A warm, comfortable book

August 16, 2024


Hello!

Busy week! Can't stop!

Music, videos and stuff from this week, below.


-[ Create ]-
It is a wiki!

In the hey-day of Hampshire Linux User Group, we had a functional wiki running on an experimental fork of UseModWiki that we affectionately called AbUseModWiki.

Many times, people in the LUG would request that someone make an edit to the website. I would frequently point out, "It is a wiki!" suggesting they have the power to edit it themselves. I said it so much that someone bought me a t-shirt with that catchphrase.

Just now, while researching my 'Consume' section below, I found a Wikipedia entry that appeared to have an error. I immediately hit the Edit button to fix the incorrect page. I dutifully checked the syntax and that the target page of the link would work.

When I tried to save my work, Wikipedia pointed out I wasn't logged in. I have an account but rarely log in to Wikipedia because I almost never edit anything. Today, I got as far as previewing my work while logged in and very nearly saved the page.

Then, something stopped me. First, I started to doubt that my edit would be correct. There are a lot of rules around Wikipedia. I doubt I'm up to speed on all of them, and I don't have the time today to divert my attention into a rabbit warren of documents for the sake of 20 additional characters saved on a web page that nobody thus far has noticed might be wrong.

Is this what filing bugs on Linux is like for new people?

A very slowly burning troll

Today, I received a missive titled "Proprietary Stallman schrödinger's cat". It's an intriguing subject line that certainly hooked me. The mail was in response to discovering my "Stallboard" Ubuntu Touch application, published in the Open Store under a Proprietary license. Oopsie, my bad.

The friendly but stern communique pointed out that my assumed "social experiment" of "seeing how long it would take for someone to get in touch to do something about" these proprietary licensed applications is now at an end. They suggested, "GPLv3+ across the board works fine."

Nice try.

This reminded me that I have nine published applications and games for Ubuntu Touch (now under the UBPorts project), which I had forgotten. A few are my own work and very basic. Others are licensed works from others or ports of existing code. I suspect it will take a little time to fix these.

As I recall, the Open Store—renamed from UAppExplorer—was initially created as a frontend to the Canonical Snap Store, which didn't have a web frontend at the time. Eventually, the Snapcraft website expanded the ability to search for and manage snaps.

In 2017, while Canonical "downsized", de-prioritizing Unity and Ubuntu Touch (but not Mir, which is alive and well, and not dead, despite what internet commenters tell you), the Open Store pivoted to just hosting Click Packages for UBPorts - the successor project owner of Ubuntu Touch.

I don't remember publishing all these applications in that store nor setting all the licenses to "Proprietary", but it was seven years ago, so maybe I was in a trolly mood that day. The Snap Store initially would default to "Proprietary" with newly registered uploads, which twisted a few nerd-jimmies at the time. Perhaps the Open Store did the same default.

I haven't run Ubuntu Touch on a device for a while now, but part of me wants to flash an old phone so I can update and test these old applications. I have an old OnePlus 5, which should run Ubuntu Touch just fine. Trying to get the QML apps working might be a challenge as I'm not sure I still have the sources ... eight years later.

Who am I trying to kid? They'll be in a backup somewhere around these parts.

Look out for a live stream of me battling with it soon!


-[ Consume ]-
Cringe Sandwich

"Cringe Sandwich" (a.k.a. "Bop-Stop-Bop") was a term coined last week and refers to a selection of two songs I've been listening to recently, with a minor toe-curl in the middle.

This week, I've been using the Spotify 🤖 algorithm 🤖 to find songs to "Start my day" on my way to and from work.

One week I'll listen to something from this century. This is not that week.

New music suggestions welcome.

Slow Progress

Once again, thanks to "No Cast AuGast", I'm not listening to podcasts for August. There's a limit to how much music I can consume without a bit of spoken word - not you Baz Luhrmann.

Then I remembered I have a lifetime supply of audiobooks squirrelled away in the vault. The problem is, I love some books a little too much, so I'd rather listen to a trusted friend than start a new unknown tome.

This week, I've been re-listening to Douglas Adams reading Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and Split Second (affiliate link) by Douglas E. Richards.

Both are comfortable slippers compared to the pinching and chafing new-shoe fit of the other books in the collection, which have yet to be read.

One day, Terry Pratchett, one day.


-[ Comment ]-
A resource for your newsletter?

For years now, quite frequently, I have been offered the "opportunity" to feature an outbound link on my blog to a tangentially related topic on another site. This post about zerotier and this one about my electric car were candidates this week from two very real human people in the same organisation. They both offered "ABC link exchange, Guest Post, or Article Revamp" in return.

I'm no SEO expert, and I did not just step off the boat, so I never take these "opportunities." I imagine they must get enough people who do to make it worthwhile.

I'm obviously not alone in this lament.

These days, my pointless, optimistic stock response is, "What's the marketing budget for this campaign?" Typically, there is either no answer or a sad lament that there's no budget for this operation. I am aware this is a waste of time, but y'know, everyone's got to have a hobby!

BONUS MID-MONTH ABSTINENCE

I have reached a certain age where strong coffee is no longer my friend.

Sad times.


Thanks for reading.

-- popey


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© Copyright 2024 Alan Pope. All rights reserved


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