@alcinnz@floss.social
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

alcinnz

@alcinnz@floss.social

A browser developer posting mostly about how free software projects work, and occasionally about climate change.

Though I do enjoy german board games given an opponent.

Pronouns: he/him

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

I finished reading World Wide Waste by Gerry McGovern. I'd consider it essential reading for anyone working with computers!

https://gerrymcgovern.com/books/world-wide-waste/

It's well cited (though I still need to check those citations) & uses maths effectively to make it's point.

That computers + (surveillance) capitalism is actually worse for the environment than the predigital era. That we can and must move slow and fix things, and fund that vital work directly.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@oranger2020 In regards to building the computers: agreed. I was more thinking in terms of usage.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@oranger2020 Maybe it depends on what we consider significant. One of the most expensive activities we regularly do online is a Google, etc search which according to this book amounts to 1080joules, akin to leaving a 60watt lightbulb on for 17s.

stevestreza, to random

This month's #BandcampFriday haul:

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@SEGFAULT @OkieSpaceQueen @stevestreza Got another interested buyer here!

rysiek, (edited ) to random
@rysiek@mstdn.social avatar

This is your irregular reminder are fucking dicks:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/a3xk3p/adobe-tells-users-they-can-get-sued-for-using-old-versions-of-photoshop

> Adobe Tells Users They Can Get Sued for Using Old Versions of Photoshop

We need tools to get to the point where they can replace Adobe tools. Open alternatives are great, but they are sadly not there yet to replace Adobe tools for professionals.

And won't be unless projects like @inkscape get enough funding to develop to a point of being viable alternatives.

Yes, it is in no small part about the money.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@villewilson @Blender @rysiek Agreed, major (and relatively old) effects studios like Weta are exceptional cases.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@villewilson @Blender @rysiek Agreed!

And my first toot here was mentioned that Blender may well be the better tool for how Weta uses Maya if they weren't so entrenched!

theruran, to random

"snackable" search lol... :picardfacepalm:​

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@theruran But what if I want a meal! /s

No wonder I've been seeing Google Search quality degrade, these devs knew they were on a sinking ship!

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@theruran Now what do we do about it?

I like filling my blogposts up with excellent links, but for that I needed how to find those links yesterday... I'm not quite as happy with the links I found for my latest blogpost, though I have received complements...

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@theruran I care because DuckDuckGo's Bing backend appears to have a similar degradation. All search engines are effected!

Large index search engines filled a need for me (even if I don't exclusively rely on them like most others do), & that need is suddenly being unmet.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@theruran I don't have much faith in DDG having the expertise on board, but others exist... They've been struggling to get off the ground, but still!

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

For any new followers since I last mentioned this: I am an amateur browserengine dev, currently with NLnet funding! Currently focusing on building a great TV experience "Haphaestus".

I strive to show the potential of a simpler JavaScript-free web to work on any conceivable device! Without sacrificing support for a myriad of written languages, or accessibility measures! Written in reusable Haskell.

And yes, I threw in Gemini support since that was trivial.

1/2

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

How can you help, aside from contributing directly?

I won't say don't use JS, but please avoid relying on it! At least give me a readonly view, or access to the raw data!

Also I'm struggling to find interesting sites now. So please provide ATOM/RSS webfeeds, & submit your sites to SearchMySite.Net!

Contributing to native apps which reduces the rediculous scope I'm expected to handle is very helpful!

Or what your interests? Can we align?

2/2

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

My writing on AI; the story so far - Baldur Bjarnason: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2023/writing-on-ai-the-story-so-far/

The polarisation of AI discourse serves nobody except power: https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2023/polarised-ai-discourse/

Personally I think this tech can be useful but on balance is actively more harmful. And not in a "singularity" way. I try to boost the more balanced takes, which Bjarnason is great for!

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

Hey fediverse: I'm looking for a link to share (in a blogpost) about internationalizing software? So that it can speak multiple languages.

I can find plenty about how to do it, but I'd prefer to boost someone else's voice on why to do it! Does anyone have such a link?

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

New strategy for finding links for my blogposts: Consult Wikipedia!

I also consult SearchMySite.Net, DuckDuckGo, & (where I recall good blogposts) my feedreader. Also sometimes it's appropriate to link to official sites.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

Much happier with the link haul I'm harvesting today! Throwing some basic linguistics links since it's relevant to my blogpost...

Also throwing in some humor! E.g. linking to the LeftPad incident when I mention I've implemented that algorithm.

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

Should only be a couple days left in studying Shadow's commandline tooling...

After initializing LibShadow, internationalization, logging, & exit handlers whilst parsing a few commandline flags (handling -R & -P specially) validating that 1 arg remain groupdel may (if ACCT_TOOLS_SETUID & USE_PAM are setattempts to authenticate via PAM logging any errors. If theSHADOWGRP` buildflag is set it validates that file's presence. It looks up the group ID for given arg reporting errors.

1/?

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

If USE_NIS buildflag is set group_del validates this isn't a NIS group reporting errors. Regardless it might iterate over the passwords file to validate we're not deleting any user's primary group. Regardless it opens all the group files registering cleanup callbacks, wraps gr_remove & possibly sgr_remove, & cleans up flushing caches.

After init'ing LibShadow, i18n, & logging whilst parsing commandline flags (handling -R specially) & checking if shadowfile presence groupmems ...

2/?

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

groupmems validates/normalizes selected group fallingback to the current user's. Privileges are validated, with PAM if supported. Groupfiles are opened & the given group located. Before cleaning up it chooses a codepath of either:

  • Iterating over parsed members outputting them.
  • Adding the group from parsed list in both files if not already present, saving results.
  • Removing a user from the parsed list in both files if present, saving changes.
  • Nulling out those lists, saving changes.
    3/?
alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

After initializing LibShadow, internationalization, logging, & exit handlers whilst parsing/validating ensuring single arg remains commandline flags (handling -R & -P specially) groupadd meanwhile validates privileges with PAM if supported, validates shadow group file's presence if it's buildflag is set, opens group files under lock registering cleanup functions, locates the group ID, writes a new entry if not already present, & cleans up flushing caches.

4/?

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

After init'ing LibShadow, i18n, logging, & exit handlers whilst parsing flags (handling -P & -R special) validating single arg remains groupmod checks with PAM if supported, validates shadow-group file's presence if it's buildflag's set, validates it's not a NIS group if that buildflag's set, checks if it already exists, & that the name is valid. Then it locks the group files, reports changes to audit log, opens those files, locates & overwrites the group, & cleans up flushing caches.

5/?

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

After santizing envvars then init'ing LibShadow, i18n, & logging whilst parsing a couple flags (handling -R special) ensuring at most 1 arg remain & checking whether we're root chsh checks whether the first arg corresponds to a valid user looks up the specified user falling back to our own, validates this is a local user, checks privs (including with PAM if supported), fills in -s fallback with user prompt, validates, overwrites password entry, syslogs, & cleans up flushing caches.

6/7?

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

After initializing logging, internationalization, LibShadow, & std I/O buffering whilst sanitizing envvars gpasswd checks shadow-group file's presence if it's buildflag's set, looks up your password entry, registers exit handler, parses/validates commandline flags ensuring single arg remains, duplicates the entry, checks privs, mutates the group depending on flags (disabling passwords via magic strings), configures signal handlers, prompts for password validating you can retype it, ...

7/8!

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

... hashes & sets that password zeroing out it's RAM for security, switches to root reporting any errors including to syslog, initializes password database, opens relevant files, overwrites the group files, & cleans up flushing caches whilst logging successes & failures.

7.5/7.5 Fin for today! Now it looks like what's left can be finished tomorrow! Few, lots of these!

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

It's been calculated that individual climate action can sum to 25-27% of the needed carbon reductions. Sure this is nowhere near enough, but it is significant!

So I'd please like to stop seeing posts which implies that individual vs collective action is an either/or. We need both!

https://takethejump.org/
(There'll be a kiwi-localized link soon, followed by other countries)

devinprater, to random

Oh my goodness y'all tomorrow is my birthday and everything is moving way too fast.

alcinnz,
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

@devinprater Enjoy your birthday!

alcinnz, to random
@alcinnz@floss.social avatar

Fixing a hardware bug in software (65C51 UART) - Ben Eater: https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=CnA8nG3zYHw (YouTube via Invidious)

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ethstaker
  • mdbf
  • InstantRegret
  • magazineikmin
  • Youngstown
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • slotface
  • osvaldo12
  • Durango
  • tacticalgear
  • JUstTest
  • GTA5RPClips
  • normalnudes
  • cisconetworking
  • everett
  • ngwrru68w68
  • khanakhh
  • modclub
  • cubers
  • provamag3
  • tester
  • Leos
  • anitta
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •