31
Pwning the Nix ecosystem
ptrpaws's blog on reverse engineering, programming, vr finds and miscellaneous stuff.
32
Left-Pad (2024)
8 years have passed since the the left-pad incident happened. It's been good for me to avoid this subject for focusing on actual work. Also, silence is gold. On the other hand, left-pad is seen as a notable event mentioned in books, so I'll share more info and thoughts about what exactly happened.
33
What to expect from Debian/Trixie
Update on 2025-07-28: added note about Debian 13/trixie support for OpenVox (thanks, Ben Ford!)
34
NixOS and reproducible builds could have detected the xz backdoor
In March 2024, a backdoor was discovered in xz, a (de)-compression software that is regularly used at the core of Linux distributions to unpack source tarballs...
35
Why does Debian change software?
When I wrote Why is Debian the way it is? , a year and a half ago, I was asked to also cover why Debian changes the software it packages. Here's a brief list of examples of why that happens:
36
Funding Open Source like public infrastructure
To protect the digital foundation of essential government services, governments should invest in Open Source as public infrastructure and shift from consumption to contribution.
37
38
Is NixOS truly reproducible?
Build reproducibility is often considered as a de facto feature provided by functional package managers like Nix. Although the functional package manager model...
39
The History of S.u.S.E
The other enterprise Linux company
40
The current state of the theory that GPL propagates to AI models
When GitHub Copilot was launched in 2021, the fact that its training data included a vast amount of Open Source code publicly available on GitHub attracted significant attention, sparking lively de…
41
The FAIR Package Manager: Decentralized WordPress infrastructure
In December, I wrote about the state of leadership in the WordPress ecosystem. I shared how too much power rests with one person, and how the lack of transparen
42
43
The peaceful transfer of power in open source projects
Most of the people who run Open Source projects are mortal. Recent history shows us that they will all eventually die, or get bored, or win the lottery, or get sick, or be conscripted, or lose their mind. If you've ever visited a foreign country's national history museum, I guarantee you've read this little snippet…
44
An open-source maintainer's guide to saying “no”
Stewardship in the age of cheap code
45
The Joy of Linux Theming in the Age of Bootable Containers
Having spent a couple of decades in the Linux world, I have always had an interest in Linux desktop environments and how they are themed. I would often come across a post on /r/unixporn that inspired me to try to customize the look and feel of my desktop environment. So I would install Xfce, LXQt or Sway and try to…
46
Open source can't coordinate?
I was taking a shower this morning, and was pondering yesterday's problem, where I suspect that I have an outdated version of hotspot Linux profiler, but I can't just go and download a fresh release from GitHub, because hotspot is a KDE app, and I use NixOS. And NixOS isn't a problem --- it's a solution.
47
48
Guarding My Git Forge Against AI Scrapers
A summary of the techniques in place to protect my git forge
49
50
Saying goodbye to FFmpegKit
Update (July 2026): I have started FFmpegKitNext, a source-only continuation of FFmpegKit’s build toolkit and wrapper library.
51
Bringing a decade old bicycle navigator back to life with open source software
Published: 25-07-2025 23:37 | Last update: 02-08-2025 21:31 | Author: Remy van Elst | Text only version of this article
52
Progress towards universal Copy/Paste shortcuts on Linux
On Linux, Control-C and Control-V don't work for copying and pasting in terminals. The Control modifier is used for its original purpose of inserting control codes. Instead, terminal apps require an extra Shift modifier, like Control+Shift+C. But what if there were hidden shortcut combos for
53
54
Freeing a Xiaomi humidifier from the cloud
Thoughts, stories and ideas about of a code poet, bit juggler & logic wizard.
55
The human only public license
A copyleft software license that restricts AI usage
56
Persistent packages on Steam Deck using Nix
The Steam Deck (and SteamOS) delivers a fantastic console-like experience on a Linux system. However, its immutable filesystem means that installing packages that persist across system upgrades isn’t straightforward. Fortunately, with a little Nix magic, you can work around that limitation.
57
Heavy codes of conduct are unnecessary for open source projects
The debate surrounding the Codes of Conduct (CoC) adopted by Open Source projects may be reaching a turning point. In September 2025, a controversy erupted over the governance of RubyGems, a corner…
58
Why use OpenBSD?
Last week-end, I was invited to the UNIX Social Camp in Dijon, France to talk about the reasons I still use OpenBSD these days and why should others do so; or at least, have a look at OpenBSD . This post is an English transcription of the original French slides that are available here .
59
Independently verifying Go's reproducible builds
Introducing Source Spotter, a Go Checksum Database auditor and Go toolchain reproducer
60
I used to prefer permissive licenses and now favor copyleft
Within free open source software (and free content more generally), there are two major categories of copyright licenses: