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5 March 2025

Reproducible Builds: Reproducible Builds in February 2025

Welcome to the second report in 2025 from the Reproducible Builds project. Our monthly reports outline what we ve been up to over the past month, and highlight items of news from elsewhere in the increasingly-important area of software supply-chain security. As usual, however, if you are interested in contributing to the Reproducible Builds project, please visit our Contribute page on our website. Table of contents:
  1. Reproducible Builds at FOSDEM 2025
  2. Reproducible Builds at PyCascades 2025
  3. Does Functional Package Management Enable Reproducible Builds at Scale?
  4. reproduce.debian.net updates
  5. Upstream patches
  6. Distribution work
  7. diffoscope & strip-nondeterminism
  8. Website updates
  9. Reproducibility testing framework

Reproducible Builds at FOSDEM 2025 Similar to last year s event, there was considerable activity regarding Reproducible Builds at FOSDEM 2025, held on on 1st and 2nd February this year in Brussels, Belgium. We count at least four talks related to reproducible builds. (You can also read our news report from last year s event in which Holger Levsen presented in the main track.)
Jelle van der Waa, Holger Levsen and kpcyrd presented in the Distributions track on A Tale of several distros joining forces for a common goal. In this talk, three developers from two different Linux distributions (Arch Linux and Debian), discuss this goal which is, of course, reproducible builds. The presenters discuss both what is shared and different between the two efforts, touching on the history and future challenges alike. The slides of this talk are available to view, as is the full video (30m02s). The talk was also discussed on Hacker News.
Zbigniew J drzejewski-Szmek presented in the ever-popular Python track a on Rewriting .pyc files for fun and reproducibility, i.e. the bytecode files generated by Python in order to speed up module imports: It s been known for a while that those are not reproducible: on different architectures, the bytecode for exactly the same sources ends up slightly different. The slides of this talk are available, as is the full video (28m32s).
In the Nix and NixOS track, Julien Malka presented on the Saturday asking How reproducible is NixOS: We know that the NixOS ISO image is very close to be perfectly reproducible thanks to reproducible.nixos.org, but there doesn t exist any monitoring of Nixpkgs as a whole. In this talk I ll present the findings of a project that evaluated the reproducibility of Nixpkgs as a whole by mass rebuilding packages from revisions between 2017 and 2023 and comparing the results with the NixOS cache. Unfortunately, no video of the talk is available, but there is a blog and article on the results.
Lastly, Simon Tournier presented in the Open Research track on the confluence of GNU Guix and Software Heritage: Source Code Archiving to the Rescue of Reproducible Deployment. Simon s talk describes design and implementation we came up and reports on the archival coverage for package source code with data collected over five years. It opens to some remaining challenges toward a better open and reproducible research. The slides for the talk are available, as is the full video (23m17s).

Reproducible Builds at PyCascades 2025 Vagrant Cascadian presented at this year s PyCascades conference which was held on February 8th and 9th February in Portland, OR, USA. PyCascades is a regional instance of PyCon held in the Pacific Northwest. Vagrant s talk, entitled Re-Py-Ducible Builds caught the audience s attention with the following abstract:
Crank your Python best practices up to 11 with Reproducible Builds! This talk will explore Reproducible Builds by highlighting issues identified in Python projects, from the simple to the seemingly inscrutable. Reproducible Builds is basically the crazy idea that when you build something, and you build it again, you get the exact same thing or even more important, if someone else builds it, they get the exact same thing too.
More info is available on the talk s page.

Does Functional Package Management Enable Reproducible Builds at Scale? On our mailing list last month, Julien Malka, Stefano Zacchiroli and Th o Zimmermann of T l com Paris in-house research laboratory, the Information Processing and Communications Laboratory (LTCI) announced that they had published an article asking the question: Does Functional Package Management Enable Reproducible Builds at Scale? (PDF). This month, however, Ludovic Court s followed up to the original announcement on our mailing list mentioning, amongst other things, the Guix Data Service and how that it shows the reproducibility of GNU Guix over time, as described in a GNU Guix blog back in March 2024.

reproduce.debian.net updates The last few months have seen the introduction of reproduce.debian.net. Announced first at the recent Debian MiniDebConf in Toulouse, reproduce.debian.net is an instance of rebuilderd operated by the Reproducible Builds project. Powering this work is rebuilderd, our server which monitors the official package repositories of Linux distributions and attempt to reproduce the observed results there. This month, however, Holger Levsen:
  • Split packages that are not specific to any architecture away from amd64.reproducible.debian.net service into a new all.reproducible.debian.net page.
  • Increased the number of riscv64 nodes to a total of 4, and added a new amd64 node added thanks to our (now 10-year sponsor), IONOS.
  • Discovered an issue in the Debian build service where some new incoming build-dependencies do not end up historically archived.
  • Uploaded the devscripts package, incorporating changes from Jochen Sprickerhof to the debrebuild script specifically to fix the handling the Rules-Requires-Root header in Debian source packages.
  • Uploaded a number of Rust dependencies of rebuilderd (rust-libbz2-rs-sys, rust-actix-web, rust-actix-server, rust-actix-http, rust-actix-server, rust-actix-http, rust-actix-web-codegen and rust-time-tz) after they were prepared by kpcyrd :
Jochen Sprickerhof also updated the sbuild package to:
  • Obey requests from the user/developer for a different temporary directory.
  • Use the root/superuser for some values of Rules-Requires-Root.
  • Don t pass --root-owner-group to old versions of dpkg.
and additionally requested that many Debian packages are rebuilt by the build servers in order to work around bugs found on reproduce.debian.net. [ ][[ ][ ]
Lastly, kpcyrd has also worked towards getting rebuilderd packaged in NixOS, and Jelle van der Waa picked up the existing pull request for Fedora support within in rebuilderd and made it work with the existing Koji rebuilderd script. The server is being packaged for Fedora in an unofficial copr repository and in the official repositories after all the dependencies are packaged.

Upstream patches The Reproducible Builds project detects, dissects and attempts to fix as many currently-unreproducible packages as possible. We endeavour to send all of our patches upstream where appropriate. This month, we wrote a large number of such patches, including:

Distribution work There as been the usual work in various distributions this month, such as: In Debian, 17 reviews of Debian packages were added, 6 were updated and 8 were removed this month adding to our knowledge about identified issues.
Fedora developers Davide Cavalca and Zbigniew J drzejewski-Szmek gave a talk on Reproducible Builds in Fedora (PDF), touching on SRPM-specific issues as well as the current status and future plans.
Thanks to an investment from the Sovereign Tech Agency, the FreeBSD project s work on unprivileged and reproducible builds continued this month. Notable fixes include:
The Yocto Project has been struggling to upgrade to the latest Go and Rust releases due to reproducibility problems in the newer versions. Hongxu Jia tracked down the issue with Go which meant that the project could upgrade from the 1.22 series to 1.24, with the fix being submitted upstream for review (see above). For Rust, however, the project was significantly behind, but has made recent progress after finally identifying the blocking reproducibility issues. At time of writing, the project is at Rust version 1.82, with patches under review for 1.83 and 1.84 and fixes being discussed with the Rust developers. The project hopes to improve the tests for reproducibility in the Rust project itself in order to try and avoid future regressions. Yocto continues to maintain its ability to binary reproduce all of the recipes in OpenEmbedded-Core, regardless of the build host distribution or the current build path.
Finally, Douglas DeMaio published an article on the openSUSE blog on announcing that the Reproducible-openSUSE (RBOS) Project Hits [Significant] Milestone. In particular:
The Reproducible-openSUSE (RBOS) project, which is a proof-of-concept fork of openSUSE, has reached a significant milestone after demonstrating a usable Linux distribution can be built with 100% bit-identical packages.
This news was also announced on our mailing list by Bernhard M. Wiedemann, who also published another report for openSUSE as well.

diffoscope & strip-nondeterminism diffoscope is our in-depth and content-aware diff utility that can locate and diagnose reproducibility issues. This month, Chris Lamb made the following changes, including preparing and uploading versions 288 and 289 to Debian:
  • Add asar to DIFFOSCOPE_FAIL_TESTS_ON_MISSING_TOOLS in order to address Debian bug #1095057) [ ]
  • Catch a CalledProcessError when calling html2text. [ ]
  • Update the minimal Black version. [ ]
Additionally, Vagrant Cascadian updated diffoscope in GNU Guix to version 287 [ ][ ] and 288 [ ][ ] as well as submitted a patch to update to 289 [ ]. Vagrant also fixed an issue that was breaking reprotest on Guix [ ][ ]. strip-nondeterminism is our sister tool to remove specific non-deterministic results from a completed build. This month version 1.14.1-2 was uploaded to Debian unstable by Holger Levsen.

Website updates There were a large number of improvements made to our website this month, including:

Reproducibility testing framework The Reproducible Builds project operates a comprehensive testing framework running primarily at tests.reproducible-builds.org in order to check packages and other artifacts for reproducibility. In January, a number of changes were made by Holger Levsen, including:
  • reproduce.debian.net-related:
    • Add a helper script to manually schedule packages. [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
    • Fix a link in the website footer. [ ]
    • Strip the emojis from package names on the manual rebuilder in order to ease copy-and-paste. [ ]
    • On the various statistics pages, provide the number of affected source packages [ ][ ] as well as provide various totals [ ][ ].
    • Fix graph labels for the various architectures [ ][ ] and make them clickable too [ ][ ][ ].
    • Break the displayed HTML in blocks of 256 packages in order to address rendering issues. [ ][ ]
    • Add monitoring jobs for riscv64 archicture nodes and integrate them elsewhere in our infrastructure. [ ][ ]
    • Add riscv64 architecture nodes. [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
    • Update much of the documentation. [ ][ ][ ]
    • Make a number of improvements to the layout and style. [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
    • Remove direct links to JSON and database backups. [ ]
    • Drop a Blues Brothers reference from frontpage. [ ]
  • Debian-related:
    • Deal with /boot/vmlinuz* being called vmlinux* on the riscv64 architecture. [ ]
    • Add a new ionos17 node. [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
    • Install debian-repro-status on all Debian trixie and unstable jobs. [ ]
  • FreeBSD-related:
    • Switch to run latest branch of FreeBSD. [ ]
  • Misc:
    • Fix /etc/cron.d and /etc/logrotate.d permissions for Jenkins nodes. [ ]
    • Add support for riscv64 architecture nodes. [ ][ ]
    • Grant Jochen Sprickerhof access to the o4 node. [ ]
    • Disable the janitor-setup-worker. [ ][ ]
In addition:
  • kpcyrd fixed the /all/api/ API endpoints on reproduce.debian.net by altering the nginx configuration. [ ]
  • James Addison updated reproduce.debian.net to display the so-called bad reasons hyperlink inline [ ] and merged the Categorized issues links into the Reproduced builds column [ ].
  • Jochen Sprickerhof also made some reproduce.debian.net-related changes, adding support for detecting a bug in the mmdebstrap package [ ] as well as updating some documentation [ ].
  • Roland Clobus continued their work on reproducible live images for Debian, making changes related to new clustering of jobs in openQA. [ ]
And finally, both Holger Levsen [ ][ ][ ] and Vagrant Cascadian performed significant node maintenance. [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
If you are interested in contributing to the Reproducible Builds project, please visit our Contribute page on our website. However, you can get in touch with us via:

Dima Kogan: Shop scheduling with PuLP

I recently used the PuLP modeler to solve a work scheduling problem to assign workers to shifts. Here are notes about doing that. This is a common use case, but isn't explicitly covered in the case studies in the PuLP documentation. Here's the problem: The tool is supposed to allocate workers to the shifts to try to cover all the shifts, give everybody work, and try to match their preferences. I implemented the tool: 
#!/usr/bin/python3
import sys
import os
import re
def report_solution_to_console(vars):
    for w in days_of_week:
        annotation = ''
        if human_annotate is not None:
            for s in shifts.keys():
                m = re.match(rf' w  - ', s)
                if not m: continue
                if vars[human_annotate][s].value():
                    annotation = f" ( human_annotate  SCHEDULED)"
                    break
            if not len(annotation):
                annotation = f" ( human_annotate  OFF)"
        print(f" w annotation ")
        for s in shifts.keys():
            m = re.match(rf' w  - ', s)
            if not m: continue
            annotation = ''
            if human_annotate is not None:
                annotation = f" ( human_annotate   shifts[s][human_annotate] )"
            print(f"    ----  s[m.end():] annotation ")
            for h in humans:
                if vars[h][s].value():
                    print(f"          h  ( shifts[s][h] )")
def report_solution_summary_to_console(vars):
    print("\nSUMMARY")
    for h in humans:
        print(f"--  h ")
        print(f"   benefit:  benefits[h].value():.3f ")
        counts = dict()
        for a in availabilities:
            counts[a] = 0
        for s in shifts.keys():
            if vars[h][s].value():
                counts[shifts[s][h]] += 1
        for a in availabilities:
            print(f"    counts[a]   a ")
human_annotate = None
days_of_week = ('SUNDAY',
                'MONDAY',
                'TUESDAY',
                'WEDNESDAY',
                'THURSDAY',
                'FRIDAY',
                'SATURDAY')
humans = ['ALICE', 'BOB',
          'CAROL', 'DAVID', 'EVE', 'FRANK', 'GRACE', 'HEIDI', 'IVAN', 'JUDY']
shifts =  'SUNDAY - SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED' ,
          'SATURDAY - SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SUNDAY - SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED' ,
          'MONDAY - SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED' ,
          'TUESDAY - SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED' ,
          'FRIDAY - SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SATURDAY - PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SUNDAY - PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'MONDAY - PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'TUESDAY - PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'FRIDAY - PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SATURDAY - SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'DAVID': 'PREFERRED',
           'FRANK': 'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'DISFAVORED',
           'IVAN':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SUNDAY - PAINTING 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'MONDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'PREFERRED',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'TUESDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'FRIDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SATURDAY - PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SUNDAY - SAWING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'NEUTRAL',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'NEUTRAL',
           'JUDY':  'PREFERRED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'MONDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'TUESDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'FRIDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SATURDAY - SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'PREFERRED',
           'BOB':   'PREFERRED',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'HEIDI': 'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SUNDAY - PAINTING 12:15 PM - 7:15 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'PREFERRED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'NEUTRAL',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'MONDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'TUESDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'WEDNESDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'THURSDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'FRIDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'GRACE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' ,
          'SATURDAY - PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM':
           'ALICE': 'NEUTRAL',
           'BOB':   'NEUTRAL',
           'CAROL': 'DISFAVORED',
           'FRANK': 'NEUTRAL',
           'HEIDI': 'NEUTRAL',
           'IVAN':  'DISFAVORED',
           'JUDY':  'DISFAVORED',
           'EVE':   'REFUSED',
           'GRACE': 'REFUSED',
           'DAVID': 'REFUSED' 
availabilities = ['PREFERRED', 'NEUTRAL', 'DISFAVORED']
import pulp
prob = pulp.LpProblem("Scheduling", pulp.LpMaximize)
vars = pulp.LpVariable.dicts("Assignments",
                             (humans, shifts.keys()),
                             None,None, # bounds; unused, since these are binary variables
                             pulp.LpBinary)
# Everyone works at least 2 shifts
Nshifts_min = 2
for h in humans:
    prob += (
        pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys()]) >= Nshifts_min,
        f" h  works at least  Nshifts_min  shifts",
    )
# each shift is ~ 8 hours, so I limit everyone to 40/8 = 5 shifts
Nshifts_max = 5
for h in humans:
    prob += (
        pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys()]) <= Nshifts_max,
        f" h  works at most  Nshifts_max  shifts",
    )
# all shifts staffed and not double-staffed
for s in shifts.keys():
    prob += (
        pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for h in humans]) == 1,
        f" s  is staffed",
    )
# each human can work at most one shift on any given day
for w in days_of_week:
    for h in humans:
        prob += (
            pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys() if re.match(rf' w  ',s)]) <= 1,
            f" h  cannot be double-booked on  w "
        )
#### Some explicit constraints; as an example
# DAVID can't work any PAINTING shift and is off on Thu and Sun
h = 'DAVID'
prob += (
    pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys() if re.search(r'- PAINTING',s)]) == 0,
    f" h  can't work any PAINTING shift"
)
prob += (
    pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys() if re.match(r'THURSDAY SUNDAY',s)]) == 0,
    f" h  is off on Thursday and Sunday"
)
# Do not assign any "REFUSED" shifts
for s in shifts.keys():
    for h in humans:
        if shifts[s][h] == 'REFUSED':
            prob += (
                vars[h][s] == 0,
                f" h  is not available for  s "
            )
# Objective. I try to maximize the "happiness". Each human sees each shift as
# one of:
#
#   PREFERRED
#   NEUTRAL
#   DISFAVORED
#   REFUSED
#
# I set a hard constraint to handle "REFUSED", and arbitrarily, I set these
# benefit values for the others
benefit_availability = dict()
benefit_availability['PREFERRED']  = 3
benefit_availability['NEUTRAL']    = 2
benefit_availability['DISFAVORED'] = 1
# Not used, since this is a hard constraint. But the code needs this to be a
# part of the benefit. I can ignore these in the code, but let's keep this
# simple
benefit_availability['REFUSED' ] = -1000
benefits = dict()
for h in humans:
    benefits[h] = \
        pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] * benefit_availability[shifts[s][h]] \
                    for s in shifts.keys()])
benefit_total = \
    pulp.lpSum([benefits[h] \
                for h in humans])
prob += (
    benefit_total,
    "happiness",
)
prob.solve()
if pulp.LpStatus[prob.status] == "Optimal":
    report_solution_to_console(vars)
    report_solution_summary_to_console(vars)
The set of workers is in the humans variable, and the shift schedule and the workers' preferences are encoded in the shifts dict. The problem is defined by a vars dict of dicts, each a boolean variable indicating whether a particular worker is scheduled for a particular shift. We define a set of constraints to these worker allocations to restrict ourselves to valid solutions. And among these valid solutions, we try to find the one that maximizes some benefit function, defined here as: 
benefit_availability = dict()
benefit_availability['PREFERRED']  = 3
benefit_availability['NEUTRAL']    = 2
benefit_availability['DISFAVORED'] = 1
benefits = dict()
for h in humans:
    benefits[h] = \
        pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] * benefit_availability[shifts[s][h]] \
                    for s in shifts.keys()])
benefit_total = \
    pulp.lpSum([benefits[h] \
                for h in humans])
So for instance each shift that was scheduled as somebody's PREFERRED shift gives us 3 benefit points. And if all the shifts ended up being PREFERRED, we'd have a total benefit value of 3*Nshifts. This is impossible, however, because that would violate some constraints in the problem. The exact trade-off between the different preferences is set in the benefit_availability dict. With the above numbers, it's equally good for somebody to have a NEUTRAL shift and a day off as it is for them to have DISFAVORED shifts. If we really want to encourage the program to work people as much as possible (days off discouraged), we'd want to raise the DISFAVORED threshold. I run this program and I get: 
....
Result - Optimal solution found
Objective value:                108.00000000
Enumerated nodes:               0
Total iterations:               0
Time (CPU seconds):             0.01
Time (Wallclock seconds):       0.01
Option for printingOptions changed from normal to all
Total time (CPU seconds):       0.02   (Wallclock seconds):       0.02
SUNDAY
    ---- SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
         HEIDI (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:15 PM - 7:15 PM
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
MONDAY
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         GRACE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
TUESDAY
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         FRANK (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
WEDNESDAY
    ---- SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         JUDY (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         ALICE (NEUTRAL)
THURSDAY
    ---- SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         GRACE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         JUDY (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         ALICE (NEUTRAL)
FRIDAY
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         GRACE (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
SATURDAY
    ---- SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
         FRANK (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM
         BOB (NEUTRAL)
SUMMARY
-- ALICE
   benefit: 13.000
   3 PREFERRED
   2 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- BOB
   benefit: 14.000
   4 PREFERRED
   1 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- CAROL
   benefit: 9.000
   3 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- DAVID
   benefit: 15.000
   5 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- EVE
   benefit: 9.000
   3 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- FRANK
   benefit: 13.000
   3 PREFERRED
   2 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- GRACE
   benefit: 8.000
   2 PREFERRED
   1 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- HEIDI
   benefit: 9.000
   1 PREFERRED
   3 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- IVAN
   benefit: 12.000
   4 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- JUDY
   benefit: 6.000
   2 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
So we have a solution! We have 108 total benefit points. But it looks a bit uneven: Judy only works 2 days, while some people work many more: David works 5 for instance. Why is that? I update the program with =human_annotate = 'JUDY'=, run it again, and it tells me more about Judy's preferences: 
Objective value:                108.00000000
Enumerated nodes:               0
Total iterations:               0
Time (CPU seconds):             0.01
Time (Wallclock seconds):       0.01
Option for printingOptions changed from normal to all
Total time (CPU seconds):       0.01   (Wallclock seconds):       0.02
SUNDAY (JUDY OFF)
    ---- SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         HEIDI (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:15 PM - 7:15 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
MONDAY (JUDY OFF)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         GRACE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
TUESDAY (JUDY OFF)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         FRANK (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
WEDNESDAY (JUDY SCHEDULED)
    ---- SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY NEUTRAL)
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         JUDY (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         ALICE (NEUTRAL)
THURSDAY (JUDY SCHEDULED)
    ---- SANDING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         GRACE (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         EVE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY PREFERRED)
         JUDY (PREFERRED)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         ALICE (NEUTRAL)
FRIDAY (JUDY OFF)
    ---- SAWING 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         FRANK (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         GRACE (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         BOB (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         HEIDI (NEUTRAL)
SATURDAY (JUDY OFF)
    ---- SAWING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         CAROL (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 7:30 AM - 2:30 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         IVAN (PREFERRED)
    ---- SANDING 9:45 AM - 4:45 PM (JUDY REFUSED)
         DAVID (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         FRANK (NEUTRAL)
    ---- SAWING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         ALICE (PREFERRED)
    ---- PAINTING 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM (JUDY DISFAVORED)
         BOB (NEUTRAL)
SUMMARY
-- ALICE
   benefit: 13.000
   3 PREFERRED
   2 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- BOB
   benefit: 14.000
   4 PREFERRED
   1 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- CAROL
   benefit: 9.000
   3 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- DAVID
   benefit: 15.000
   5 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- EVE
   benefit: 9.000
   3 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- FRANK
   benefit: 13.000
   3 PREFERRED
   2 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- GRACE
   benefit: 8.000
   2 PREFERRED
   1 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- HEIDI
   benefit: 9.000
   1 PREFERRED
   3 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- IVAN
   benefit: 12.000
   4 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
-- JUDY
   benefit: 6.000
   2 PREFERRED
   0 NEUTRAL
   0 DISFAVORED
This tells us that on Monday Judy does not work, although she marked the SAWING shift as PREFERRED. Instead David got that shift. What would happen if David gave that shift to Judy? He would lose 3 points, she would gain 3 points, and the total would remain exactly the same at 108. How would we favor a more even distribution? We need some sort of tie-break. I want to add a nonlinearity to strongly disfavor people getting a low number of shifts. But PuLP is very explicitly a linear programming solver, and cannot solve nonlinear problems. Here we can get around this by enumerating each specific case, and assigning it a nonlinear benefit function. The most obvious approach is to define another set of boolean variables: vars_Nshifts[human][N]. And then using them to add extra benefit terms, with values nonlinearly related to Nshifts. Something like this: 
benefit_boost_Nshifts = \
     2: -0.8,
     3: -0.5,
     4: -0.3,
     5: -0.2 
for h in humans:
    benefits[h] = \
        ... + \
        pulp.lpSum([vars_Nshifts[h][n] * benefit_boost_Nshifts[n] \
                    for n in benefit_boost_Nshifts.keys()])
So in the previous example we considered giving David's 5th shift to Judy, for her 3rd shift. In that scenario, David's extra benefit would change from -0.2 to -0.3 (a shift of -0.1), while Judy's would change from -0.8 to -0.5 (a shift of +0.3). So the balancing out the shifts in this way would work: the solver would favor the solution with the higher benefit function. Great. In order for this to work, we need the vars_Nshifts[human][N] variables to function as intended: they need to be binary indicators of whether a specific person has that many shifts or not. That would need to be implemented with constraints. Let's plot it like this: 
#!/usr/bin/python3
import numpy as np
import gnuplotlib as gp
Nshifts_eq  = 4
Nshifts_max = 10
Nshifts = np.arange(Nshifts_max+1)
i0 = np.nonzero(Nshifts != Nshifts_eq)[0]
i1 = np.nonzero(Nshifts == Nshifts_eq)[0]
gp.plot( # True value: var_Nshifts4==0, Nshifts!=4
         ( np.zeros(i0.shape),
           Nshifts[i0],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "red"') ),
         # True value: var_Nshifts4==1, Nshifts==4
         ( np.ones(i1.shape),
           Nshifts[i1],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "red"') ),
         # False value: var_Nshifts4==1, Nshifts!=4
         ( np.ones(i0.shape),
           Nshifts[i0],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "black"') ),
         # False value: var_Nshifts4==0, Nshifts==4
         ( np.zeros(i1.shape),
           Nshifts[i1],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "black"') ),
        unset=('grid'),
        _set = (f'xtics ("(Nshifts== Nshifts_eq ) == 0" 0, "(Nshifts== Nshifts_eq ) == 1" 1)'),
        _xrange = (-0.1, 1.1),
        ylabel = "Nshifts",
        title = "Nshifts equality variable: not linearly separable",
        hardcopy = "/tmp/scheduling-Nshifts-eq.svg")
scheduling-Nshifts-eq.svg
So a hypothetical vars_Nshifts[h][4] variable (plotted on the x axis of this plot) would need to be defined by a set of linear AND constraints to linearly separate the true (red) values of this variable from the false (black) values. As can be seen in this plot, this isn't possible. So this representation does not work. How do we fix it? We can use inequality variables instead. I define a different set of variables vars_Nshifts_leq[human][N] that are 1 iff Nshifts <= N. The equality variable from before can be expressed as a difference of these inequality variables: vars_Nshifts[human][N] = vars_Nshifts_leq[human][N]-vars_Nshifts_leq[human][N-1] Can these vars_Nshifts_leq variables be defined by a set of linear AND constraints? Yes: 
#!/usr/bin/python3
import numpy as np
import numpysane as nps
import gnuplotlib as gp
Nshifts_leq = 4
Nshifts_max = 10
Nshifts = np.arange(Nshifts_max+1)
i0 = np.nonzero(Nshifts >  Nshifts_leq)[0]
i1 = np.nonzero(Nshifts <= Nshifts_leq)[0]
def linear_slope_yintercept(xy0,xy1):
    m = (xy1[1] - xy0[1])/(xy1[0] - xy0[0])
    b = xy1[1] - m * xy1[0]
    return np.array(( m, b ))
x01     = np.arange(2)
x01_one = nps.glue( nps.transpose(x01), np.ones((2,1)), axis=-1)
y_lowerbound = nps.inner(x01_one,
                         linear_slope_yintercept( np.array((0, Nshifts_leq+1)),
                                                  np.array((1, 0)) ))
y_upperbound = nps.inner(x01_one,
                         linear_slope_yintercept( np.array((0, Nshifts_max)),
                                                  np.array((1, Nshifts_leq)) ))
y_lowerbound_check = (1-x01) * (Nshifts_leq+1)
y_upperbound_check = Nshifts_max - x01*(Nshifts_max-Nshifts_leq)
gp.plot( # True value: var_Nshifts_leq4==0, Nshifts>4
         ( np.zeros(i0.shape),
           Nshifts[i0],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "red"') ),
         # True value: var_Nshifts_leq4==1, Nshifts<=4
         ( np.ones(i1.shape),
           Nshifts[i1],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "red"') ),
         # False value: var_Nshifts_leq4==1, Nshifts>4
         ( np.ones(i0.shape),
           Nshifts[i0],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "black"') ),
         # False value: var_Nshifts_leq4==0, Nshifts<=4
         ( np.zeros(i1.shape),
           Nshifts[i1],
           dict(_with     = 'points pt 7 ps 1 lc "black"') ),
         ( x01, y_lowerbound, y_upperbound,
           dict( _with     = 'filledcurves lc "green"',
                 tuplesize = 3) ),
         ( x01, nps.cat(y_lowerbound_check, y_upperbound_check),
           dict( _with     = 'lines lc "green" lw 2',
                 tuplesize = 2) ),
        unset=('grid'),
        _set = (f'xtics ("(Nshifts<= Nshifts_leq ) == 0" 0, "(Nshifts<= Nshifts_leq ) == 1" 1)',
                'style fill transparent pattern 1'),
        _xrange = (-0.1, 1.1),
        ylabel = "Nshifts",
        title = "Nshifts inequality variable: linearly separable",
        hardcopy = "/tmp/scheduling-Nshifts-leq.svg")
scheduling-Nshifts-leq.svg
So we can use two linear constraints to make each of these variables work properly. To use these in the benefit function we can use the equality constraint expression from above, or we can use these directly: 
# I want to favor people getting more extra shifts at the start to balance
# things out: somebody getting one more shift on their pile shouldn't take
# shifts away from under-utilized people
benefit_boost_leq_bound = \
     2: .2,
     3: .3,
     4: .4,
     5: .5 
# Constrain vars_Nshifts_leq variables to do the right thing
for h in humans:
    for b in benefit_boost_leq_bound.keys():
        prob += (pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys()])
                 >= (1 - vars_Nshifts_leq[h][b])*(b+1),
                 f" h  at least  b  shifts: lower bound")
        prob += (pulp.lpSum([vars[h][s] for s in shifts.keys()])
                 <= Nshifts_max - vars_Nshifts_leq[h][b]*(Nshifts_max-b),
                 f" h  at least  b  shifts: upper bound")
benefits = dict()
for h in humans:
    benefits[h] = \
        ... + \
        pulp.lpSum([vars_Nshifts_leq[h][b] * benefit_boost_leq_bound[b] \
                    for b in benefit_boost_leq_bound.keys()])
In this scenario, David would get a boost of 0.4 from giving up his 5th shift, while Judy would lose a boost of 0.2 from getting her 3rd, for a net gain of 0.2 benefit points. The exact numbers will need to be adjusted on a case by case basis, but this works. The full program, with this and other extra features is available here.

Otto Kek l inen: Will decentralized social media soon go mainstream?

Featured image of post Will decentralized social media soon go mainstream?In today s digital landscape, social media is more than just a communication tool it is the primary medium for global discourse. Heads of state, corporate leaders and cultural influencers now broadcast their statements directly to the world, shaping public opinion in real time. However, the dominance of a few centralized platforms X/Twitter, Facebook and YouTube raises critical concerns about control, censorship and the monopolization of information. Those who control these networks effectively wield significant power over public discourse. In response, a new wave of distributed social media platforms has emerged, each built on different decentralized protocols designed to provide greater autonomy, censorship resistance and user control. While Wikipedia maintains a comprehensive list of distributed social networking software and protocols, it does not cover recent blockchain-based systems, nor does it highlight which have the most potential for mainstream adoption. This post explores the leading decentralized social media platforms and the protocols they are based on: Mastodon (ActivityPub), Bluesky (AT Protocol), Warpcast (Farcaster), Hey (Lens) and Primal (Nostr).

Comparison of architecture and mainstream adoption potential
Protocol Identity System Example Storage model Cost for end users Potential
Mastodon Tied to server domain @ottok@mastodon.social Federated instances Free (some instances charge) High
Bluesky Portable (DID) ottoke.bsky.social Federated instances Free Moderate
Farcaster ENS (Ethereum) @ottok Blockchain + off-chain Small gas fees Moderate
Lens NFT-based (Polygon) @ottok Blockchain + off-chain Small gas fees Niche
Nostr Cryptographic Keys npub16lc6uhqpg6dnqajylkhwuh3j7ynhcnje508tt4v6703w9kjlv9vqzz4z7f Federated instances Free (some instances charge) Niche

1. Mastodon (ActivityPub) Screenshot of Mastodon Mastodon was created in 2016 by Eugen Rochko, a German software developer who sought to provide a decentralized and user-controlled alternative to Twitter. It was built on the ActivityPub protocol, now standardized by W3C Social Web Working Group, to allow users to join independent servers while still communicating across the broader Mastodon network. Mastodon operates on a federated model, where multiple independently run servers communicate via ActivityPub. Each server sets its own moderation policies, leading to a decentralized but fragmented experience. The servers can alternatively be called instances, relays or nodes, depending on what vocabulary a protocol has standardized on.
  • Identity: User identity is tied to the instance where they registered, represented as @username@instance.tld.
  • Storage: Data is stored on individual instances, which federate messages to other instances based on their configurations.
  • Cost: Free to use, but relies on instance operators willing to run the servers.
The protocol defines multiple activities such as:
  • Creating a post
  • Liking
  • Sharing
  • Following
  • Commenting

Example Message in ActivityPub (JSON-LD Format)
json 
 
 "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
 "type": "Create",
 "actor": "https://mastodon.social/users/ottok",
 "object":  
 "type": "Note",
 "content": "Hello from #Mastodon!",
 "published": "2025-03-03T12:00:00Z",
 "to": ["https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"]
Servers communicate across different platforms by publishing activities to their followers or forwarding activities between servers. Standard HTTPS is used between servers for communication, and the messages use JSON-LD for data representation. The WebFinger protocol is used for user discovery. There is however no neat way for home server discovery yet. This means that if you are browsing e.g. Fosstodon and want to follow a user and press Follow, a dialog will pop up asking you to enter your own home server (e.g. mastodon.social) to redirect you there for actually executing the Follow action on with your account. Mastodon is open source under the AGPL at github.com/mastodon/mastodon. Anyone can operate their own instance. It just requires to run your own server and some skills to maintain a Ruby on Rails app with a PostgreSQL database backend, and basic understanding of the protocol to configure federation with other ActivityPub instances.

Popularity: Already established, but will it grow more? Mastodon has seen steady growth, especially after Twitter s acquisition in 2022, with some estimates stating it peaked at 10 million users across thousands of instances. However, its fragmented user experience and the complexity of choosing instances have hindered mainstream adoption. Still, it remains the most established decentralized alternative to Twitter. Note that Donald Trump s Truth Social is based on the Mastodon software but does not federate with the ActivityPub network. The ActivityPub protocol is the most widely used of its kind. One of the other most popular services is the Lemmy link sharing service, similar to Reddit. The larger ecosystem of ActivityPub is called Fediverse, and estimates put the total active user count around 6 million.

2. Bluesky (AT Protocol) Screenshot of Bluesky Interestingly, Bluesky was conceived within Twitter in 2019 by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. After being incubated as a Twitter-funded project, it spun off as an independent Public Benefit LLC in February 2022 and launched its public beta in February 2023. Bluesky runs on top of the Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol published at https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto. The protocol enables portable identities and data ownership, meaning users can migrate between platforms while keeping their identity and content intact. In practice, however, there is only one popular server at the moment, which is Bluesky itself.
  • Identity: Usernames are domain-based (e.g., @user.bsky.social).
  • Storage: Content is theoretically federated among various servers.
  • Cost: Free to use, but relies on instance operators willing to run the servers.

Example Message in AT Protocol (JSON Format)
json 
 
 "repo": "did:plc:ottoke.bsky.social",
 "collection": "app.bsky.feed.post",
 "record":  
 "$type": "app.bsky.feed.post",
 "text": "Hello from Bluesky!",
 "createdAt": "2025-03-03T12:00:00Z",
 "langs": ["en"]

Popularity: Hybrid approach may have business benefits? Bluesky reported over 3 million users by 2024, probably getting traction due to its Twitter-like interface and Jack Dorsey s involvement. Its hybrid approach decentralized identity with centralized components could make it a strong candidate for mainstream adoption, assuming it can scale effectively.

3. Warpcast (Farcaster Network) Farcaster was launched in 2021 by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, both former crypto exchange Coinbase executives, to create a decentralized but user-friendly social network. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, it could potentially offer a very attack-resistant communication medium. However, in my own testing, Farcaster does not seem to fully leverage what Ethereum could offer. First of all, there is no diversity in programs implementing the protocol as at the moment there is only Warpcast. In Warpcast the signup requires an initial 5 USD fee that is not payable in ETH, and users need to create a new wallet address on the Ethereum layer 2 network Base instead of simply reusing their existing Ethereum wallet address or ENS name. Despite this, I can understand why Farcaster may have decided to start out like this. Having a single client program may be the best strategy initially. One of the decentralized chat protocol Matrix founders, Matthew Hodgson, shared in his FOSDEM 2025 talk that he slightly regrets focusing too much on developing the protocol instead of making sure the app to use it is attractive to end users. So it may be sensible to ensure Warpcast gets popular first, before attempting to make the Farcaster protocol widely used. As a protocol Farcaster s hybrid approach makes it more scalable than fully on-chain networks, giving it a higher chance of mainstream adoption if it integrates seamlessly with broader Web3 ecosystems.
  • Identity: ENS (Ethereum Name Service) domains are used as usernames.
  • Storage: Messages are stored in off-chain hubs, while identity is on-chain.
  • Cost: Users must pay gas fees for some operations but reading and posting messages is mostly free.

Example Message in Farcaster (JSON Format)
json 
 
 "fid": 766579,
 "username": "ottok",
 "custodyAddress": "0x127853e48be3870172baa4215d63b6d815d18f21",
 "connectedWallet": "0x3ebe43aa3ae5b891ca1577d9c49563c0cee8da88",
 "text": "Hello from Farcaster!",
 "publishedAt": 1709424000,
 "replyTo": null,
 "embeds": []

Popularity: Decentralized social media + decentralized payments a winning combo? Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin (warpcast.com/vbuterin) and many core developers are active on the platform. Warpcast, the main client for Farcaster, has seen increasing adoption, especially among Ethereum developers and Web3 enthusiasts. I too have an profile at warpcast.com/ottok. However, the numbers are still very low and far from reaching network effects to really take off. Blockchain-based social media networks, particularly those built on Ethereum, are compelling because they leverage existing user wallets and persistent identities while enabling native payment functionality. When combined with decentralized content funding through micropayments, these blockchain-backed social networks could offer unique advantages that centralized platforms may find difficult to replicate, being decentralized both as a technical network and in a funding mechanism.

4. Hey.xyz (Lens Network) The Lens Protocol was developed by decentralized finance (DeFi) team Aave and launched in May 2022 to provide a user-owned social media network. While initially built on Polygon, it has since launched its own Layer 2 network called the Lens Network in February 2024. Lens is currently the main competitor to Farcaster. Lens stores profile ownership and references on-chain, while content is stored on IPFS/Arweave, enabling composability with DeFi and NFTs.
  • Identity: Profile ownership is tied to NFTs on the Polygon blockchain.
  • Storage: Content is on-chain and integrates with IPFS/Arweave (like NFTs).
  • Cost: Users must pay gas fees for some operations but reading and posting messages is mostly free.

Example Message in Lens (JSON Format)
json 
 
 "profileId": "@ottok",
 "contentURI": "ar://QmExampleHash",
 "collectModule": "0x23b9467334bEb345aAa6fd1545538F3d54436e96",
 "referenceModule": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
 "timestamp": 1709558400

Popularity: Probably not as social media site, but maybe as protocol? The social media side of Lens is mainly the Hey.xyz website, which seems to have fewer users than Warpcast, and is even further away from reaching critical mass for network effects. The Lens protocol however has a lot of advanced features and it may gain adoption as the building block for many Web3 apps.

5. Primal.net (Nostr Network) Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) was conceptualized in 2020 by an anonymous developer known as fiatjaf. One of the primary design tenets was to be a censorship-resistant protocol and it is popular among Bitcoin enthusiasts, with Jack Dorsey being one of the public supporters. Unlike the Farcaster and Lens protocols, Nostr is not blockchain-based but just a network of relay servers for message distribution. If does however use public key cryptography for identities, similar to how wallets work in crypto.
  • Identity: Public-private key pairs define identity (with prefix npub...).
  • Storage: Content is federated among multiple servers, which in Nostr vocabulary are called relays.
  • Cost: No gas fees, but relies on relay operators willing to run the servers.

Example Message in Nostr (JSON Format)
json 
 
 "id": "note1xyz...",
 "pubkey": "npub1...",
 "kind": 1,
 "content": "Hello from Nostr!",
 "created_at": 1709558400,
 "tags": [],
 "sig": "sig1..."

Popularity: If Jack Dorsey and Bitcoiners promote it enough? Primal.net as a web app is pretty solid, but it does not stand out much. While Jack Dorsey has shown support by donating $1.5 million to the protocol development in December 2021, its success likely depends on broader adoption by the Bitcoin community.

Will any of these replace X/Twitter? As usage patterns vary, the statistics are not fully comparable, but this overview of the situation in March 2025 gives a decent overview.
Platform Total Accounts Active Users Growth Trend
Mastodon ~10 million ~1 million Steady
Bluesky ~33 million ~1 million Steady
Nostr ~41 million ~20 thousand Steady
Farcaster ~850 thousand ~50 thousand Flat
Lens ~140 thousand ~20 thousand Flat
Mastodon and Bluesky have already reached millions of users, while Lens and Farcaster are growing within crypto communities. It is however clear that none of these are anywhere close to how popular X/Twitter is. In particular, Mastodon had a huge influx of users in the fall of 2022 when Twitter was acquired, but to challenge the incumbents the growth would need to significantly accelerate. We can all accelerate this development by embracing decentralized social media now alongside existing dominant platforms. Who knows, given the right circumstances maybe X.com leadership decides to change the operating model and start federating contents to break out from a walled garden model. The likelyhood of such development would increase if decentralized networks get popular, and the encumbents feel they need to participate to not lose out.

Past and future The idea of decentralized social media is not new. One early pioneer identi.ca launched in 2008, only two years after Twitter, using the OStatus protocol to promote decentralization. A few years later it evolved into pump.io with the ActivityPump protocol, and also forked into GNU Social that continued with OStatus. I remember when these happened, and that in 2010 also Diaspora launched with fairly large publicity. Surprisingly both of these still operate (I can still post both on identi.ca and diasp.org), but the activity fizzled out years ago. The protocol however survived partially and evolved into ActivityPub, which is now the backbone of the Fediverse. The evolution of decentralized social media over the next decade will likely parallel developments in democracy, freedom of speech and public discourse. While the early 2010s emphasized maximum independence and freedom, the late 2010s saw growing support for content moderation to combat misinformation. The AI era introduces new challenges, potentially requiring proof-of-humanity verification for content authenticity. Key factors that will determine success:
  • User experience and ease of onboarding
  • Network effects and critical mass of users
  • Integration with existing web3 infrastructure
  • Balance between decentralization and usability
  • Sustainable economic models for infrastructure
This is clearly an area of development worth monitoring closely, as the next few years may determine which protocol becomes the de facto standard for decentralized social communication.

1 March 2025

Debian Brasil: Debian Day 2024 in Pouso Alegre - Brazil

by Thiago Pezzo and Giovani Ferreira Local celebrations of Debian 2024 Day also happened on [Pouso Alegre, MG, Brazil] (https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/315431). In this year we managed to organize two days of lectures! On the 14th of August 2024, Wednesday morning, we were on the [Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of the South of Minas Gerais] (https://portal.ifsuldeminas.edu.br/index.php), (IFSULDEMINAS), Pouso Alegre campus. We did an introductory presentation of the Project Debian, operating system and community, for the three years of the Technical Course in Informatics (professional high school). The event was closed to IFSULDEMINAS students and talked to 60 people. On August 17th, 2024, a Saturday morning, we held the event open to the community at the University of the Sapuca Valley (Univ s), with institutional support of the Information Systems Course. We speak about the Debian Project with Giovani Ferreira (Debian Developer); about the Debian pt_BR translation team with Thiago Pezzo; about everyday experiences using free software with Virginia Cardoso; and on how to set up a development environment ready for production using Debian and Docker with Marcos Ant nio dos Santos. After the lectures, snacks, coffee and cake were served, while the participants talked, asked questions and shared experiences. We would like to thank all the people who have helped us: Some pictures from Pouso Alegre: Presentation at IFSULDEMINAS Pouso Alegre campus 1 Presentation at IFSULDEMINAS Pouso Alegre campus 2 Presentation at UNIV S F tima campus 1 Presentation at UNIV S F tima campus 2 Presentation at UNIV S F tima campus 3 Presentation at UNIV S F tima campus 4

28 February 2025

Antoine Beaupr : testing the fish shell

I have been testing fish for a couple months now (this file started on 2025-01-03T23:52:15-0500 according to stat(1)), and those are my notes. I suspect people will have Opinions about my comments here. Do not comment unless you have some Constructive feedback to provide: I don't want to know if you think I am holding it Wrong. Consider that I might have used UNIX shells for longer that you have lived. I'm not sure I'll keep using fish, but so far it's the first shell that survived heavy use outside of zsh(1) (unless you count tcsh(1), but that was in another millenia). My normal shell is bash(1), and it's still the shell I used everywhere else than my laptop, as I haven't switched on all the servers I managed, although it is available since August 2022 on torproject.org servers. I first got interested in fish because they ported to Rust, making it one of the rare shells out there written in a "safe" and modern programming language, released after an impressive ~2 year of work with Fish 4.0.

Cool things Current directory gets shortened, ~/wikis/anarc.at/software/desktop/wayland shows up as ~/w/a/s/d/wayland Autocompletion rocks. Default prompt rocks. Doesn't seem vulnerable to command injection assaults, at least it doesn't trip on the git-landmine. It even includes pipe status output, which was a huge pain to implement in bash. Made me realized that if the last command succeeds, we don't see other failures, which is the case of my current prompt anyways! Signal reporting is better than my bash implementation too. So far the only modification I have made to the prompt is to add a printf '\a' to output a bell. By default, fish keeps a directory history (but separate from the pushd stack), that can be navigated with cdh, prevd, and nextd, dirh shows the history.

Less cool I feel there's visible latency in the prompt creation. POSIX-style functions (foo() true ) are unsupported. Instead, fish uses whitespace-sensitive definitions like this: 
function foo
    true
end
This means my (modest) collection of POSIX functions need to be ported to fish. Workaround: simple functions can be turned into aliases, which fish supports (but implements using functions). EOF heredocs are considered to be "minor syntactic sugar". I find them frigging useful. Process substitution is split on newlines, not whitespace. you need to pipe through string split -n " " to get the equivalent. <(cmd) doesn't exist: they claim you can use cmd foo - as a replacement, but that's not correct: I used <(cmd) mostly where foo does not support - as a magic character to say 'read from stdin'. Documentation is... limited. It seems mostly geared the web docs which are... okay (but I couldn't find out about ~/.config/fish/conf.d there!), but this is really inconvenient when you're trying to browse the manual pages. For example, fish thinks there's a fish_prompt manual page, according to its own completion mechanism, but man(1) cannot find that manual page. I can't find the manual for the time command (which is actually a keyword!) Fish renders multi-line commands with newlines. So if your terminal looks like this, say: 
anarcat@angela:~> sq keyring merge torproject-keyring/lavamind-
95F341D746CF1FC8B05A0ED5D3F900749268E55E.gpg torproject-keyrin
g/weasel-E3ED482E44A53F5BBE585032D50F9EBC09E69937.gpg   wl-copy
... but it's actually one line, when you copy-paste the above, in foot(1), it will show up exactly like this, newlines and all: 
sq keyring merge torproject-keyring/lavamind-
95F341D746CF1FC8B05A0ED5D3F900749268E55E.gpg torproject-keyrin
g/weasel-E3ED482E44A53F5BBE585032D50F9EBC09E69937.gpg   wl-copy
Whereas it should show up like this: 
sq keyring merge torproject-keyring/lavamind-95F341D746CF1FC8B05A0ED5D3F900749268E55E.gpg torproject-keyring/weasel-E3ED482E44A53F5BBE585032D50F9EBC09E69937.gpg   wl-copy
Note that this is an issue specific to foot(1), alacritty(1) and gnome-terminal(1) don't suffer from that issue. I have already filed it upstream in foot and it is apparently fixed already. Globbing is driving me nuts. You can't pass a * to a command unless fish agrees it's going to match something. You need to escape it if it doesn't immediately match, and then you need the called command to actually support globbing. 202[345] doesn't match folders named 2023, 2024, 2025, it will send the string 202[345] to the command.

Blockers () is like $(): it's process substitution, and not a subshell. This is really impractical: I use ( cd foo ; do_something) all the time to avoid losing the current directory... I guess I'm supposed to use pushd for this, but ouch. This wouldn't be so bad if it was just for cd though. Clean constructs like this: 
( git grep -l '^#!/.*bin/python' ; fdfind .py )   sort -u
Turn into what i find rather horrible: 
begin; git grep -l '^#!/.*bin/python' ; fdfind .py ; end   sort -ub
It... works, but it goes back to "oh dear, now there's a new langage again". I only found out about this construct while trying: 
  git grep -l '^#!/.*bin/python' ; fdfind .py     sort -u
... which fails and suggests using begin/end, at which point: why not just support the curly braces? FOO=bar is not allowed. It's actually recognized syntax, but creates a warning. We're supposed to use set foo bar instead. This really feels like a needless divergence from standard. Aliases are... peculiar. Typical constructs like alias mv="\mv -i" don't work because fish treats aliases as a function definition, and \ is not magical there. This can be worked around by specifying the full path to the command, with e.g. alias mv="/bin/mv -i". Another problem is trying to override a built-in, which seems completely impossible. In my case, I like the time(1) command the way it is, thank you very much, and fish provides no way to bypass that builtin. It is possible to call time(1) with command time, but it's not possible to replace the command keyword so that means a lot of typing. Again: you can't use \ to bypass aliases. This is a huge annoyance for me. I would need to learn to type command in long form, and I use that stuff pretty regularly. I guess I could alias command to c or something, but this is one of those huge muscle memory challenges. alt . doesn't always work the way i expect.

24 February 2025

Russ Allbery: Review: A Little Vice

Review: A Little Vice, by Erin E. Elkin
Publisher: Erin Elkin
Copyright: June 2024
ASIN: B0CTHRK61X
Format: Kindle
Pages: 398
A Little Vice is a stand-alone self-published magical girl novel. It is the author's first novel. C is a high school student and frequent near-victim of monster attacks. Due to the nefarious work of Avaritia Wolf and her allies, his high school is constantly attacked by Beasts, who are magical corruptions of some internal desire taken to absurd extremes. Standing in their way are the Angelic Saints: magical girls who transform into Saint Castitas, Saint Diligentia, and Saint Temperantia and fight the monsters. The monsters for some reason seem disposed to pick C as their victim for hostage-taking, mind control, use as a human shield, and other rather traumatic activities. He's always rescued by the Saints before any great harm is done, but in some ways this makes the situation worse. It is obvious to C that the Saints are his three friends Inessa, Ida, and Temperance, even though no one else seems able to figure this out despite the blatant clues. Inessa has been his best friend since childhood when she was awkward and needed his support. Now, she and his other friends have become literal heroes, beautiful and powerful and capable, constantly protecting the school and innocent people, and C is little more than a helpless burden to be rescued. More than anything else, he wishes he could be an Angelic Saint like them, but of course the whole idea is impossible. Boys don't get to be magical girls. (I'm using he/him pronouns for C in this review because C uses them for himself for most of the book.) This is a difficult book to review because it is deeply focused on portraying a specific internal emotional battle in all of its sometimes-ugly complexity, and to some extent it prioritizes that portrayal over conventional story-telling. You have probably already guessed that this is a transgender coming-out story Elkin's choice of the magical girl genre was done with deep understanding of its role in transgender narratives but more than that, it is a transgender coming-out story of a very specific and closely-observed type. C knows who he wishes he was, but he is certain that this transformation is absolutely impossible. He is very deep in a cycle of self-loathing for wanting something so manifestly absurd and insulting to people who have the virtues that C does not. A Little Vice is told in the first person from C's perspective, and most of this book is a relentless observation of C's anxiety and shame spiral and reflexive deflection of any possibility of a way out. This is very well-written: Elkin knows the reader is going to disagree with C's internalized disgust and hopelessness, knows the reader desperately wants C to break out of that mindset, and clearly signals in a myriad of adroit ways that Elkin is on the reader's side and does not agree with C's analysis. C's friends are sympathetic, good-hearted people, and while sometimes oblivious, it is obvious to the reader that they're also on the reader's side and would help C in a heartbeat if they saw an opening. But much of the point of the book is that it's not that easy, that breaking out of the internal anxiety spiral is nearly impossible, and that C is very good at rejecting help, both because he cannot imagine what form it could take but also because he is certain that he does not deserve it. In other words, much of the reading experience of this book involves watching C torture and insult himself. It's all the more effective because it isn't gratuitous. C's internal monologue sounds exactly like how an anxiety spiral feels, complete with the sort of half-effective coping mechanisms, deflections, and emotional suppression one develops to blunt that type of emotional turmoil. I normally hate this kind of book. I am a happy ending and competence porn reader by default. The world is full of enough pain that I don't turn to fiction to read about more pain. It says a lot about how well-constructed this book is that I stuck with it. Elkin is going somewhere with the story, C gets moments of joy and delight along the way to keep the reader from bogging down completely, and the best parts of the book feel like a prolonged musical crescendo with suspended chords. There is a climax coming, but Elkin is going to make you wait for it for far longer than you want to. The main element that protects A Little Vice from being too grim is that it is a genre novel that is very playful about both magical girls and superhero tropes in general. I've already alluded to one of those elements: Elkin plays with the Mask Principle (the inability of people to see through entirely obvious secret identities) in knowing and entertaining ways. But there are also villains, and that leads me to the absolutely delightful Avaritia Wolf, who for me was the best character in this book. The Angelic Saints are not the only possible approach to magical girl powers in this universe. There are villains who can perform a similar transformation, except they embrace a vice rather than a virtue. Avaritia Wolf embraces the vice of greed. They (Avaritia's pronouns change over the course of the book) also have a secret identity, which I suspect will be blindingly obvious to most readers but which I'll avoid mentioning since it's still arguably a spoiler. The primary plot arc of this book is an attempt to recruit C to the side of the villains. The Beasts are drawn to him because he has magical potential, and the villains are less picky about gender. This initially involves some creepy and disturbing mind control, but it also brings C into contact with Avaritia and Avaritia's very specific understanding of greed. As far as Avaritia is concerned, greed means wanting whatever they want, for whatever reason they feel like wanting it, and there is absolutely no reason why that shouldn't include being greedy for their friends to be happy. Or doing whatever they can to make their friends happy, whether or not that looks like villainy. Elkin does two things with this plot that I thought were remarkably skillful. The first is that she directly examines and then undermines the "easy" transgender magical girl ending. In a world of transformation magic, someone who wants to be a girl could simply turn into a girl and thus apparently resolve the conflict in a way that makes everyone happy. I think there is an important place for that story (I am a vigorous defender of escapist fantasy and happy endings), but that is not the story that Elkin is telling. I won't go into the details of why and how the story complicates and undermines this easy ending, but it's a lot of why this book feels both painful and honest to a specific, and very not easy, transgender experience, even though it takes place in an utterly unrealistic world. But the second, which is more happy and joyful, is that Avaritia gleefully uses a wholehearted embrace of every implication of the vice of greed to bulldoze the binary morality of the story and question the classification of human emotions into virtues and vices. They are not a hero, or even all that good; they have some serious flaws and a very anarchic attitude towards society. But Avaritia provides the compelling, infectious thrill of the character who looks at the social construction of morality that is constraining the story and decides that it's all bullshit and refuses to comply. This is almost the exact opposite of C's default emotional position at the start of the book, and watching the two characters play off of each other in a complex friendship is an absolute delight. The ending of this book is complicated, messy, and incomplete. It is the sort of ending that I think could be incredibly powerful if it hits precisely the right chords with the reader, but if you're not that reader, it can also be a little heartbreaking because Elkin refuses to provide an easy resolution. The ending also drops some threads that I wish Elkin hadn't dropped; there are some characters who I thought deserved a resolution that they don't get. But this is one of those books where the author knows exactly what story they're trying to tell and tells it whether or not that fits what the reader wants. Those books are often not easy reading, but I think there's something special about them. This is not the novel for people who want detailed world-building that puts a solid explanation under events. I thought Elkin did a great job playing with the conventions of an episodic anime, including starting the book on Episode 12 to imply C's backstory with monster attacks and hinting at a parallel light anime story by providing TV-trailer-style plot summaries and teasers at the start and end of each chapter. There is a fascinating interplay between the story in which the Angelic Saints are the protagonists, which the reader can partly extrapolate, and the novel about C that one is actually reading. But the details of the world-building are kept at the anime plot level: There's an arch-villain, a World Tree, and a bit of backstory, but none of it makes that much sense or turns into a coherent set of rules. This is a psychological novel; the background and rules exist to support C's story. If you do want that psychological novel... well, I'm not sure whether to recommend this book or not. I admire the construction of this book a great deal, but I don't think appealing to the broadest possible audience was the goal. C's anxiety spiral is very repetitive, because anxiety spirals are very repetitive, and you have to be willing to read for the grace notes on the doom loop if you're going to enjoy this book. The sentence-by-sentence writing quality is fine but nothing remarkable, and is a bit shy of the average traditionally-published novel. The main appeal of A Little Vice is in the deep and unflinching portrayal of a specific emotional journey. I think this book is going to work if you're sufficiently invested in that journey that you are willing to read the brutal and repetitive parts. If you're not, there's a chance you will bounce off this hard. I was invested, and I'm glad I read this, but caveat emptor. You may want to try a sample first. One final note: If you're deep in the book world, you may wonder, like I did, if the title is a reference to Hanya Yanagihara's (in)famous A Little Life. I do not know for certain I have not read that book because I am not interested in being emotionally brutalized but if it is, I don't think there is much similarity. Both books are to some extent about four friends, but I couldn't find any other obvious connections from some Wikipedia reading, and A Little Vice, despite C's emotional turmoil, seems to be considerably more upbeat. Content notes: Emotionally abusive parent, some thoughts of self-harm, mind control, body dysmorphia, and a lot (a lot) of shame and self-loathing. Rating: 7 out of 10

23 February 2025

Kentaro Hayashi: Short journey to Mozc 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1

Introduction This is just a note-taking about how to upgrading Mozc package for up-coming trixie ready (with many restrictions) last year. Maybe Mozc 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.3 will be shipped for Debian 13 (trixie).

FTBFS with Mozc 2.28.4715.102+dfsg-2.2 In May 2024, I've found that Mozc was removed from testing, and still in FTBFS. #1068186 - mozc: FTBFS with abseil 20230802: ../../base/init_mozc.cc:90:29: error: absl::debian5::flags_internal::ArgvListAction has not been declared - Debian Bug report logs That FTBFS was fixed in the Mozc upstream, but not applied for a while. Not only upstream patch, but also additional linkage patch was required to fix it. Mozc is the de-fact standard input method editor for Japanese. Most of Japanese uses it by default on linux desktop. (Even though frontend input method framework is different, the background engine is Mozc in most cases - uim-mozc for task-japanese-desktop, ibus-mozc for task-japanese-gnome-desktop in Debian) There is a case that Mozc was re-built locally with integrated external dictionary to improve quantity of vocabulary. If FTBFS keep ongoing, it means that it blocks such a usage. So I've sent patches to fix it and they were merged.

Motivation to update Mozc With fixing #1068186, I've also found Mozc version is not synced to upstream for a long time. At that time, Mozc in unstable was version 2.28.4715.102+dfsg, but upstream already released 2.30.5544.102. It seems that Mozc's maintainer was too busy and can't afford to update it, so I've tried to do it.

The blockers for updating Mozc But, it was not so easy task to do so. If you want to package latest Mozc, there were many blockers.
  • Newer Mozc requires Bazel to build, but there is no Bazel package to fit it (There is bazel-bootstrap 4.x, but it's old. v6.x or newer one is required.)
  • Newer abseil and protobuf were required
  • Renderer was changed to Qt. GTK renderer was removed
  • Revise existing patchsets (e.g. for UIM, for Fcitx)
It was not all.

Road to latest Mozc First, I knew the existence of debian-bazel, so I've posted about bazel-packaging progress. Any updates about bazel packaging effort? Sadly there was no response from it. Thus, it was not realistic to adopt Bazel as build tool chain. In other words, we need to keep GYP patch and maintain it. And as another topic, upstream changed renderer from GTK+ to Qt. Here are the major topics about each release of Mozc.
  • 2.30.5544.102 Require abseil 20240116.1 or later
  • 2.29.5544.102 GYP was deprecated
  • 2.29.5374.102
  • 2.29.5268.102 No gtk renderer anymore, need Qt.
  • 2.29.5160.102
    • The last version that gtk renderer is available.
    • --use_gyp_for_ibus_build option was removed.
  • 2.28.5029.102
  • 2.28.4880.102
  • 2.28.4715.102+dfsg Debian sid
The internal renderer change are too big, and before GYP deprecation in 2.29.5544.102, GYP support was already removed gradually. As a result, target to 2.29.5160.102 was the practical approach to make it forward.

Revisit existing patchsets for 2.28.4715.102+dfsg Second, need to revisit existing patchset to triage them.
  • 0001-Update-uim-mozc-to-c979f127acaeb7b35d3344e8b1e40848e.patch
    • Required
  • 0002-Support-fcitx.patch
    • Required
  • 0003-Change-compiler-from-clang-to-gcc.patch
  • 0004-Add-usage_dict.txt.patch
    • Required. (maybe)
  • 0005-Enable-verbose-build.patch
    • Required.
  • 0006-Update-gyp-using-absl.patch
    • Required and need massive refactoring.
  • 0007-common.gypi-Use-command-v-instead-of-which.patch
    • (maybe) Not needed anymore
  • 0009-protobuf.gyp-Add-latomic-to-link_settings.patch
    • Required.
  • 0010-Fix-the-compile-error-of-ParseCommandLineFlags-with.patch
    • Required. Should be merged into 0006 patch.
  • 0011-Fix-missing-abseil-gyp-link-settings.patch
    • Required. Should be merged into 0006 patch.
UIM patch was maintained in third-party repository, and directory structure was quite different from Mozc. It seems that maintenance activity was too low, so it was not enough that picking changes from macuim. It was required to fix FTBFS additionally. Fcitx patch was also maintained in fcitx/mozc. But it tracks only master branch, so it was hard to pick patchset for specific version of Mozc. Finally, I could manage to refresh patchset for 2.29.5160.102.
  • support-uim.patch
  • support-fcitx.patch
  • change-compiler-from-clang-to-gcc.patch
  • add-japanese-usage-dictionary.patch
  • enable-verbose-build.patch
  • update-gyp-using-system-abseil.patch
  • gyp-using-command-instead-of-which.patch
  • gyp-protobuf-link-with-atomic.patch
  • enable-deprecated-gtk-renderer.patch
  • fix-compile-error-of-ParseCommandLineFlags.patch
  • enable-use_gyp_for_ibus_build-again.patch
  • ibus-drop-needless-client_mock.patch
  • protobuf-revert-internal-cleanup.patch
  • uim-mozc-fix-ftbfs.patch

Improve packaging task Mozc need to be repacked, but it didn't use Files-Excluded yet. So I've introduced d/watch to repack upstream source. It makes source package more reproducible.

OT: Hardware breakage There was another blocker to do this task. I've hit the situation that g++ cause SEGV during building Mozc randomly. First, I wonder why it fails, but digging further more, finally I've found that memory module was corrupted. Thus I've lost 32GB memory modules. :-<

Unexpected behaviour in uim-mozc When uploaded Mozc 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1 to experimental, I've found that there is a case that uim-mozc behaves weird. The candidate words were shown with flickering. But it was not regression in this upload. uim-mozc with Wayland cause that problem. Thus GNOME and derivatives might not be affected because ibus-mozc will be used.

Mozc 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1 As the patchset was matured, then uploaded 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1 with --delayed 15 option. 
$ dput --delayed 15 mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_source.changes
Uploading mozc using ftp to ftp-master (host: ftp.upload.debian.org; directory: /pub/UploadQueue/DELAYED/15-day)
running allowed-distribution: check whether a local profile permits uploads to the target distribution
running protected-distribution: warn before uploading to distributions where a special policy applies
running checksum: verify checksums before uploading
running suite-mismatch: check the target distribution for common errors
running gpg: check GnuPG signatures before the upload
 signfile dsc mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.dsc 719EB2D93DBE9C4D21FBA064F7FB75C566ED20E3
 fixup_buildinfo mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.dsc mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_amd64.buildinfo
 signfile buildinfo mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_amd64.buildinfo 719EB2D93DBE9C4D21FBA064F7FB75C566ED20E3
 fixup_changes dsc mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.dsc mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_source.changes
 fixup_changes buildinfo mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_amd64.buildinfo mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_source.changes
 signfile changes mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_source.changes 719EB2D93DBE9C4D21FBA064F7FB75C566ED20E3
Successfully signed dsc, buildinfo, changes files
Uploading mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.dsc
Uploading mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.debian.tar.xz
Uploading mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_amd64.buildinfo
Uploading mozc_2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1_source.changes
Mozc 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1 was landed to unstable at 2024-12-20.

Additional bug fixes Additionally, the following bugs were also fixed. These bugs were fixed in 2.29.5160.102+dfsg-1.1 And more, I've found that even though missing pristine-tar branch commit, salsa CI succeeds. I've sent MR for this issue and already merged into.

Mozc and future in Debian In this short journey, I gave up to updating more newer Mozc because the version of dependency libraries were not updated. Note that protobuf 3.25.4 on experimental depends on older absl 20230802, so it must be rebuilt against absl 20240722.0. And more, we need to consider how to migrate from GTK renderer to Qt renderer in the future.

Valhalla's Things: Water Resistant Hood

Posted on February 23, 2025
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
a person wearing a relatively boxy water resistant jacket with pockets and a zipper, and a detached hood with a big square cowl that reaches mid-torso. Many years ago I made myself a vest with lots of pockets 1 in a few layers of cheap cotton, and wore the hell out of it, for the added warmth, but most importantly for the convenience provided by the pockets. the same person showing just the vest, with two applied pockets on the bust, closed with buttons, and two big flaps covering two welted pockets at waist level, plus a strip of fabric with loops where things may be attached. Then a few years ago the cheap cotton had started to get worn, and I decided I needed to replace it. I found a second choice (and thus cheaper :) ) version of a water-repellent cotton and made another vest, lined with regular cotton, for a total of just two layers. the same person, this time there are also two sleeves, attached to the vest with big snaps, the outline of which can be seen on the vest. they are significantly less faded than the vest. This time I skipped a few pockets that I had found I didn t use that much, and I didn t add a hood, which didn t play that well when worn over a hoodie, but I added some detached sleeves, for additional wind protection. This left about 60 cm and some odd pieces of leftover fabric in my stash, for which I had no plan. the hood pulled down on the back, showing the big square cowl. And then February2 came, and I needed a quick simple mindless handsewing projects for the first weekend, I saw the vest (which I m wearing as much as the old one), the sleeves (which have been used much less, but I d like to change this) and thought about making a matching hood for it, using my square hood pattern. Since the etaproof is a bit stiff and not that nice to the touch I decide to line3 it with the same cotton as the vest and sleeves, and in the style of the pattern I did so by finishing each panel with its own lining (with regular cotton thread) and then whipstitching the panels together with the corespun cotton/poly thread recommended by the seller of the fabric. I m not sure this is the best way to construct something that is supposed to resist the rain, but if I notice issues I can always add some sealing tape afterwards. I do have a waterproof cape to wear in case of real rain, so this is only supposed to work for light rain anyway, and it may prove not to be an issue. As something designed to be worn in light rain, this is also something likely to be worn in low light conditions, where 100% black may not be the wisest look. On the vest I had added reflective piping to the armscyes, but I was out of the same piping. from the front; a flash was used to take the picture, making the border of the cowl very visible. I did however have a spool of reflector thread made of glass fibre by Rico Design, which I think was originally sold to be worked into knitting or crochet projects (it is now discontinued) and I had never used. I decided to try and sew a decorative blanket stitch border, a decision I had reasons to regret, since the thread broke and tangled like crazy, but in the end it was done, I like how it looks, and it seems pretty functional. I hope it won t break with time and use, and if it does I ll either fix it or try to redo with something else. Of course, the day I finished sewing the reflective border it stopped raining, so I haven t worn it yet, but I hope I ll be able to, and if it is an horrible failure I ll make sure to update this post.
  1. and I ve just realized that I haven t migrated that pattern to my pattern website, and I should do that. just don t hold your breath for it to happen O:-). And for the time being it will not have step-by-step pictures, as I currently don t need another vest.
  2. and February of course means a weekend in front of a screen that is showing a live-streamed conference.
  3. and of course I updated the pattern with instructions on how to add a lining.

21 February 2025

Russell Coker: Links February 2025

Oliver Lindburg wrote an interesting article about Designing for Crisis [1]. Bruce Schneier blogged about how to cryptographically identify other humans in advance of AT technology allowing faking people you know [2]. Anarcat has an interesting review of qalc which is a really good calculator, I ll install it on all my workstations [3]. It even does furlongs per fortnight! This would be good to be called from a LLM system when someone asks about mathematical things. Krebs has an informative article about a criminal employed by Elon s DOGE [4]. Conservatives tend to be criminals. Krebs wrote an interesting article about the security of the iOS (and presumably Android) apps for DeekSeek [5]. Seems that the DeepSeek people did everything wrong. Bruce Schneier and Davi Ottenheimer wrote an insightful article DOGE as a National Cyberattack [6]. Bruce Schneier and Barath Raghavan wrote an insightful article about why and how computer generated voices should sound robotic [7]. Cory Doctorow has an interesting approach to the trade war between the US and Canada, instead of putting tarrifs on imports from the US the Canadian government should make it legal for Canadians to unlock their own property [8]. This youtube video about designing a compressed air engine for a model plane is interesting [9]. Krebs has an interesting article on phishing and mobile phone wallets, Google and Apple need to restrict the number of wallets per phone [10]. The Daily WTF has a good summary of why Elon s DOGE organisation is badly designed and run and a brief mention of how it damages the US [11]. ArsTechnica has an informative article about device code phishing [12]. The increased use of single-sign-on is going to make this more of a problem. Shrivu wrote an insightful and informative article on how to backdoor LLMs [13]. Cory Doctorow wrote an informative post about MLMs and how they are the mirror world version of community organising [14].
Related posts:
  1. Links March 2024 Bruce Schneier wrote an interesting blog post about his workshop...
  2. Links February 2024 In 2018 Charles Stross wrote an insightful blog post Dude...
  3. Links August 2024 Bruce Schneier and Kim C rdova wrote an insightful article about...

19 February 2025

Thomas Lange: The secret maze of Debian images

TL;DR It's difficult to find the right Debian image. We have thousands of ISO files and cloud images and we support multiple CPU architectures and several download methods. The directory structure of our main image server is like a maze, and our web pages for downloading are also confusing. Most important facts from this blog post The Debian maze Debian maze Did you ever searched for a specific Debian image which was not the default netinst ISO for amd64? How long did it take to find it? Debian is very good at hiding their images for downloading by offering a huge amount of different versions and variants of images and multiple methods how to download them. Debian also has multiple web pages for This is the secret Debian maze of images. It's currently filled with 8700+ different ISO images and another 34.000+ files (raw and qcow2) for the cloud images. The main URL for the server hosting all Debian images is https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ There, you will find installer images, live images, cloud images. Let's try to find the right image you need We have three different types of images: Images for the stable release Almost always, you are probably looking for the image to install the latest stable release. The URL https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/ shows: 
12.9.0
12.9.0-live
current
current-live
but you cannot see that two are symlinks: 
current -> 12.9.0/
current-live -> 12.9.0-live/
Here you will find the installer images and live images for the stable release (currently Debian 12, bookworm). If you choose https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/12.9.0/ you will see a list of CPU architectures: 
amd64
arm64
armel
armhf
i386
mips64el
mipsel
ppc64el
s390x
source
trace
(BTW source and trace are no CPU architectures) The typical end user will not care about most architectures, because your computer will actually always need images from the amd64 folder. Maybe you have heard that your computer has a 64bit CPU and even if you have an Intel processor we call this architecture amd64. Let's see what's in the folder amd64: 
bt-bd
bt-cd
bt-dvd
iso-bd
iso-cd
iso-dvd
jigdo-16G
jigdo-bd
jigdo-cd
jigdo-dlbd
jigdo-dvd
list-16G
list-bd
list-cd
list-dlbd
list-dvd
Wow. This is confusing and there's no description what all those folders mean. The first three are different methods how to download an image. Use iso when a single network connection will be fast enough for you. Using bt can result in a faster download, because it downloads via a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. You need an additional torrent program for downloading. Then we have these variants: 16G and dlbd images are only available via jigdo. All iso-xx and bt-xx folders provide the same images but with a different access method. Here are examples of images: 
  iso-cd/debian-12.9.0-amd64-netinst.iso
  iso-cd/debian-edu-12.9.0-amd64-netinst.iso
  iso-cd/debian-mac-12.9.0-amd64-netinst.iso
Fortunately the folder explains in very detail the differences between these images and what you also find there. You can ignore the SHA... files if you do not know what they are needed for. They are not important for you. These ISO files are small and contain only the core Debian installer code and a small set of programs. If you install a desktop environment, the other packages will be downloaded at the end of the installation. The folders bt-dvd and iso-dvd only contain debian-12.9.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso or the appropriate torrent file. In bt-bd and iso-bd you will only find debian-edu-12.9.0-amd64-BD-1.iso. These large images contain much more Debian packages, so you will not need a network connection during the installation. For the other CPU architectures (other than amd64) Debian provides less variants of images but still a lot. In total, we have 44 ISO files (or torrents) for the current release of the Debian installer for all architectures. When using jigdo you can choose between 268 images. And these are only the installer images for the stable release, no older or newer version are counted here. Take a breath before we're diving into..... The live images The live images in release/12.9.0-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/ are only available for the amd64 architecture but for newer Debian releases there will be images also for arm64. We have 7 different live images containing one of the most common desktop environments and one with only a text interface (standard). 
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-xfce.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-mate.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-lxqt.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-gnome.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-lxde.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-standard.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso
debian-live-12.9.0-amd64-kde.iso
The folder name iso-hybrid is the technology that you can use those ISO files for burning them onto a CD/DVD/BD or writing the same ISO file to a USB stick. bt-hybrid will give you the torrent files for downloading the same images using a torrent client program. More recent installer and live images (aka testing) For newer version of the images we have currently these folders: 
daily-builds
weekly-builds
weekly-live-builds
trixie_di_alpha1
I suggest using the weekly-builds because in this folder you find a similar structure and all variants of images as in the release directory. For e.g. weekly-builds/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso and similar for the live images 
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-kde.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-lxde.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-debian-junior.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-standard.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-lxqt.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-mate.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-xfce.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-gnome.iso
weekly-live-builds/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-amd64-cinnamon.iso
weekly-live-builds/arm64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-testing-arm64-gnome.iso
Here you see a new variant call debian-junior, which is a Debian blend. BitTorrent files are not available for weekly builds. The daily-builds folder structure is different and only provide the small network install (netinst) ISOs but several versions of the last days. Currently we have 55 ISO files available there. If you like to use the newest installation image fetch this one: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/sid_d-i/arch-latest/amd64/iso-cd/debian-testing-amd64-netinst.iso Debian stable with a backports kernel Unfortunately Debian does not provide any installation media using the stable release but including a backports kernel for newer hardware. This is because our installer environment is a very complex mix of special tools (like anna) and special .udeb versions of packages. But the FAIme web service of my FAI project can build a custom installation image using the backports kernel. Choose a desktop environment, a language and add some packages names if you like. Then select Debian 12 bookworm and then enable backports repository including newer kernel. After a short time you can download your own installation image. Older releases Usually you should not use older releases for a new installation. In our archive the folder https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/ contains 6163 ISO files starting from Debian 3.0 (first release was in 2002) and including every point release. The full DVD image for the oldstable release (Debian 11.11.0 including non-free firmware) is here https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/archive/latest-oldstable/amd64/iso-dvd/firmware-11.11.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso the smaller netinst image is https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/11.10.0/amd64/iso-cd/debian-11.10.0-amd64-netinst.iso The oldest ISO I could find is from 1999 using kernel 2.0.36 I still didn't managed to boot it in KVM. UPDATE I got a kernel panic because the VM had 4GB RAM. Reducing this to 500MB RAM (also 8MB works) started the installer of Debian 2.1 without any problems. Anything else? In this post, we still did not cover the ports folder (the non official supported (older) hardware architectures) which contains around 760 ISO files and the unofficial folder (1445 ISO files) which also provided the ISOs which included the non-free firmware blobs in the past. Then, there are more than 34.000 cloud images. But hey, no ISO files are involved there. This may be part of a complete new posting.

14 February 2025

Freexian Collaborators: Monthly report about Debian Long Term Support, January 2025 (by Roberto C. S nchez)

Like each month, have a look at the work funded by Freexian s Debian LTS offering.

Debian LTS contributors In January, 20 contributors have been paid to work on Debian LTS, their reports are available:
  • Abhijith PA did 8.0h (out of 14.0h assigned), thus carrying over 6.0h to the next month.
  • Adrian Bunk did 36.5h (out of 47.75h assigned and 52.25h from previous period), thus carrying over 63.5h to the next month.
  • Andrej Shadura did 11.0h (out of 11.0h assigned and 4.0h from previous period), thus carrying over 4.0h to the next month.
  • Arturo Borrero Gonzalez did 9.0h (out of 10.0h assigned), thus carrying over 1.0h to the next month.
  • Bastien Roucari s did 22.0h (out of 22.0h assigned).
  • Ben Hutchings did 8.0h (out of 21.0h assigned and 3.0h from previous period), thus carrying over 16.0h to the next month.
  • Chris Lamb did 18.0h (out of 18.0h assigned).
  • Daniel Leidert did 20.0h (out of 23.0h assigned and 3.0h from previous period), thus carrying over 6.0h to the next month.
  • Emilio Pozuelo Monfort did 34.0h (out of 7.0h assigned and 27.75h from previous period), thus carrying over 0.75h to the next month.
  • Guilhem Moulin did 3.25h (out of 20.0h assigned), thus carrying over 16.75h to the next month.
  • Jochen Sprickerhof did 23.0h (out of 15.0h assigned and 8.0h from previous period).
  • Lee Garrett did 15.75h (out of 8.5h assigned and 51.5h from previous period), thus carrying over 44.25h to the next month.
  • Lucas Kanashiro did 8.0h (out of 32.0h assigned and 32.0h from previous period), thus carrying over 56.0h to the next month.
  • Markus Koschany did 40.0h (out of 40.0h assigned).
  • Roberto C. S nchez did 14.75h (out of 13.5h assigned and 10.5h from previous period), thus carrying over 9.25h to the next month.
  • Santiago Ruano Rinc n did 21.75h (out of 18.75h assigned and 6.25h from previous period), thus carrying over 3.25h to the next month.
  • Sean Whitton did 8.5h (out of 8.5h assigned).
  • Sylvain Beucler did 10.5h (out of 0.0h assigned and 49.5h from previous period), thus carrying over 39.0h to the next month.
  • Thorsten Alteholz did 11.0h (out of 11.0h assigned).
  • Tobias Frost did 12.0h (out of 12.0h assigned).

Evolution of the situation In January, we have released 33 DLAs. There were numerous security and non-security updates to Debian 11 (codename bullseye ) during January.
  • Notable security updates:
    • rsync, prepared by Thorsten Alteholz, fixed several CVEs (including information leak and path traversal vulnerabilities)
    • tomcat9, prepared by Markus Koschany, fixed several CVEs (including denial of service and information disclosure vulnerabilities)
    • ruby2.7, prepared by Bastien Roucari s, fixed several CVEs (including denial of service vulnerabilities)
    • tiff, prepared by Adrian Bunk, fixed several CVEs (including NULL ptr, buffer overflow, use-after-free, and segfault vulnerabilities)
  • Notable non-security updates:
    • linux-6.1, prepared by Ben Hutchings, has been packaged for bullseye (this was done specifically to provide a supported upgrade path for systems that currently use kernel packages from the bullseye-backports suite)
    • debian-security-support, prepared by Santiago Ruano Rinc n, which formalized the EOL of intel-mediasdk and node-matrix-js-sdk
In addition to the security and non-security updates targeting bullseye , various LTS contributors have prepared uploads targeting Debian 12 (codename bookworm ) with fixes for a variety of vulnerabilities. Abhijith PA prepared an upload of puma; Bastien Roucari s prepared an upload of node-postcss with fixes for data processing and denial of service vulnerabilities; Daniel Leidert prepared updates for setuptools, python-asyncssh, and python-tornado; Lee Garrett prepared an upload of ansible-core; and Guilhem Moulin prepared updates for python-urllib3, sqlparse, and opensc. Santiago Ruano Rinc n also worked on tracking and filing some issues about packages that need an update in recent releases to avoid regressions on upgrade. This relates to CVEs that were fixed in buster or bullseye, but remain open in bookworm. These updates, along with Santiago s work on identifying and tracking similar issues, underscore the LTS Team s commitment to ensuring that the work we do as part of LTS also benefits the current Debian stable release. LTS contributor Sean Whitton also prepared an upload of jinja2 and Santiago Ruano Rinc n prepared an upload of openjpeg2 for Debian unstable (codename sid ), as part of the LTS Team effort to assist with package uploads to unstable.

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12 February 2025

Jonathan Dowland: FOSDEM 2025

I'm going to FOSDEM 2025! As usual, I'll be in the Java Devroom for most of that day, which this time around is Saturday. Please recommend me any talks! This is my shortlist so far:

11 February 2025

Ian Jackson: derive-deftly 1.0.0 - Rust derive macros, the easy way

derive-deftly 1.0 is released. derive-deftly is a template-based derive-macro facility for Rust. It has been a great success. Your codebase may benefit from it too! Rust programmers will appreciate its power, flexibility, and consistency, compared to macro_rules; and its convenience and simplicity, compared to proc macros. Programmers coming to Rust from scripting languages will appreciate derive-deftly s convenient automatic code generation, which works as a kind of compile-time introspection. Rust s two main macro systems I m often a fan of metaprogramming, including macros. They can help remove duplication and flab, which are often the enemy of correctness. Rust has two macro systems. derive-deftly offers much of the power of the more advanced (proc_macros), while beating the simpler one (macro_rules) at its own game for ease of use. (Side note: Rust has at least three other ways to do metaprogramming: generics; build.rs; and, multiple module inclusion via #[path=]. These are beyond the scope of this blog post.) macro_rules! macro_rules! aka pattern macros , declarative macros , or sometimes macros by example are the simpler kind of Rust macro. They involve writing a sort-of-BNF pattern-matcher, and a template which is then expanded with substitutions from the actual input. If your macro wants to accept comma-separated lists, or other simple kinds of input, this is OK. But often we want to emulate a #[derive(...)] macro: e.g., to define code based on a struct, handling each field. Doing that with macro_rules is very awkward: macro_rules! s pattern language doesn t have a cooked way to match a data structure, so you have to hand-write a matcher for Rust syntax, in each macro. Writing such a matcher is very hard in the general case, because macro_rules lacks features for matching important parts of Rust syntax (notably, generics). (If you really need to, there s a horrible technique as a workaround.) And, the invocation syntax for the macro is awkward: you must enclose the whole of the struct in my_macro! . This makes it hard to apply more than one macro to the same struct, and produces rightward drift. Enclosing the struct this way means the macro must reproduce its input - so it can have bugs where it mangles the input, perhaps subtly. This also means the reader cannot be sure precisely whether the macro modifies the struct itself. In Rust, the types and data structures are often the key places to go to understand a program, so this is a significant downside. macro_rules also has various other weird deficiencies too specific to list here. Overall, compared to (say) the C preprocessor, it s great, but programmers used to the power of Lisp macros, or (say) metaprogramming in Tcl, will quickly become frustrated. proc macros Rust s second macro system is much more advanced. It is a fully general system for processing and rewriting code. The macro s implementation is Rust code, which takes the macro s input as arguments, in the form of Rust tokens, and returns Rust tokens to be inserted into the actual program. This approach is more similar to Common Lisp s macros than to most other programming languages macros systems. It is extremely powerful, and is used to implement many very widely used and powerful facilities. In particular, proc macros can be applied to data structures with #[derive(...)]. The macro receives the data structure, in the form of Rust tokens, and returns the code for the new implementations, functions etc. This is used very heavily in the standard library for basic features like #[derive(Debug)] and Clone, and for important libraries like serde and strum. But, it is a complete pain in the backside to write and maintain a proc_macro. The Rust types and functions you deal with in your macro are very low level. You must manually handle every possible case, with runtime conditions and pattern-matching. Error handling and recovery is so nontrivial there are macro-writing libraries and even more macros to help. Unlike a Lisp codewalker, a Rust proc macro must deal with Rust s highly complex syntax. You will probably end up dealing with syn, which is a complete Rust parsing library, separate from the compiler; syn is capable and comprehensive, but a proc macro must still contain a lot of often-intricate code. There are build/execution environment problems. The proc_macro code can t live with your application; you have to put the proc macros in a separate cargo package, complicating your build arrangements. The proc macro package environment is weird: you can t test it separately, without jumping through hoops. Debugging can be awkward. Proper tests can only realistically be done with the help of complex additional tools, and will involve a pinned version of Nightly Rust. derive-deftly to the rescue derive-deftly lets you use a write a #[derive(...)] macro, driven by a data structure, without wading into any of that stuff. Your macro definition is a template in a simple syntax, with predefined $-substitutions for the various parts of the input data structure. Example Here s a real-world example from a personal project: 
define_derive_deftly!  
    export UpdateWorkerReport:
    impl $ttype  
        pub fn update_worker_report(&self, wr: &mut WorkerReport)  
            $(
                $ when fmeta(worker_report) 
                wr.$fname = Some(self.$fname.clone()).into();
            )
         
     
 
#[derive(Debug, Deftly, Clone)]
...
#[derive_deftly(UiMap, UpdateWorkerReport)]
pub struct JobRow  
    ...
    #[deftly(worker_report)]
    pub status: JobStatus,
    pub processing: NoneIsEmpty<ProcessingInfo>,
    #[deftly(worker_report)]
    pub info: String,
    pub duplicate_of: Option<JobId>,
This is a nice example, also, of how using a macro can avoid bugs. Implementing this update by hand without a macro would involve a lot of cut-and-paste. When doing that cut-and-paste it can be very easy to accidentally write bugs where you forget to update some parts of each of the copies: 
    pub fn update_worker_report(&self, wr: &mut WorkerReport)  
        wr.status = Some(self.status.clone()).into();
        wr.info = Some(self.status.clone()).into();
Spot the mistake? We copy status to info. Bugs like this are extremely common, and not always found by the type system. derive-deftly can make it much easier to make them impossible. Special-purpose derive macros are now worthwhile! Because of the difficult and cumbersome nature of proc macros, very few projects have site-specific, special-purpose #[derive(...)] macros. The Arti codebase has no bespoke proc macros, across its 240kloc and 86 crates. (We did fork one upstream proc macro package to add a feature we needed.) I have only one bespoke, case-specific, proc macro amongst all of my personal Rust projects; it predates derive-deftly. Since we have started using derive-deftly in Arti, it has become an important tool in our toolbox. We have 37 bespoke derive macros, done with derive-deftly. Of these, 9 are exported for use by downstream crates. (For comparison there are 176 macro_rules macros.) In my most recent personal Rust project, I have 22 bespoke derive macros, done with with derive-deftly, and 19 macro_rules macros. derive-deftly macros are easy and straightforward enough that they can be used as readily as macro_rules macros. Indeed, they are often clearer than a macro_rules macro. Stability without stagnation derive-deftly is already highly capable, and can solve many advanced problems. It is mature software, well tested, with excellent documentation, comprising both comprehensive reference material and the walkthrough-structured user guide. But declaring it 1.0 doesn t mean that it won t improve further. Our ticket tracker has a laundry list of possible features. We ll sometimes be cautious about committing to these, so we ve added a beta feature flag, for opting in to less-stable features, so that we can prototype things without painting ourselves into a corner. And, we intend to further develop the Guide.

comment count unavailable comments

B lint R czey: Supercharge Your Installs with apt-eatmydata: Because Who Needs Crash Safety Anyway?

APT eatmydata super cow powers
Tired of waiting for apt to finish installing packages? Wish there were a way to make your installations blazingly fast without caring about minor things like, oh, data integrity? Well, today is your lucky day!
I m thrilled to introduce apt-eatmydata, now available for Debian and all supported Ubuntu releases!

What Is apt-eatmydata? If you ve ever used libeatmydata, you know it s a nifty little hack that disables fsync() and friends, making package installations way faster by skipping unnecessary disk writes. Normally, you d have to remember to wrap apt commands manually, like this: 
eatmydata apt install texlive-full
But who has time for that? apt-eatmydata takes care of this automagically by integrating eatmydata seamlessly into apt itself! That means every package install is now turbocharged no extra typing required.

How to Get It

Debian If you re on Debian unstable/testing (or possibly soon in stable-backports), you can install it directly with: 
sudo apt install apt-eatmydata

Ubuntu Ubuntu users already enjoy faster package installation thanks to zstd-compressed packages and to switch to even higher gear I ve backported apt-eatmydata to all supported Ubuntu releases. Just add this PPA and install: 
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:firebuild/apt-eatmydata
sudo apt install apt-eatmydata
And boom! Your apt install times are getting serious upgrade. Let s run some tests 
# pre-download package to measure only the installation
$ sudo apt install -d linux-headers-6.8.0-53-lowlatency
...
# installation time is 9.35s without apt-eatmydata:
$ sudo time apt install linux-headers-6.8.0-53-lowlatency
...
2.30user 2.12system 0:09.35elapsed 47%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 174680maxresident)k
32inputs+1495216outputs (0major+196945minor)pagefaults 0swaps
$ sudo apt install apt-eatmydata
...
$ sudo apt purge linux-headers-6.8.0-53-lowlatency
# installation time is 3.17s with apt-eatmydata: 
$ sudo time eatmydata apt install linux-headers-6.8.0-53-lowlatency
2.30user 0.88system 0:03.17elapsed 100%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 174692maxresident)k
0inputs+205664outputs (0major+198099minor)pagefaults 0swaps
apt-eatmydata just made installing Linux headers 3x faster!

But Wait, There s More! If you re automating CI builds, there s even a GitHub Action to make your workflows faster essentially doing what apt-eatmydata does, just setting it up in less than a second! Check it out here:
GitHub Marketplace: apt-eatmydata

Should You Use It? Warning: apt-eatmydata is not for all production environments. If your system crashes mid-install, you might end up with a broken package database. But for throwaway VMs, containers, and CI pipelines? It s an absolute game-changer. I use it on my laptop, too. So go forth and install recklessly fast! If you run into any issues, feel free to file a bug or drop a comment. Happy hacking! (To accelerate your CI pipeline or local builds, check out Firebuild, that speeds up the builds, too!)

Freexian Collaborators: Debian Contributions: Python 3.13 as the default Python 3 version, Fixing qtpaths6 for cross compilation, sbuild support for Salsa CI, Rails 7 transition, DebConf preparations and more! (by Anupa Ann Joseph)

Debian Contributions: 2025-01 Contributing to Debian is part of Freexian s mission. This article covers the latest achievements of Freexian and their collaborators. All of this is made possible by organizations subscribing to our Long Term Support contracts and consulting services.

Python 3.13 is now the default Python 3 version in Debian, by Stefano Rivera and Colin Watson The Python 3.13 as default transition has now completed. The next step is to remove Python 3.12 from the archive, which should be very straightforward, it just requires rebuilding C extension packages in no particular order. Stefano fixed some miscellaneous bugs blocking the completion of the 3.13 as default transition.

Fixing qtpaths6 for cross compilation, by Helmut Grohne While Qt5 used to use qmake to query installation properties, Qt6 is moving more and more to CMake and to ease that transition it relies on more qtpaths. Since this tool is not naturally aware of the architecture it is called for, it tends to produce results for the build architecture. Therefore, more than 100 packages were picking up a multiarch directory for the build architecture during cross builds. In collaboration with the Qt/KDE team and Sandro Knau in particular (none affiliated with Freexian), we added an architecture-specific wrapper script in the same way qmake has one for Qt5 and Qt6 already. The relevant CMake module has been updated to prefer the triplet-prefixed wrapper. As a result, most of the KDE packages now cross build on unstable ready in time for the trixie release.

/usr-move, by Helmut Grohne In December, Emil S dergren reported that a live-build was not working for him and in January, Colin Watson reported that the proposed mitigation for debian-installer-utils would practically fail. Both failures were to be attributed to a wrong understanding of implementation-defined behavior in dpkg-divert. As a result, all M18 mitigations had to be reviewed and many of them replaced. Many have been uploaded already and all instances have received updated patches. Even though dumat has been in operation for more than a year, it gained recent changes. For one thing, analysis of architectures other than amd64 was requested. Chris Hofstaedler (not affiliated with Freexian) kindly provided computing resources for repeatedly running it on the larger set. Doing so revealed various cross-architecture undeclared file conflicts in gcc, glibc, and binutils-z80, but it also revealed a previously unknown /usr-move issue in rpi.rpi-common. On top of that, dumat produced false positive diagnostics and wrongly associated Debian bugs in some cases, both of which have now been fixed. As a result, a supposedly fixed python3-sepolicy issue had to be reopened.

rebootstrap, by Helmut Grohne As much as we think of our base system as stable, it is changing a lot and the architecture cross bootstrap tooling is very sensitive to such changes requiring permanent maintenance. A problem that recently surfaced was that building a binutils cross toolchain would result in a binutils-for-host package that would not be practically installable as it would depend on a binutils-common package that was not built. This turned into an examination of binutils-common and noticing that it actually differed across architectures even though it should not. Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues (not affiliated with Freexian) and Colin Watson kindly helped brainstorm possible solutions. Eventually, Helmut provided a patch to move gprofng bits out of binutils-common. Independently, Matthias Klose (not affiliated with Freexian) split out binutils-gold into a separate source package. As a result, binutils-common is now equal across architectures and can be marked Multi-Arch: foreign resolving the initial problem.

Salsa CI, by Santiago Ruano Rinc n Santiago continued the work about the sbuild support for Salsa CI, that was mentioned in the previous month report. The !568 merge request that created the new build image was merged, making it easier to test !569 with external projects. Santiago used a fork of the debusine repo to try the draft !569, and some issues were spotted, and part of them fixed. This is the last debusine pipeline run with the current !569: https://salsa.debian.org/santiago/debusine/-/pipelines/794233. One of the last improvements relates to how to enable projects to customize the pipeline, in an equivalent way than they currently do in the extract-source and build jobs. While this is work-in-progress, the results are rather promising. Next steps include deciding on introducing schroot support for bookworm, bookworm-security, and older releases, as they are done in the official debian buildd.

DebConf preparations, by Stefano Rivera and Santiago Ruano Rinc n DebConf will be happening in Brest, France, in July. Santiago continued the DebConf 25 organization work, looking for catering providers. Both Stefano and Santiago have been reaching out to some potential sponsors. DebConf depends on sponsors to cover the organization cost, if your company depends on Debian, please consider sponsoring DebConf. Stefano has been winding up some of the finances from previous DebConfs. Finalizing reimbursements to team members from DebConf 23, and handling some outstanding issues from DebConf 24. Stefano and the rest of the DebConf committee have been reviewing bids for DebConf 26, to select the next venue.

Ruby 3.3 is now the default Ruby interpreter, by Lucas Kanashiro Ruby 3.3 is about to become the default Ruby interpreter for Trixie. Many bugs were fixed by Lucas and the Debian Ruby team during the sprint hold in Paris during Jan 27-31. The next step is to remove support of Ruby 3.1, which is the alternative Ruby interpreter for now. Thanks to the Debian Release team for all the support, especially Emilio Pozuelo Monfort.

Rails 7 transition, by Lucas Kanashiro Rails 6 has been shipped by Debian since Bullseye, and as a WEB framework, many issues (especially security related issues) have been encountered and the maintainability of it becomes harder and harder. With that in mind, during the Debian Ruby team sprint last month, the transition to Rack 3 (an important dependency of rails containing many breaking changes) was started in Debian unstable, it is ongoing. Once it is done, the Rails 7 transition will take place, and Rails 7 should be shipped in Debian Trixie.

Miscellaneous contributions
  • Stefano improved a poor ImportError for users of the turtle module on Python 3, who haven t installed the python3-tk package.
  • Stefano updated several packages to new upstream releases.
  • Stefano added the Python extension to the re2 package, allowing for the use of the Google RE2 regular expression library as a direct replacement for the standard library re module.
  • Stefano started provisioning a new physical server for the debian.social infrastructure.
  • Carles improved simplemonitor (documentation on systemd integration, worked with upstream for fixing a bug).
  • Carles upgraded packages to new upstream versions: python-ring-doorbell and python-asyncclick.
  • Carles did po-debconf translations to Catalan: reviewed 44 packages and submitted translations to 90 packages (via salsa merge requests or bugtracker bugs).
  • Carles maintained po-debconf-manager with small fixes.
  • Rapha l worked on some outstanding DEP-14 merge request and participated in the associated discussion. The discussions have been more contentious than anticipated, somewhat exacerbated by Otto s desire to conclude fast while the required tool support is not yet there.
  • Rapha l, with the help of Philipp Kern from the DSA team, upgraded tracker.debian.org to use Django 4.2 (from bookworm-backports) which in turn enabled him to configure authentication via salsa.debian.org. It s now possible to login to tracker.debian.org with your salsa credentials!
  • Rapha l updated zim a nice desktop wiki that is very handy to organize your day-to-day digital life to the latest upstream version (0.76).
  • Helmut sent patches for 10 cross build failures.
  • Helmut continued working on a tool for memory-based concurrency limit of builds.
  • Helmut NMUed libtool, opensysusers and virtualbox.
  • Enrico tried to support Helmut in working out tricky usrmerge situations
  • Thorsten Alteholz uploaded a new upstream version of brlaser.
  • Colin Watson upgraded 33 Python packages to new upstream versions, including fixes for CVE-2024-42353, CVE-2024-47532, and CVE-2025-22153.
  • Emilio Pozuelo managed various transitions, and fixed various RC bugs (telepathy-glib, xorg, xserver-xorg-video-vesa, apitrace, mesa).
  • Anupa attended the monthly team meeting for Debian publicity team and shared the social media stats.
  • Anupa assisted Jean-Pierre Giraud in the point release announcement for Debian 12.9 and published the Micronews.
  • Anupa took part in multiple Debian publicity team discussions regarding our presence in social media platforms.

10 February 2025

Russ Allbery: Review: The Scavenger Door

Review: The Scavenger Door, by Suzanne Palmer
Series: Finder Chronicles #3
Publisher: DAW
Copyright: 2021
ISBN: 0-7564-1516-0
Format: Kindle
Pages: 458
The Scavenger Door is a science fiction adventure and the third book of the Finder Chronicles. While each of the books of this series stand alone reasonably well, I would still read the series in order. Each book has some spoilers for the previous book. Fergus is back on Earth following the events of Driving the Deep, at loose ends and annoying his relatives. To get him out of their hair, his cousin sends him into the Scottish hills to find a friend's missing flock of sheep. Fergus finds things professionally, but usually not livestock. It's an easy enough job, though; the lead sheep was wearing a tracker and he just has to get close enough to pick it up. The unexpected twist is also finding a metal fragment buried in a hillside that has some strange resonance with the unwanted gift that Fergus got in Finder. Fergus's alien friend Ignatio is so alarmed by the metal fragment that he turns up in person in Fergus's cousin's bar in Scotland. Before he arrives, Fergus gets a mysteriously infuriating warning visit from alien acquaintances he does not consider friends. He has, as usual, stepped into something dangerous and complicated, and now somehow it's become his problem. So, first, we get lots of Ignatio, who is an enthusiastic large ball of green fuzz with five limbs who mostly speaks English but does so from an odd angle. This makes me happy because I love Ignatio and his tendency to take things just a bit too literally.
SANTO'S, the sign read. Under it, in smaller letters, was CURIOSITIES AND INCONVENIENCES FOR COMMENDABLE SUMS. "Inconveniences sound just like my thing," Fergus said. "You two want to wait in the car while I check it out?" "Oh, no, I am not missing this," Isla said, and got out of the podcar. "I am uncertain," Ignatio said. "I would like some curiouses, but not any inconveniences. Please proceed while I decide, and if there is also murdering or calamity or raisins, you will yell right away, yes?"
Also, if your story setup requires a partly-understood alien artifact that the protagonist can get some explanations for but not have the mystery neatly solved for them, Ignatio's explanations are perfect.
"It is a door. A doorbell. A... peephole? A key. A control light. A signal. A stop-and-go sign. A road. A bridge. A beacon. A call. A map. A channel. A way," Ignatio said. "It is a problem to explain. To say a doorkey is best, and also wrong. If put together, a path may be opened." "And then?" "And then the bad things on the other side, who we were trying to lock away, will be free to travel through."
Second, the thing about Palmer's writing that continues to impress me is her ability to take a standard science fiction plot, one whose variations I've read probably dozens of times before, and still make it utterly engrossing. This book is literally a fetch quest. There are a bunch of scattered fragments, Fergus has to find them and keep them from being assembled, various other people are after the same fragments, and Fergus either has to get there first or get the fragments back from them. If you haven't read this book before, you've played the video game or watched the movie. The threat is basically a Stargate SG-1 plot. And yet, this was so much fun. The characters are great. This book leans less on found family than the last one and a bit more on actual family. When I started reading this series, Fergus felt a bit bland in the way that adventure protagonists sometimes can, but he's fleshed out nicely as the series goes along. He's not someone who tends to indulge in big emotions, but now the reader can tell that's because he's the kind of person who finds things to do in order to keep from dwelling on things he doesn't want to think about. He's unflappable in a quietly competent way while still having a backstory and emotional baggage and a rich inner life that the reader sees in glancing fragments. We get more of Fergus's backstory, particularly around Mars, but I like that it's told in anecdotes and small pieces. The last thing Fergus wants to do is wallow in his past trauma, so he doesn't and finds something to do instead. There's just enough detail around the edges to deepen his character without turning the book into a story about Fergus's emotions and childhood. It's a tricky balancing act that Palmer handles well. There are also more sentient ships, and I am so in favor of more sentient ships.
"When I am adding a new skill, I import diagnostic and environmental information specific to my platform and topology, segregate the skill subroutines to a dedicated, protected logical space, run incremental testing on integration under all projected scenarios and variables, and then when I am persuaded the code is benevolent, an asset, and provides the functionality I was seeking, I roll it into my primary processing units," Whiro said. "You cannot do any of that, because if I may speak in purely objective terms you may incorrectly interpret as personal, you are made of squishy, unreliable goo."
We get the normal pieces of a well-done fetch quest: wildly varying locations, some great local characters (the US-based trauma surgeons on vacation in Australia were my favorites), and believable antagonists. There are two other groups looking for the fragments, and while one of them is the standard villain in this sort of story, the other is an apocalyptic cult whose members Fergus mostly feels sorry for and who add just the right amount of surreality to the story. The more we find out about them, the more believable they are, and the more they make this world feel like realistic messy chaos instead of the obvious (and boring) good versus evil patterns that a lot of adventure plots collapse into. There are things about this book that I feel like I should be criticizing, but I just can't. Fetch quests are usually synonymous with lazy plotting, and yet it worked for me. The way Fergus gets dumped into the middle of this problem starts out feeling as arbitrary and unmotivated as some video game fetch quest stories, but by the end of the book it starts to make sense. The story could arguably be described as episodic and cliched, and yet I was thoroughly invested. There are a few pacing problems at the very end, but I was too invested to care that much. This feels like a book that's better than the sum of its parts. Most of the story is future-Earth adventure with some heist elements. The ending goes in a rather different direction but stays at the center of the classic science fiction genre. The Scavenger Door reaches a satisfying conclusion, but there are a ton of unanswered questions that will send me on to the fourth (and reportedly final) novel in the series shortly. This is great stuff. It's not going to win literary awards, but if you're in the mood for some classic science fiction with fun aliens and neat ideas, but also benefiting from the massive improvements in characterization the genre has seen in the past forty years, this series is perfect. Highly recommended. Followed by Ghostdrift. Rating: 9 out of 10

9 February 2025

Dave Hibberd: Radio Activity 10-16 Feb 2025

It s been quite the week of radio related nonsense for me, where I ve been channelling my time and brainspace for radio into activity on air and system refinements, not working on Debian.

POTA, Antennas and why do my toys not work? Having had my interest piqued by Ian at mastodon.radio, I looked online and spotted a couple of parks within stumbling distance of my house, that s good news! It looks like the list has been refactored and expanded since I last looked at it, so there are now more entities to activate and explore. My concerns about antennas noted last week rumbled on. There was a second strand to this concern too, my end fed 64:1 (or 49:1?!) transformer from MM0OPX sits in my mind as not having worked very well in Spain last year, and I want to get to the bottom of why. As with most things in my life, it s probably a me problem. I came up with a cunning plan - firstly, buy a new mast to replace the one I broke a few weeks back on Cat Law. Secondly, buy a couple of new connectors and some heatshrink to reterminate my cable that I m sure is broken. Spending more money on a problem never hurt anyone, right? Come Wednesday, the new toys arrived and I figured combining everything into one convenient night time walk and radio was a good plan. So I walk out to the nearest park with my LoRa APRS doofer going and see what happens: APRS-Map After circling a bit to find somewhere suitable (there appear to be construction works in the park!) I set up my gear in 2C with frost on the ground, called CQ, spotted and got nothing on either the end fed half wave or the cheap vertical. As it was too late for 20m, I tried 40 and a bit of 80 using the inbuilt tuner, but wasn t heard by stations I called or when calling independently. I packed everything up and lora-doofered my way home, mildly deflated.

Try it at home It still didn t sit with me that the end fed wasn t working, so come Friday night I set it up in the back garden/woods behind the house to try and diagnose why it wasn t working. Up it went, I worked some Irish stations pretty effortlessly, and down everything came. No complaints - the only things I did differently was have the feedpoint a little higher and check my power, limiting it to 10W. The G90 can do 20W, I wonder if running at that was saturating the core in the 64:1. At some point in the evening I stepped in some dog s shit too, and spent some time cleaning my boots outside to avoid further tramping the smell through the house. Win some, lose some.

Take it to the Hills On Friday, some of the other GM-ES Sota-ists had been out for an activity day. On account of me being busy in work, I couldn t go outside to play, but I figured a weekend of activity was on the books.

Saturday - A day above the clouds On Saturday I took myself up Tap O Noth, a favourite of mine for some reason, and Lord Arthur s Hill. Before I hit the hills, I took myself to the hackerspace and printed myself a K6ARK Winder and a guy ring for the mast, cut string, tied it together and wound the string on to the winder. I also took time to buzz out my wonky coax and it showed great continuity. Hmm, that can be continued later. I didn t quite get to crimping the radial network of the Aliexpress whip with a 12mm stud crimp, that can also be put on the TODO list.

Tap O Noth Once finally out, the weather was a bit cloudy with passing snow showers, but in between the showers I was above the clouds and the air was clear: After a mild struggle on 2m, I set up the end fed the first hill and got to work from the old hill fort: The end fed worked flawlessly. Exactly as promised, switching between 7MHz, 14MHz, 21MHz and 28MHz without a tuner was perfect, I chased hills on all the bands, and had a great time. Apart from 40m, where there was absolutely no space due to a contest. That wasn t such a fun time! My fingers were bitterly cold, so on went the big gloves for the descent and I felt like I was warm by the time I made it back to the car. It worked so well, in fact, I took the 1/4 wave cheap vertical out my bag and decided to brave it on the next activation.

Lord Arthur s Hill GM5ALX has posted a .gpx to sotlas which is shorter than the other ascent, but much sharper - I figured this would be a fun new way to try up the hill! It takes you right through the heart of the Littlewood Park estate, and I felt a bit uncomfortable walking straight past the estate cottages, especially when there were vehicles moving and active work happening. Presumably this is where Lord Arthur lived, at the foot of his hill. I cut through the woods to the west of the cottages, disturbing some deer and many, many pheasants, but I met the path fairly quickly. From there it was a 2km walk, 300m vertical ascent. Short and sharp! At the top, I was treated to a view of the hill I had activated only an hour or so before, which is a view that always makes me smile: To get some height for the feedpoint, I wrapped the coax around my winder a couple of turns and trapped it with the elastic while draping the coax over the trig. This bought me some more height and I felt clever because of it. Maybe a pole would be easier? From here, I worked inter-G on 40m and had a wee pile up, eventually working 15 or so European stations on 20m. Pleased with that! I had been considering a third hill, but home was the call in the failing light. Back to the car I walked to find my key didn t have any battery, so out came the Audi App and I used the Internet of Things to unlock my car. The modern world is bizarre.

Sunday - Cloudy Head // Head in the Clouds Sunday started off migraney, so I stayed within the confines of my house until I felt safe driving! After some back and forth in my cloudy head, I opted for the easier option of Ladylea Hill as I wasn t feeling up for major physical exertion. It was a long drive, after which I felt more wonky, but I hit the path eventually - I run to Hibby Standard Time, a few hours to a few days behind the rest of GM/ES. I was ready to bail if my head didn t improve, but it turns out, fresh cold air, silence and bloodflow helped. Ladylea Hill was incredibly quiet, a feature I really appreciated. It feels incredibly remote, with a long winding drive down Glenbuchat, which still has ice on the surface of the lochs and standing water. A brooding summit crowned with grey cloud in fantastic scenery that only revealed itself upon the clouds blowing through: I set up at the cairn and picked up 30 contacts overall, split between 40m and 20m, with some inter-g on 40 and a couple of continental surprises. 20 had longer skip today, so I saw Spain, Finland, Slovenia, Poland. On teardown, I managed to snap the top segment of my brand new mast with my cold, clumsy fingers, but thankfully sotabeams stock replacements. More money at the problem, again. Back to the car, no app needed, and homeward bound as the light faded. At the end of the weekend, I find myself finally over 100 activator points and over 400 chaser points. Somehow I ve collected more points this year already than last year, the winter bonuses really do stack up!

Addendum - OSMAnd & Open Street Map I ve been using OSMAnd on my iPhone quite extensively recently, I think offline mapping is super important if you re going out to get mildly lost in the hills. On more than one occasion, I have confidently set off in the wrong direction in the mist, and maps have saved my bacon! As you can download .gpx files, it s great to have them on the device and available for guidance in case you get lost, coupled with an offline map. Plus, as I drive around I love to have the dark red of a hill I ve walked appear on the map in my car dash or in my hand: This weekend I discovered it s possible to have height maps for nice 3d maps and contours marked on the map - you just need to download some additions for the maps. This is a really nice feature, it makes maps more pretty and more useful when you re in the middle of nowhere. Open Street Map also has designators for SOTA summits here and similar for POTA here GM5ALX has set to adding the summits around Scotland here. While the benefits aren t immediately obvious, it allows developers of mapping applications access to more data at no extra cost, really. It helps add depth to an already rich set of information, and allows us as radio amateurs to do more interesting things with maps and not be shackled to Apple/Google. Because it s open data, we can also fix things we find wrong as users. I like to fix road surfaces after I ve been cycling as that will feed forward to route planning through Komoot and data on my wahoo too, which can be modified with osm maps. In the future, it s possible to have an OSMAnd plugin highlighting local SOTA summits or mimicking features of sotl.as but offline. It s cool to be able to put open technologies to use like this in the field and really is the convergence point of all my favourite things!

Antoine Beaupr : A slow blogging year

Well, 2024 will be remembered, won't it? I guess 2025 already wants to make its mark too, but let's not worry about that right now, and instead let's talk about me. A little over a year ago, I was gloating over how I had such a great blogging year in 2022, and was considering 2023 to be average, then went on to gather more stats and traffic analysis... Then I said, and I quote:
I hope to write more next year. I've been thinking about a few posts I could write for work, about how things work behind the scenes at Tor, that could be informative for many people. We run a rather old setup, but things hold up pretty well for what we throw at it, and it's worth sharing that with the world...
What a load of bollocks.

A bad year for this blog 2024 was the second worst year ever in my blogging history, tied with 2009 at a measly 6 posts for the year: 
anarcat@angela:anarc.at$ curl -sSL https://anarc.at/blog/   grep 'href="\./'   grep -o 20[0-9][0-9]   sort   uniq -c   sort -nr   grep -v 2025   tail -3
      6 2024
      6 2009
      3 2014
I did write about my work though, detailing the migration from Gitolite to GitLab we completed that year. But after August, total radio silence until now.

Loads of drafts It's not that I have nothing to say: I have no less than five drafts in my working tree here, not counting three actual drafts recorded in the Git repository here: 
anarcat@angela:anarc.at$ git s blog
## main...origin/main
?? blog/bell-bot.md
?? blog/fish.md
?? blog/kensington.md
?? blog/nixos.md
?? blog/tmux.md
anarcat@angela:anarc.at$ git grep -l '\!tag draft'
blog/mobile-massive-gallery.md
blog/on-dying.mdwn
blog/secrets-recovery.md
I just don't have time to wrap those things up. I think part of me is disgusted by seeing my work stolen by large corporations to build proprietary large language models while my idols have been pushed to suicide for trying to share science with the world. Another part of me wants to make those things just right. The "tagged drafts" above are nothing more than a huge pile of chaotic links, far from being useful for anyone else than me, and even then. The on-dying article, in particular, is becoming my nemesis. I've been wanting to write that article for over 6 years now, I think. It's just too hard.

Writing elsewhere There's also the fact that I write for work already. A lot. Here are the top-10 contributors to our team's wiki: 
anarcat@angela:help.torproject.org$ git shortlog --numbered --summary --group="format:%al"   head -10
  4272  anarcat
   423  jerome
   117  zen
   116  lelutin
   104  peter
    58  kez
    45  irl
    43  hiro
    18  gaba
    17  groente
... but that's a bit unfair, since I've been there half a decade. Here's the last year: 
anarcat@angela:help.torproject.org$ git shortlog --since=2024-01-01 --numbered --summary --group="format:%al"   head -10
   827  anarcat
   117  zen
   116  lelutin
    91  jerome
    17  groente
    10  gaba
     8  micah
     7  kez
     5  jnewsome
     4  stephen.swift
So I still write the most commits! But to truly get a sense of the amount I wrote in there, we should count actual changes. Here it is by number of lines (from commandlinefu.com): 
anarcat@angela:help.torproject.org$ git ls-files   xargs -n1 git blame --line-porcelain   sed -n 's/^author //p'   sort -f   uniq -ic   sort -nr   head -10
  99046 Antoine Beaupr 
   6900 Zen Fu
   4784 J r me Charaoui
   1446 Gabriel Filion
   1146 Jerome Charaoui
    837 groente
    705 kez
    569 Gaba
    381 Matt Traudt
    237 Stephen Swift
That, of course, is the entire history of the git repo, again. We should take only the last year into account, and probably ignore the tails directory, as sneaky Zen Fu imported the entire docs from another wiki there... 
anarcat@angela:help.torproject.org$ find [d-s]* -type f -mtime -365   xargs -n1 git blame --line-porcelain 2>/dev/null   sed -n 's/^author //p'   sort -f   uniq -ic   sort -nr   head -10
  75037 Antoine Beaupr 
   2932 J r me Charaoui
   1442 Gabriel Filion
   1400 Zen Fu
    929 Jerome Charaoui
    837 groente
    702 kez
    569 Gaba
    381 Matt Traudt
    237 Stephen Swift
Pretty good! 75k lines. But those are the files that were modified in the last year. If we go a little more nuts, we find that: 
anarcat@angela:help.torproject.org$ $ git-count-words-range.py    sort -k6 -nr   head -10
parsing commits for words changes from command: git log '--since=1 year ago' '--format=%H %al'
anarcat 126116 - 36932 = 89184
zen 31774 - 5749 = 26025
groente 9732 - 607 = 9125
lelutin 10768 - 2578 = 8190
jerome 6236 - 2586 = 3650
gaba 3164 - 491 = 2673
stephen.swift 2443 - 673 = 1770
kez 1034 - 74 = 960
micah 772 - 250 = 522
weasel 410 - 0 = 410
I wrote 126,116 words in that wiki, only in the last year. I also deleted 37k words, so the final total is more like 89k words, but still: that's about forty (40!) articles of the average size (~2k) I wrote in 2022. (And yes, I did go nuts and write a new log parser, essentially from scratch, to figure out those word diffs. I did get the courage only after asking GPT-4o for an example first, I must admit.) Let's celebrate that again: I wrote 90 thousand words in that wiki in 2024. According to Wikipedia, a "novella" is 17,500 to 40,000 words, which would mean I wrote about a novella and a novel, in the past year. But interestingly, if I look at the repository analytics. I certainly didn't write that much more in the past year. So that alone cannot explain the lull in my production here.

Arguments Another part of me is just tired of the bickering and arguing on the internet. I have at least two articles in there that I suspect is going to get me a lot of push-back (NixOS and Fish). I know how to deal with this: you need to write well, consider the controversy, spell it out, and defuse things before they happen. But that's hard work and, frankly, I don't really care that much about what people think anymore. I'm not writing here to convince people. I have stop evangelizing a long time ago. Now, I'm more into documenting, and teaching. And, while teaching, there's a two-way interaction: when you give out a speech or workshop, people can ask questions, or respond, and you all learn something. When you document, you quickly get told "where is this? I couldn't find it" or "I don't understand this" or "I tried that and it didn't work" or "wait, really? shouldn't we do X instead", and you learn. Here, it's static. It's my little soapbox where I scream in the void. The only thing people can do is scream back.

Collaboration So. Let's see if we can work together here. If you don't like something I say, disagree, or find something wrong or to be improved, instead of screaming on social media or ignoring me, try contributing back. This site here is backed by a git repository and I promise to read everything you send there, whether it is an issue or a merge request. I will, of course, still read comments sent by email or IRC or social media, but please, be kind. You can also, of course, follow the latest changes on the TPA wiki. If you want to catch up with the last year, some of the "novellas" I wrote include: (Well, no, you can't actually follow changes on a GitLab wiki. But we have a wiki-replica git repository where you can see the latest commits, and subscribe to the RSS feed.) See you there!

Antoine Beaupr : Qalculate hacks

This is going to be a controversial statement because some people are absolute nerds about this, but, I need to say it. Qalculate is the best calculator that has ever been made. I am not going to try to convince you of this, I just wanted to put out my bias out there before writing down those notes. I am a total fan. This page will collect my notes of cool hacks I do with Qalculate. Most examples are copy-pasted from the command-line interface (qalc(1)), but I typically use the graphical interface as it's slightly better at displaying complex formulas. Discoverability is obviously also better for the cornucopia of features this fantastic application ships.

Qalc commandline primer On Debian, Qalculate's CLI interface can be installed with: 
apt install qalc
Then you start it with the qalc command, and end up on a prompt: 
anarcat@angela:~$ qalc
>
Then it's a normal calculator: 
anarcat@angela:~$ qalc
> 1+1
  1 + 1 = 2
> 1/7
  1 / 7   0.1429
> pi
  pi   3.142
>
There's a bunch of variables to control display, approximation, and so on: 
> set precision 6
> 1/7
  1 / 7   0.142857
> set precision 20
> pi
  pi   3.1415926535897932385
When I need more, I typically browse around the menus. One big issue I have with Qalculate is there are a lot of menus and features. I had to fiddle quite a bit to figure out that set precision command above. I might add more examples here as I find them.

Bandwidth estimates I often use the data units to estimate bandwidths. For example, here's what 1 megabit per second is over a month ("about 300 GiB"): 
> 1 megabit/s * 30 day to gibibyte 
  (1 megabit/second)   (30 days)   301.7 GiB
Or, "how long will it take to download X", in this case, 1GiB over a 100 mbps link: 
> 1GiB/(100 megabit/s)
  (1 gibibyte) / (100 megabits/second)   1 min + 25.90 s

Password entropy To calculate how much entropy (in bits) a given password structure, you count the number of possibilities in each entry (say, [a-z] is 26 possibilities, "one word in a 8k dictionary" is 8000), extract the base-2 logarithm, multiplied by the number of entries. For example, an alphabetic 14-character password is: 
> log2(26*2)*14
  log (26   2)   14   79.81
... 80 bits of entropy. To get the equivalent in a Diceware password with a 8000 word dictionary, you would need: 
> log2(8k)*x = 80
  (log (8   000)   x) = 80  
  x   6.170
... about 6 words, which gives you: 
> log2(8k)*6
  log (8   1000)   6   77.79
78 bits of entropy.

Exchange rates You can convert between currencies! 
> 1 EUR to USD
  1 EUR   1.038 USD
Even fake ones! 
> 1 BTC to USD
  1 BTC   96712 USD
This relies on a database pulled form the internet (typically the central european bank rates, see the source). It will prompt you if it's too old: 
It has been 256 days since the exchange rates last were updated.
Do you wish to update the exchange rates now? y
As a reader pointed out, you can set the refresh rate for currencies, as some countries will require way more frequent exchange rates. The graphical version has a little graphical indicator that, when you mouse over, tells you where the rate comes from.

Other conversions Here are other neat conversions extracted from my history 
> teaspoon to ml
  teaspoon = 5 mL
> tablespoon to ml
  tablespoon = 15 mL
> 1 cup to ml 
  1 cup   236.6 mL
> 6 L/100km to mpg
  (6 liters) / (100 kilometers)   39.20 mpg
> 100 kph to mph
  100 kph   62.14 mph
> (108km - 72km) / 110km/h
  ((108 kilometers)   (72 kilometers)) / (110 kilometers/hour)  
  19 min + 38.18 s

Completion time estimates This is a more involved example I often do.

Background Say you have started a long running copy job and you don't have the luxury of having a pipe you can insert pv(1) into to get a nice progress bar. For example, rsync or cp -R can have that problem (but not tar!). (Yes, you can use --info=progress2 in rsync, but that estimate is incremental and therefore inaccurate unless you disable the incremental mode with --no-inc-recursive, but then you pay a huge up-front wait cost while the entire directory gets crawled.)

Extracting a process start time First step is to gather data. Find the process start time. If you were unfortunate enough to forget to run date --iso-8601=seconds before starting, you can get a similar timestamp with stat(1) on the process tree in /proc with: 
$ stat /proc/11232
  File: /proc/11232
  Size: 0               Blocks: 0          IO Block: 1024   directory
Device: 0,21    Inode: 57021       Links: 9
Access: (0555/dr-xr-xr-x)  Uid: (    0/    root)   Gid: (    0/    root)
Access: 2025-02-07 15:50:25.287220819 -0500
Modify: 2025-02-07 15:50:25.287220819 -0500
Change: 2025-02-07 15:50:25.287220819 -0500
 Birth: -
So our start time is 2025-02-07 15:50:25, we shave off the nanoseconds there, they're below our precision noise floor. If you're not dealing with an actual UNIX process, you need to figure out a start time: this can be a SQL query, a network request, whatever, exercise for the reader.

Saving a variable This is optional, but for the sake of demonstration, let's save this as a variable: 
> start="2025-02-07 15:50:25"
  save("2025-02-07T15:50:25"; start; Temporary; ; 1) =
  "2025-02-07T15:50:25"

Estimating data size Next, estimate your data size. That will vary wildly with the job you're running: this can be anything: number of files, documents being processed, rows to be destroyed in a database, whatever. In this case, rsync tells me how many bytes it has transferred so far: 
# rsync -ASHaXx --info=progress2 /srv/ /srv-zfs/
2.968.252.503.968  94%    7,63MB/s    6:04:58  xfr#464440, ir-chk=1000/982266)
Strip off the weird dots in there, because that will confuse qalculate, which will count this as: 
  2.968252503968 bytes   2.968 B
Or, essentially, three bytes. We actually transferred almost 3TB here: 
  2968252503968 bytes   2.968 TB
So let's use that. If you had the misfortune of making rsync silent, but were lucky enough to transfer entire partitions, you can use df (without -h! we want to be more precise here), in my case: 
Filesystem              1K-blocks       Used  Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vg_hdd-srv 7512681384 7258298036  179205040  98% /srv
tank/srv               7667173248 2870444032 4796729216  38% /srv-zfs
(Otherwise, of course, you use du -sh $DIRECTORY.)

Digression over bytes Those are 1 K bytes which is actually (and rather unfortunately) Ki, or "kibibytes" (1024 bytes), not "kilobytes" (1000 bytes). Ugh. 
> 2870444032 KiB
  2870444032 kibibytes   2.939 TB

> 2870444032 kB
  2870444032 kilobytes   2.870 TB
At this scale, those details matter quite a bit, we're talking about a 69GB (64GiB) difference here: 
> 2870444032 KiB - 2870444032 kB
  (2870444032 kibibytes)   (2870444032 kilobytes)   68.89 GB
Anyways. Let's take 2968252503968 bytes as our current progress. Our entire dataset is 7258298064 KiB, as seen above.

Solving a cross-multiplication We have 3 out of four variables for our equation here, so we can already solve: 
> (now-start)/x = (2996538438607 bytes)/(7258298064 KiB) to h
  ((actual   start) / x) = ((2996538438607 bytes) / (7258298064
  kibibytes))
  x   59.24 h
The entire transfer will take about 60 hours to complete! Note that's not the time left, that is the total time. To break this down step by step, we could calculate how long it has taken so far: 
> now-start
  now   start   23 h + 53 min + 6.762 s
> now-start to s
  now   start   85987 s
... and do the cross-multiplication manually, it's basically: 
x/(now-start) = (total/current)
so: 
x = (total/current) * (now-start)
or, in Qalc: 
> ((7258298064  kibibytes) / ( 2996538438607 bytes) ) *  85987 s
  ((7258298064 kibibytes) / (2996538438607 bytes))   (85987 secondes)  
  2 d + 11 h + 14 min + 38.81 s
It's interesting it gives us different units here! Not sure why.

Now and built-in variables The now here is actually a built-in variable: 
> now
  now   "2025-02-08T22:25:25"
There is a bewildering list of such variables, for example: 
> uptime
  uptime = 5 d + 6 h + 34 min + 12.11 s
> golden
  golden   1.618
> exact
  golden = ( (5) + 1) / 2

Computing dates In any case, yay! We know the transfer is going to take roughly 60 hours total, and we've already spent around 24h of that, so, we have 36h left. But I did that all in my head, we can ask more of Qalc yet! Let's make another variable, for that total estimated time: 
> total=(now-start)/x = (2996538438607 bytes)/(7258298064 KiB)
  save(((now   start) / x) = ((2996538438607 bytes) / (7258298064
  kibibytes)); total; Temporary; ; 1)  
  2 d + 11 h + 14 min + 38.22 s
And we can plug that into another formula with our start time to figure out when we'll be done! 
> start+total
  start + total   "2025-02-10T03:28:52"
> start+total-now
  start + total   now   1 d + 11 h + 34 min + 48.52 s
> start+total-now to h
  start + total   now   35 h + 34 min + 32.01 s
That transfer has ~1d left, or 35h24m32s, and should complete around 4 in the morning on February 10th. But that's icing on top. I typically only do the cross-multiplication and calculate the remaining time in my head. I mostly did the last bit to show Qalculate could compute dates and time differences, as long as you use ISO timestamps. Although it can also convert to and from UNIX timestamps, it cannot parse arbitrary date strings (yet?).

Other functionality Qalculate can:
  • Plot graphs;
  • Use RPN input;
  • Do all sorts of algebraic, calculus, matrix, statistics, trigonometry functions (and more!);
  • ... and so much more!
I have a hard time finding things it cannot do. When I get there, I typically need to resort to programming code in Python, use a spreadsheet, and others will turn to more complete engines like Maple, Mathematica or R. But for daily use, Qalculate is just fantastic. And it's pink! Use it!

Further reading and installation This is just scratching the surface, the fine manual has more information, including more examples. There is also of course a qalc(1) manual page which also ships an excellent EXAMPLES section. Qalculate is packaged for over 30 Linux distributions, but also ships packages for Windows and MacOS. There are third-party derivatives as well including a web version and an Android app.

Updates Colin Watson liked this blog post and was inspired to write his own hacks, similar to what's here, but with extras, check it out!

6 February 2025

Dirk Eddelbuettel: RcppArmadillo 14.2.3-1 on CRAN: Small Upstream Fix

armadillo image Armadillo is a powerful and expressive C++ template library for linear algebra and scientific computing. It aims towards a good balance between speed and ease of use, has a syntax deliberately close to Matlab, and is useful for algorithm development directly in C++, or quick conversion of research code into production environments. RcppArmadillo integrates this library with the R environment and language and is widely used by (currently) 1215 other packages on CRAN, downloaded 38.2 million times (per the partial logs from the cloud mirrors of CRAN), and the CSDA paper (preprint / vignette) by Conrad and myself has been cited 612 times according to Google Scholar. Conrad released a minor version 14.2.3 yesterday. As it has been two months since the last minor release, we prepared a new version for CRAN too which arrived there early this morning. The changes since the last CRAN release are summarised below.

Changes in RcppArmadillo version 14.2.3-1 (2025-02-05)
  • Upgraded to Armadillo release 14.2.3 (Smooth Caffeine)
    • Minor fix for declaration of xSYCON and xHECON functions in LAPACK
    • Fix for rare corner-case in reshape()

Courtesy of my CRANberries, there is a diffstat report relative to previous release. More detailed information is on the RcppArmadillo page. Questions, comments etc should go to the rcpp-devel mailing list off the Rcpp R-Forge page.

This post by Dirk Eddelbuettel originated on his Thinking inside the box blog. If you like this or other open-source work I do, you can sponsor me at GitHub.

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