Tootfinder

Wayland: The Future is Now.
#Wayland #Linux #FreeSoftware

I've been thinking about trying OpenSuSE Tumbleweed for a few days now. My last attempt was several years ago.
#linux #opensource #freesoftware

Dear #FreeSoftware engineers, do you know concepts and implementations where an #editor runs all code related things on a remote system, but the more trust worthy parts on a local system?
Background: With "supply chain attacks" like

I've filed a report about a minor problem with a #Python package, namely that the source distribution contained some trailing junk that breaks GNU #tar. On one hand, I'm happy that upstream took the issue seriously. On the other hand, I'm terrified of how much #AI slop was involved in the response.
I mean, my short bug report yielded a few walls of text of #LLM analysis of what the cause of the problem might be, of suggested solutions… and praise of the author's fix. These are interspersed with short comments from the author, all pasted under their own personal account. And the linked pull request is also huge, with "verification code" that's quite sloppy (bits that don't do anything, conditions that will never be true… but at least it seems to do what it was supposed to do).
Honestly, I don't know what to do. Not that I ever planned using this package, but at this point I will definitely stay away from it. It's in #Gentoo, and I'll have to continue maintaining it for the sake of reverse dependencies, but I feel like it's unfair to expose our users to packages that have clearly proven to accept AI slop without reviewing it properly. Or rather, AI slop that's being reviewed… by AI. How can anyone think this a good idea?!
There were multiple times in my life when I've considered retiring from Gentoo, for variety of reasons. There were also multiple times when I wanted to get away from computers altogether. Unfortunately, we're living in a truly fucked up world, and there is no escape. The best you can do is put an ever increasing effort to keep fixing all that crap that will just keep piling on faster and faster.
#FreeSoftware #OpenSource

I think it is a nice idea to highlight why we like working with #Nix and #NixOS to remind us, why we all are doing this in the end.
For me it is still the best experience in #freesoftware I…

Anonymous help:
#OpenSource #FreeSoftware

Just to repeat / recap what others have said already.
"No politics in my #OpenSource project" is a political statement. It's a statement of "I'm fine with the status quo, and I don't want to be bothered by people who are hurt because of it."
"Neutrality" doesn't make you look professional. It makes you either look ignorant or complacent.
The whole #FreeSoftware movement is a political movement. So is the idea that you can freely use, modify and redistribute software.
So you should really think where you want to stand. Do you really want to be the complacent fascist enabler, or do you want to actually try making a difference?

Phew, it's been a long time since I've really been online—a nasty infection completely knocked me out for more than two weeks. But now I'm back to do Linux stuff! Let's go!
#linux #opensource

@…
Zoals @… in 1997 al schreef in een essay, een vrije, democratische samenleving is onmogelijk zolang niet alle software vrij is.
#FreeSoftware

Not being allowed to install what I want on a phone is like being told I cant make a sandwich with the bread I bought.
#Android #Google #FreeSoftware

When you propose a change to some larger #OpenSource project, you are bound to sooner or later receive a response which could be paraphrased as: "I am sorry for not replying either but I had to receive clearance to speak about our VERY IMPORTANT internal project. I am THOROUGHLY DISAPPOINTED that the proposed changes are even being seriously considered. We have built a whole business around exploiting your volunteer work, and now you're proposing something that may actually require us to do some work and update our tooling."
#FreeSoftware

When you see that a person with #Debian .org e-mail address is the maintainer of BLAS packages in #Gentoo: "what a nice collaboration…"
When you realize said person just took #GSoC money in 2019, and disappeared immediately afterwards: …
#FreeSoftware

Today, using #GAFAM software is no longer a matter of needs or preferences. Today, it is a choice in the domain of ethics.
If someone gives me their personal data, be it their contact data, image, or anything else, it is my solemn duty to keep that data secure. If I give it away to an app that uses it for marketing purposes, to train models, to manipulate people, or simply sells it, I fail that trust.
So don't give apps unnecessary permissions, or simply don't use such apps. And if the whole system abuses your data — well, if you can't change it, there are always notebooks and pens, you know.
#FreeSoftware

It is oft repeated that you can't solve social problems with technical solutions.
However, there's a flip side to this: you can actually create social problems via technical choices.
#FreeSoftware

I’ve been checking out the secureblue project recently, and it’s actually pretty interesting.
I’ll admit, online privacy feels like a straight-up meme in today’s world of surveillance capitalism, but secureblue is pushing out some genuinely unique projects that are absolutely worth looking into.
From what I can tell, secureblue feels a lot like the desktop version of GrapheneOS, taking that same security-focused foundation and bringing it into the Linux desktop space in a meaningful way.
#secureblue #GrapheneOS #Linux #SurveillanceCapitalism #Capitalism #Surveillance #FreeSoftware #Privacy

When the law enforcement is corrupt, the criminals roam free and the law is used to pursue people over personal dislikes. We really want the criminals out of law enforcement.
When the #CodeOfConduct enforcement is corrupt, the truly toxic people roam free and the rules are used to bully people over personal dislikes. Why do we applaud projects for adopting a CoC if they are not pursuing independent judgement?
#FreeSoftware #OpenSource

So, yeah, we were running out of IPv4 addresses, right?
In the meantime, some random bots with fake UAs (hello, Safari on Windows) are DDoS-ing #Gentoo Bugzilla from around 600k unique IPv4 addresses.
Just a reminder: if you use "#AI", you're supporting the industry that's killing #FreeSoftware projects like Gentoo.
#InternetIsDying #LLM

If you're writing a library, you should really avoid #CMake. CMake is designed to lock you in. As in, once you release a #FreeSoftware project using CMake, you can't switch to another build system with causing real trouble to your users. And if you support multiple build systems, as soon as you start supporting CMake, some of your users are going to start locking everyone else in.
That's because CMake uses a custom package discovery mechanism that's hardly compatible with anything else, and that is so complex that it's very hard to reimplement it with any other build system. So when others start relying on the CMake config files being installed (and they naturally will, since that's how CMake does things), you can't stop installing them without actually breaking stuff. And if you want to preserve them without actually using CMake, well, good luck with that.
And if CMake is one of the options you support, then some of your consumers will accidentally start relying on it anyway. And this will be much worse for everyone, because now their projects won't work for people who build your project with any other build system. Which in turn will force more projects to use CMake anyway. Which in turn will make more people rely on CMake being used…
Use #Meson as the build system, it's clean and not designed to lock you in. Use pkg-config for library data; it's simple and portable.
#OpenSource

You know what's the difference between a human programmer and an "#AI coding assistant"?
Sure, human programmers make mistakes. And rookies often make "worse" mistakes than an #LLM can come up with. However, the difference is that humans can actually learn. Teaching them comes with a payoff; not always and not necessarily for your project, but there's a good chance that they'll become better programmers and contribute back to the community.
Sure, human programmers sometimes plagiarize. And of course they need to look at some code while they learn. However, they actually can think on their own and come up with something original. And they can learn that plagiarism is wrong.
And most importantly, usually they don't lie if they don't have to, and there are limits to their smugness. You can build a healthy community with them.
You can't build a community with unethical bullshit-spitting machines.
#programming #FreeSoftware #OpenSource