to use openssh (as a user, not as an administrator)
https://www.openssh.org/ has the reference documentation, but I feel like there must be another document somewhere that's intended for use by beginners that I'm not finding
i don't really know how various BSD projects think about documentation

2026-08-13 15:37:05 GMT

these SSH polls are reminding me that (though I'm not a security person) I'm a big believer that security systems should allow users to be inattentive and lazy and confused and to do the thing that seems the most convenient instead of the the thing that might be the most secure, and to still enable good security

2026-06-03 14:46:42 GMT

something I'm finding frustrating recently is
a) I feel like LLMs have helped me learn some programming things that were hard for me to learn previously
b) I'm tired of LLMs being relentlessly pushed on us and do not want to participate in that by talking about my positive experiences
c) there are also lots of hazards associated with using LLMs to generate code that are not that easy to avoid

2026-05-06 15:10:45 GMT

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no, we just shipped a batch of zines to Montreal from our US printer, right now the volume is too low to justify a local print run

2026-05-06 15:07:07 GMT

excited to announce that Wizard Zines is now shipping Canadian orders from Canada! now shipping is cheaper & there's no risk of being hit with duties
get your zines at https://wizardzines.com
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/116/528/252/427/386/765/original/5876349eb6a958b4.png

2026-05-04 12:59:03 GMT

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whoa, I didn't realize you could do that now!

2026-05-04 12:39:20 GMT

i've been working on moving away from Tailwind, and one thing I'm realizing I appreciated about Tailwind is having a basic color palette (blues, grays, greens, indigos, pinks, purples, reds, yellows) I could use while prototyping
i extracted it into css variables so I can still use it if I want:
https://gist.github.com/jvns/9e59b2cd1fe12601084ba78dded072fe
but now I'm curious: are there similar CSS color palettes like this out there?
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/116/516/346/728/222/804/original/cc663b9cc12209d6.png

2026-01-28 19:39:08 GMT

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first I'm curious about how "contest culture" might be defined
One of the references is this paper on "Masculinity Contest Culture": https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12280 which has this list of factors
"Admitting you don't know the answer looks weak" feels VERY familiar to me, I feel like I've said "I don't know X" on the internet and been weirdly attacked for it so many times ("how could she not know that??? what does that mean about what kind of programmer she is!!!!")
(2/)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/974/415/571/822/154/original/1cd5c27da9c2c479.png

2026-01-28 19:34:30 GMT

today i'm back to reading this paper by @npub18g0…0a9e about contest cultures and brilliance traps in software and I'm going to try to live tweet some notes because reading papers is hard
https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/2gej5_v2
(1/?)

2026-01-23 16:40:24 GMT

i’ve been learning Django and I feel like the docs are really good? normally I avoid reading docs but they’re so helpful

2026-01-21 14:40:06 GMT

just learned that Al Sweigart makes all of his Python books (Automate The Boring Stuff with Python etc) available on his site for free https://inventwithpython.com/
i haven't read them but I've heard good things and I'm always curious about free resources I can recommend to beginners

2026-01-20 19:13:28 GMT

if you use Django: do you.. upgrade Django every few years? for my website projects I'm used to just using whatever the current version is and then literally never upgrading ever and I'm trying to figure out if this approach will work for Django or not

2026-01-20 17:22:13 GMT

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a few people have been asking what my typical setup is for "running websites that I can completely ignore and spend 0 time maintaining" so I wrote down a few thoughts
https://gist.github.com/jvns/5bd9283d7abd5ceb26eb7ed28afe3030

2026-01-20 14:34:00 GMT

i like to make websites and I've been slowly realizing that my requirements for making websites might be a little weird
- I have maybe 20 websites (mostly static but not all)
- I want to spend basically 0 time maintaining them, maybe 5 minutes every 2 months at most
- I need to be able to ignore a project for 3 years and then come back and be able to develop it easily
i feel like all of this stuff makes my choice of tech stack different than if I worked on one site full-time

2026-01-19 23:00:43 GMT

RE: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/115924028281889489
i did not understand this until I tried to run Linux on a new thinkpad after years of running it on old computers

2026-01-15 15:47:58 GMT

what do you wish someone had told you about the Git command line interface when you started using Git for the first time? Especially curious about what you wish you'd known if you ended up choosing to use a IDE/GUI interface to Git.
(mostly interested in replies from people who started using Git in the last 5-10 years)

2026-01-15 15:02:12 GMT

poll: when you started using Git, did you start using collaboration features right away to work with other people, or did you just use Git by yourself?

2026-01-08 20:21:48 GMT

A data model for Git (and other docs updates) https://jvns.ca/blog/2026/01/08/a-data-model-for-git/

2025-12-30 18:44:41 GMT

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maybe too big of a question but: i feel with everything that’s happened with the FSF I’ve been struggling with free software culture a bit, it feels sometimes like free software spaces are very dogmatic and rigid
does the SFC have a vision for the future of free software culture? would love to read/watch anything about it

2025-12-20 13:15:37 GMT

i don’t post a lot of personal stuff here but I want to say
a) in september 2024 I had a mild case of covid and I spent almost a year dealing with the fatigue
b) dealing with mysterious health stuff is hard and scary and I wish the best to anyone else who is in the middle of something like that
c) right now things are much better and I’m so grateful I can easily do things like “walk 30 minutes to the store” again
d) the best thing I did was talk to doctors even if it was frustrating sometimes

2025-12-18 16:27:20 GMT

i started trying to write a small site in Django recently and I think I'm really enjoying it? I've failed to learn Rails a few times but my Django site is set up so that there's a `models.py` with all my models, `views.py` with all my views and it feels easier for me to find things than it was with Rails

2025-12-09 20:16:30 GMT

i finally gave in and started using uv to manage the dependencies for my Python scripts and it’s great https://jvns.ca/til/python-inline-dependencies/

2025-12-02 16:59:37 GMT

this fall I worked with the core Git folks on writing an official data model for Git and it just got merged! I learned a few new things from writing it. https://github.com/git/git/blob/master/Documentation/gitdatamodel.adoc

2025-11-30 19:30:33 GMT

announcing Advent of Zines 2025: where Wizard Zines is doing a giveaway of 1 zine for the first 15 days in December!
this is part of the "Buy One Give One" program we've had since I started Wizard Zines in 2018, where we give away 1 PDF zine for every copy sold. It's for anyone for whom $12 USD is a barrier to buy a zine.
more info here: https://wizardzines.com/advent/
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/640/305/511/945/064/original/94558cb5b24513d6.png

2025-11-28 12:14:50 GMT

it's happening!!!
from now until the end of the day on Friday, November 28th (if it’s Friday anywhere, the sale’s still on!), all my PDF zines are 50% off, and print zines are 30% off!
https://wizardzines.com
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/627/267/560/803/059/original/6d0d70cc6922aee1.png

2025-11-27 15:53:32 GMT

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next: How DNS Works!
DNS is frustrating, but I think the way it works is really cool. This explains about how the DNS protocol works, every weird thing I know about DNS caching, and how to use `dig` to debug DNS problems.
https://wizardzines.com/zines/dns/
(14/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/465/294/199/939/original/7cae79528728627f.png

2025-11-27 15:50:46 GMT

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next: The Pocket Guide to Debugging
I wrote this because my brother was learning to program, I wanted to recommend a guide to debugging to him, but I couldn't find one.
It's a mix of practical tips ("see if you can find an old version of the code that works!") and ways to manage all of the FEELINGS that come up while debugging.
(13/16)
https://wizardzines.com/zines/debugging-guide/
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/454/088/320/548/original/a533a8dae1987c56.png
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/454/401/796/948/original/e53ce3dbd5ad30f2.png

2025-11-27 15:43:43 GMT

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next: Bite Size Bash!
I love writing simple bash scripts (you can do so much!) but bash has some weird gotchas. This zine explains all the surprising bash things that have tripped me up.
reading the reader testimonials for this one is always funny to me because they're so positive they feel made up: "I bought this, and in 28 pages it gave me more useful information than my fat Bash books."
(12/16)
https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-bash/
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/426/382/935/547/original/146c8fadbd69bf4a.png
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/426/687/062/139/original/c69fd12070d98615.png

2025-11-27 15:37:39 GMT

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next: Bite Size Command Line
This is a reference for the basic Linux command line tools (grep! awk!) with only the command line arguments that I actually use and examples for each one.
I wrote this because I was mad that man pages don't have examples (still am but I made my own in the meantime :) )
https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-command-line/
(10/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/402/499/642/179/original/7b76d0a6d7e1dd96.png
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/402/789/027/469/original/5a10cbf135b3d122.png

2025-11-27 15:34:14 GMT

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next: Bite Size Linux!
I was still getting started with zines at this point and part of what motivated me to publish this was that I posted a comic about /proc on Twitter and it got 5000 retweets. (/proc is AMAZING)
This is about some of the basic building blocks on Linux (files! signals! system calls!), what's weird about them (buffering!) and how you can inspect them (like with /proc)
It's one of the first zines so it's all handwritten.
https://wizardzines.com/zines/bite-size-linux/
(9/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/389/021/697/985/original/4b779bfc88c9524a.png
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2025-11-27 15:28:52 GMT

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next: HTTP: Learn Your Browser's Language
Learning how HTTP works really made websites click for me. I just think it's so cool that when your browser is communicating with a website, you can go into the network tab, click on a request, and see exactly what's going on in a (relatively) human-readable way.
(8/16)
https://wizardzines.com/zines/http/
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/368/230/762/267/original/356341498185497e.png
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2025-11-27 15:25:48 GMT

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next: Help! I Have a Manager!
I wrote this a few years after I started my first job where I had a manager. I initially didn't understand what my relationship with my manager was supposed to look like and this is about what I learned from working with a great manager. (shoutout to Jay Shirley & everyone else who helped me)
https://wizardzines.com/zines/manager/
(7/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/355/922/648/400/original/7c106e03407adda3.png
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2025-11-27 15:22:24 GMT

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next: How Git Works!
This is our best-selling zine of all time (probably because so many people struggle with Git ❤). It explains git’s core concepts (commits! branches! merging! remotes!) with minimal jargon and a focus on the actual problems that can ruin your day.
https://wizardzines.com/zines/git/
(6/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/342/543/658/806/original/7ee39f1e542f04b5.png
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2025-11-27 15:19:40 GMT

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next: Oh Shit, Git!
This was a collab with the amazing Katie Sylor-Miller (@npub1mm5…t4km), the author of https://ohshitgit.com
It's a reference for what to do to git out of a git mess
https://wizardzines.com/zines/oh-shit-git/
(5/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/331/653/901/484/original/c33dacc5a1229f06.png
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2025-11-27 15:17:53 GMT

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next: Hell Yes! CSS!
I used to be terrified of CSS. What helped me was starting to really take CSS seriously as a technology and accept that I was just going to have to spend hours debugging tiny "formatting" issues. This zine is about some CSS basics that made me feel more comfortable.
(4/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/324/752/878/873/original/531d47a655301918.png
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/325/102/385/439/original/dd8f340cb5316139.png

2025-11-27 15:15:30 GMT

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next: How Containers Work!
Docker containers are actually many different Linux features mashed together, and I found containers WAY easier to understand when I understood the individual Linux features: namespaces! capabilities! pivot_root! overlay filesystems! seccomp!
https://wizardzines.com/zines/containers/
(3/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/315/398/883/452/original/0ae9c066fb59dcae.png
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2025-11-27 15:11:18 GMT

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first: my newest zine, The Secret Rules of the Terminal!
This has all the gnarly details about the Unix terminal that I wish I knew when I started using it. It's weird and kind of wonderful (I talk about why you can use your mouse in the terminal!)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/298/847/340/480/original/1e2bbd5683ff4a88.png
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/299/153/906/018/original/15392bf37764c046.png

2025-11-27 15:07:46 GMT

tomorrow November 28 we're doing a Big Zine Sale! Here's a thread about every zine that will be on sale (it's all of them)
(feel free to mute this thread :))
(1/16)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/622/285/271/364/923/original/44597f3678d97daa.png

2025-11-18 16:34:05 GMT

Wizard Zines is doing another Big Zine Sale again this year on Friday, November 28th! One day only.
here’s a google calendar link for the duration of the sale if you want a reminder: https://wzrd.page/cal (or an ICS link: https://wzrd.page/cal.ics)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/571/663/940/243/977/original/e5b9670e8c0f75fb.png

2025-11-12 01:11:48 GMT

been enjoying @npub1429…5dlm's weird terminal posts, like "how I use my terminal" https://jyn.dev/how-i-use-my-terminal/ and "the terminal of the future" https://jyn.dev/the-terminal-of-the-future
Also kind of makes me want to add a "bibliography" section to my blog posts, what a cool idea

2025-10-21 14:17:32 GMT

I know there are a lot of CSS magicians on the fediverse, is anyone open to freelance work? we're looking for some help with https://wizardzines.com
share a link to your site?

2025-10-20 15:22:09 GMT

just added the MEGA TERMINAL CHEAT SHEET from "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" to our list of posters at https://wizardzines.com/#posters
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/407/174/044/872/628/original/9492c136f5d3dd45.png

2025-10-14 15:08:43 GMT

TERM
https://wizardzines.com/comics/term/
(from The Secret Rules of the Terminal, out now! https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/373/147/348/934/092/original/a1059f4b13a69196.png

2025-10-10 14:23:07 GMT

notes on switching to Helix from vim https://jvns.ca/blog/2025/10/10/notes-on-switching-to-helix-from-vim/

2025-10-08 20:03:05 GMT

would any of you folks be interested in reading an explanation of Git's data model I'm working on? (with the goal of including it in Git's official documentation)
if so, reply to this and I'll DM you a link!

2025-10-06 21:09:46 GMT

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poll: when you run `git pull`, do you explicitly specify a remote and branch to pull from? like (`git pull origin main`)

2025-10-06 21:04:51 GMT

git usage question: if you use `git pull` and `git push`, how do you usually use them?
possible answers include:
- just run `git push` and `git pull` with no arguments (other than --rebase or --ff-only etc)
- always specify remote/branch with `git push origin main` and `git pull origin main`
- some combination of the above
- something else?
(please only reply if you use both `git pull` and `git push`, I'm very aware of team "I never use `git pull`" :) )
might add some follow up polls to this

2025-09-29 16:13:33 GMT

meet the terminal emulator https://wizardzines.com/comics/meet-the-terminal-emulator/
(from The Secret Rules of the Terminal, out now! (https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/288/467/620/838/246/original/4b6e50dd55b8c370.png

2025-09-24 15:21:03 GMT

stty
https://wizardzines.com/comics/stty/
(from The Secret Rules of the Terminal, out now! https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/259/949/642/670/669/original/1cb7092de2131e9a.png

2025-09-16 18:26:49 GMT

added a cheat sheet to the official Git website
(with a lot of help from other folks who work on the website)
https://git-scm.com/cheat-sheet

2025-09-15 23:54:56 GMT

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if you're interested in helping with Project Improve Git Documentation, I'm still looking for beta readers! Here's a signup form: https://forms.gle/QP5NUcvPQV6W7DCJ9
I'd love signups from anyone who uses Git on the command line, isn't 100% comfortable with it, and who would be interested in reading the current version of some man pages and leaving feedback about what's confusing.
(3/?)

2025-09-15 23:50:10 GMT

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more git docs changes: got some changes to the `git add` man page merged into Git! I've been having a lot of fun working on making git's documentation a little easier to read.
https://github.com/git/git/commit/4065e482f7fe349505877b45b6a5edaa12522f2d
(2/?)

2025-09-15 15:06:49 GMT

TERM
https://wizardzines.com/comics/term/
(from "The Secret Rules of the Terminal", out now! https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/208/932/933/117/934/original/f1d439ead657081b.png

2025-09-13 13:16:33 GMT

another slightly obscure git question: have you ever used the “pushremote“ option in Git so that you can push a branch to a different remote than you pull from? Why?

2025-09-08 15:06:10 GMT

meet the TTY driver
https://wizardzines.com/comics/meet-the-tty-driver/
(from "The Secret Rules of the Terminal", out now!)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/169/294/206/921/633/original/8d913cec15b78d3e.png

2025-09-03 21:41:20 GMT

git terminology poll: do you know what the term "index" means? (for example in the sentence "`git checkout hello.c` restores `hello.c` from the index")

2025-09-03 11:47:50 GMT

when you learned Git for the first time, what resources did you use? Did you like them? Mostly looking for answers from folks who learned Git in the last 5 years or so.
Looking for resources to potentially add to the Git website

2025-09-02 20:21:12 GMT

another obscure git question: what's an example of something that `git checkout -B <branch>` is useful for? I'm having trouble thinking of anything.
(it's like kind of like a "--force" version of `git checkout -b`, similar to deleting the branch and then recreating it)

2025-09-02 16:51:30 GMT

got some changes to the "git-rebase" man page merged into Git, hoping it will be a bit clearer for future people reading the docs https://github.com/git/git/commit/e345b776f6bdbc48b54f80f2bb990caf36a95a48

2025-09-02 15:04:46 GMT

terminal colours
https://wizardzines.com/comics/colours/
(from "The Secret Rules of the Terminal", out now!)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/135/314/736/470/979/original/839084c148be8a81.png

2025-09-01 17:32:17 GMT

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also a quick general poll about `git reset`: how comfortable do you feel using `git reset`?

2025-09-01 14:52:44 GMT

has anyone used `git reset` with a filename argument, like this: `git reset HEAD^ file.txt`?
I'm having trouble thinking of an example of what that could be useful for, would love examples
especially curious about examples where you pass a specific commit ID (not HEAD)

2025-08-26 15:19:20 GMT

job control
https://wizardzines.com/comics/job-control/
(from The Secret Rules of the Terminal, which is out now!)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/115/095/735/902/207/021/original/d80b483c34bf3b42.png

2025-08-26 13:40:56 GMT

I've been working on improving a few of Git's man pages and I could use a few more test readers to read the existing documentation and identify what's confusing about it! Here's the signup form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYd9FrjiBg8IbJXk-51p7zewt7aiVOamUImnpb90hK29w3Qg/viewform
I'd especially love test readers who use Git on the command line but aren't 100% comfortable with it.

2025-08-14 18:40:52 GMT

are there any games that teach C pointers? like flexbox froggy for pointers

2025-08-13 17:10:21 GMT

another git question: how would you describe what `git add` does and what the "staging area" is to a friend?

2025-08-12 18:24:20 GMT

has anyone ever made a man page viewer which shows you a table of contents for the man page so you can easily navigate through the sections?
(please do not tell me about `info`)

2025-07-31 21:12:08 GMT

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a few things I learned from this thread:
- https://endof10.org/places/ has a list of a lot of Linux cafes etc in Europe
- some cities in North America have a FreeGeek organization
- https://tinker.sh/ is a Linux distro that's just for distraction-free writing
(3/?)

2025-07-31 18:15:34 GMT

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i’m especially curious to hear about efforts and resources to help people install linux that really centre the needs of the user, especially for non-programmers
I feel like linux nerds (i’m one of them!) have a very well deserved bad reputation of exaggerating how easy it is to use Linux (“you don’t need photoshop, just use the GIMP!”🙄) and I’d love to see examples of people doing it in a better way
(2/?)

2025-07-31 17:12:59 GMT

do any of you have organizations in your city that help people install Linux on old unused computers to give the hardware a new life? would love a link to their website!
also curious about what people end up using the machines for in practice, especially if they’re used by non-programmers

2025-07-17 12:26:51 GMT

it's really fun to see the reviews of "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" come in, it looks like the zine is helping people in the way I hoped it would!
you can get it here: https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/868/565/212/915/994/original/dbfc62da6539d9d1.png

2025-06-28 15:39:30 GMT

we've already sold 1000 copies of The Secret Rules of the Terminal!
so to celebrate I'm giving away 1000 copies to anyone who can't afford to buy one. You can use code BUYONEGIVEONE at checkout to get a free PDF copy if $12 USD is a lot for you.
https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal

2025-06-26 19:24:22 GMT

If you want to get "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" (or any other zine!) and you're in a country with a weaker currency than the US (India, Brazil, etc), there's a discount to make the zines more affordable. You can see it in action here:
https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal/
If you're in a country this applies to, you should see something like this:
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/751/298/484/972/979/original/610d078da9858777.png

2025-06-26 18:42:51 GMT

new zine: The Secret Rules of the Terminal https://jvns.ca/blog/2025/06/24/new-zine--the-secret-rules-of-the-terminal/

2025-06-24 17:19:40 GMT

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The reason this zine is called "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is that I learned more useful things while writing this zine than when writing any other zine, even though I've been using the terminal every day for 20 years.
It really left me feeling like the terminal is full of hidden secrets -- because "the terminal" is made up of so many different pieces, there's no single terminal manual you can read!
Here's the table of contents (which as a bonus shows the components of the terminal!)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/739/500/415/134/571/original/2bae27e134f3a7e4.png

2025-06-24 16:51:22 GMT

delighted to announce that my new zine "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is out today!!
You can get it for $12 USD here: https://wizardzines.com/zines/terminal
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/739/372/236/990/812/original/d1a1b721d9092c61.png

2025-06-23 19:59:10 GMT

it's happening! "The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is coming out tomorrow!
here's the table of contents:
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/734/448/386/904/912/original/7d90526997e6d05a.png

2025-06-20 19:50:19 GMT

here's the final version of the "redirects cheat sheet" draft I posted a while back!
("The Secret Rules of the Terminal" is finished! 95 beta readers have read it! the copy editor is done! technical review is done! the illustrator has made the cover! It's going to be out on *****Tuesday June 24*****")
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/717/426/615/255/898/original/6eb25d19670f06b2.png

2025-06-18 13:35:04 GMT

i was just wondering the other day if there's an alternative to `jq` which uses Javascript syntax to filter JSON and there is! it's called `fx` https://fx.wtf/getting-started
(via @npub1499…zhnv: https://andre.arko.net/2025/06/13/2025-06-13-fx/)

2025-06-16 20:35:13 GMT

this is a nice post on strace (I didn't know that strace had a --stack-trace option!) https://rrampage.github.io/2025/06/13/strace-tips-for-better-debugging/

2025-06-04 15:23:10 GMT

was just reminded of how much I love the debugging manifesto poster that Inner Loop Press designed for Wizard Zines, you can get it for $20 US + shipping here: https://store.wizardzines.com/products/poster-debugging-manifesto
I'm SO delighted with how it turned out (also for more of Inner Loop's work, see https://www.innerloop.press/)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/625/779/099/182/948/original/e347c05587891fc6.png

2025-06-02 19:54:19 GMT

making a list of tricks for making static sites (just HTML/CSS/JS) that do cool or useful things
so far I have:
- store all the state in the URL
- use localStorage for state
- make a client for an API that supports cross-origin requests (like the mastodon API)
- load a bunch of data from a static JSON file
some things I've seen but haven't done myself:
- use github as your data storage (like what Decap CMS does)
- use SQLite from a static website with no backend

2025-05-26 16:21:29 GMT

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are you saying that different PATH lookup implementations handle "." in PATH differently

2025-05-26 16:14:04 GMT

I always find it a bit surprising that "looking up executables in PATH" isn't implemented in one central place (there are at least 3 implementations that I use regularly: in libc, my shell, in Go, and probably more that I don't know about)
it's a weird thing because there are actually many different implementations, but I think in general the implementations act similarly enough that you can pretend there's only 1 implementation, I've never actually run into a problem caused by this

2025-05-23 18:24:44 GMT

I think I have finally managed to articulate this very fundamental but slightly counterintuitive fact about how shell redirection works
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/558/545/285/733/477/original/706a365db5e20d39.png

2025-05-15 15:33:44 GMT

i enjoy this flowchart explaining how bash decides whether to use .bashrc or .bash_profile https://blog.flowblok.id.au/2013-02/shell-startup-scripts.html, mostly because it makes me understand better why I could never understand how the 2 config files worked when I used bash
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/512/574/584/965/099/original/7dfff4e1a96daf2b.png

2025-05-13 12:47:01 GMT

every so often I think of moving my neovim config from the regular ~/.vimrc to a Lua config but I think I fundamentally just do not want to be able to write arbitrary code to configure my text editor
having 300 lines of vim config can be confusing enough sometimes, also having to debug Lua code seems like it would make the situation even harder for me

2025-05-09 15:47:20 GMT

contributed a feature to the iTerm Color Schemes library yesterday to make the colorschemes work with any terminal emulator that supports the OSC 4 escape codes for setting the terminal's color palette (including GNOME Terminal, I believe the Linux console, and a bunch of others) https://github.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes/?tab=readme-ov-file#generic-color-schemes
basically it means that you can download a short script (like this: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes/refs/heads/master/generic/Solarized%20Dark%20-%20Patched.sh and when you run it it'll print out some escape codes that update your terminal colours

2025-05-07 18:41:46 GMT

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ok here are a few Tab tips in the shell
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/468/015/434/390/096/original/9160c771439cd41e.png

2025-05-07 17:53:24 GMT

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writing about tab completion in the shell is reminding me of how much I rely on being able to tab complete from the *middle* of a filename in fish
like if the file starts with a weird character -- no problem! I can just type some characters from the middle and press 'Tab’

2025-05-07 17:08:31 GMT

trying to come up with some advice around quoting/escaping/tab completion in the shell and not coming up with as much as I thought I would! so far I have:
- sometimes you can drag a file from a GUI file manager to escape it properly
- tab completion is great
mostly looking for advice around using the shell interactively, not scripting (so not "always quote your shell variables”)

2025-05-06 17:13:36 GMT

the good thing about spending 6 months working on writing a zine about the terminal is that when I just saw this error message:
$ rm *
rm: illegal option -- b
I could just pause for 5 seconds, think "oh, right, I guess I have a file that starts with -b for some reason” and then just run "rm -- *"

2025-04-24 19:33:37 GMT

will probably delete this if I get an answer, but: if you configure your history size in bash to store more history, do you use HISTSIZE? HISTFILESIZE? both?

2025-04-21 21:06:35 GMT

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also this page on colour contains one of the few grumpy comments in the zine, it might not make it into the final version tbh because I think being a curmudgeon is boring
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/377/987/870/951/432/original/13da33617f390b76.png

2025-04-21 20:58:27 GMT

how terminal colours work
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/377/955/932/615/889/original/9152a61a75a235cf.png

2025-04-21 12:38:28 GMT

TIL you can configure ssh to only allow a client to run 1 specific command https://dan.langille.org/2025/04/17/using-ssh-authorized-keys-to-decide-what-the-incoming-connection-can-do/

2025-04-17 18:34:59 GMT

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anyway a much more practical use of stty is to disable `Ctrl+S`
(please do not explain to me how Ctrl+S was useful to you in the 80s/90s/etc)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/354/742/577/288/442/original/cf623b80f2e4a285.png

2025-04-17 18:25:50 GMT

current status: putting a few weird terminal facts that I do not have any practical use for into the terminal zine
(mostly I’m keeping it extremely practical but I think it's fun to have SOME weird stuff)
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/354/706/595/195/976/original/e1f11b7051de21d7.png

2025-04-07 19:48:14 GMT

types of terminal programs
https://cdn.masto.host/socialjvnsca/media_attachments/files/114/298/407/144/798/299/original/939c02405f1573ed.png