Awesome! Thank you!
Thanks to oxzi, matoken, Louis Merlin, dandelions, Bruno Cesar Rocha and any other contributors I may have missed as well!
I submitted a Pull Request to update MacPorts' snac to 2.91 here:
https://github.com/macports/macports-ports/pull/31777
GitHub Continuous Integration checks are running, hopefully they will complete without issues?
Regardless, it's up to someone else with commit access to merge it!
#snac #MacPorts #OpenSource #ActivityPub #Mastodon #NoDatabaseNeeded
#NoJavaScript #NoCookiesEither #NotMuchBullShit #snacAnnounces
Posts
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@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Mar 23, 2026
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Feb 26, 2026
I knew Homebrew was bad, but thanks for explaining some other reasons I hadn't paid attention to such as:
"homebrew-core has one Ruby file per package formula, and every brew update used to clone or fetch the whole repository until it got large enough that GitHub explicitly asked them to stop."
I hadn't realized it was that bad! I'll add that to the list of reasons to continue avoiding Homebrew, as if the spyware by default and the founder turning into a cryptocoin grifter weren't bad enough already.
"Git packfiles use delta compression, storing only the diff when a 10MB file changes by one line, while the objects table stores each version in full. A file modified 100 times takes about 1GB in Postgres versus maybe 50MB in a packfile."
20X overhead, seems, kind of horrifying to me?
No, thank you.
"storing three full uncompressed copies of every repository across data centres because redundancy and operational simplicity beat storage efficiency even at hundreds of exabytes."
I can't even begin to wrap my head around "beat storage efficiency" at "hundreds of exabytes" but then, I have been witness to corporate largess on scales that defy rational explanation. Some companies can afford to light stacks of money on fire apparently, but I don't think taking inspiration from the Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight should be a guiding light for any sane sorts.
IMHO, SQL is an anti-pattern that Steve Jobs wasn't smart enough to avoid when he bundled Sybase with NeXT and subsequently we've been suffering from that oversight ever since. SQL should have died, or at least stayed with, IBM. There are so many better database paradigms in existence which are not SQL.
Anyway, I dislike Git and I dislike SQL and you have somehow managed to create what I guess to me, is like the opposite of the Reese's peanut butter cup commercials of the 20th century?
But y'know, you're probably not entirely off the mark? Fossil-scm is a DVCS (with limited Git interoperability) and issue tracking system and wiki and such, which is presumably by virtue of being developed by the author of SQLite, also wrapped around SQLite.
The concluding sentence: "there’s no filesystem of bare repos to manage alongside the database." hearkens back to some old Slashdot "Rob Pike Responds" Q&A about databases and filesystems: https://interviews.slashdot.org/story/04/10/18/1153211/rob-pike-responds but seems to ignore the reality: databases exist on filesystems, always have, and presumably, always will. So, figuring out how to not overly abstract that and get down to brass tax is vital.
I suppose, since elsewhere you write about S3, maybe you're too lost in the clouds and too far removed from bare metal and hardware implementations? That's, not a good thing. Pretty much, the opposite of good.
"homebrew-core has one Ruby file per package formula, and every brew update used to clone or fetch the whole repository until it got large enough that GitHub explicitly asked them to stop."
I hadn't realized it was that bad! I'll add that to the list of reasons to continue avoiding Homebrew, as if the spyware by default and the founder turning into a cryptocoin grifter weren't bad enough already.
"Git packfiles use delta compression, storing only the diff when a 10MB file changes by one line, while the objects table stores each version in full. A file modified 100 times takes about 1GB in Postgres versus maybe 50MB in a packfile."
20X overhead, seems, kind of horrifying to me?
No, thank you.
"storing three full uncompressed copies of every repository across data centres because redundancy and operational simplicity beat storage efficiency even at hundreds of exabytes."
I can't even begin to wrap my head around "beat storage efficiency" at "hundreds of exabytes" but then, I have been witness to corporate largess on scales that defy rational explanation. Some companies can afford to light stacks of money on fire apparently, but I don't think taking inspiration from the Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight should be a guiding light for any sane sorts.
IMHO, SQL is an anti-pattern that Steve Jobs wasn't smart enough to avoid when he bundled Sybase with NeXT and subsequently we've been suffering from that oversight ever since. SQL should have died, or at least stayed with, IBM. There are so many better database paradigms in existence which are not SQL.
Anyway, I dislike Git and I dislike SQL and you have somehow managed to create what I guess to me, is like the opposite of the Reese's peanut butter cup commercials of the 20th century?
But y'know, you're probably not entirely off the mark? Fossil-scm is a DVCS (with limited Git interoperability) and issue tracking system and wiki and such, which is presumably by virtue of being developed by the author of SQLite, also wrapped around SQLite.
The concluding sentence: "there’s no filesystem of bare repos to manage alongside the database." hearkens back to some old Slashdot "Rob Pike Responds" Q&A about databases and filesystems: https://interviews.slashdot.org/story/04/10/18/1153211/rob-pike-responds but seems to ignore the reality: databases exist on filesystems, always have, and presumably, always will. So, figuring out how to not overly abstract that and get down to brass tax is vital.
I suppose, since elsewhere you write about S3, maybe you're too lost in the clouds and too far removed from bare metal and hardware implementations? That's, not a good thing. Pretty much, the opposite of good.
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Feb 21, 2026
Chiming in with a: if you like books, maybe you can find some old O'Reilly books on ksh/Korn Shell that would be modestly helpful?
I guess O'Reilly doesn't publish physical books anymore, which is jaw dropping to me, but probably means you can find such things on the used market for not much money!
I realized, you asked about bash specifically, and ksh is not bash, but:
There are a plethora of UNIX shells and it's helpful to be versed in more than one!
I'm an outlier insomuch as I got habituated to tcsh long ago and still prefer it over most other choices (csh and tcsh users seem to be very fringe), even if I end up using zsh a lot these days.
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
I guess O'Reilly doesn't publish physical books anymore, which is jaw dropping to me, but probably means you can find such things on the used market for not much money!
I realized, you asked about bash specifically, and ksh is not bash, but:
There are a plethora of UNIX shells and it's helpful to be versed in more than one!
I'm an outlier insomuch as I got habituated to tcsh long ago and still prefer it over most other choices (csh and tcsh users seem to be very fringe), even if I end up using zsh a lot these days.
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Feb 11, 2026
Meanwhile, I'm lookin at the list and amazed by the number of "jobs" I have apparently had (which never paid me in the first place). Certainly, any time I was invited to deejay on the radio, it was never paid. Moreover, even in the 1990s I knew a fellow radio DJ who was more or less replaced by a CD jukebox with song choices dictated from on high and he was basically the voice in between tunes and ads to make it seem as if it wasn't evil overlords. Maybe, he got paid? I have my doubts.
CC: @V0ldek@awful.systems @cstross@wandering.shop
CC: @V0ldek@awful.systems @cstross@wandering.shop
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Jan 06, 2026
The policy postulation is ponderous! I dunno if or what BSD projects might adopt with regard to such things, but it's interesting food for thought!
The net-negative perspective kind of goes with the territory of being involved with less popular projects, but I've already been in these sorts of XKCD situations: https://xkcd.com/979/
Though it can be vaguely hilarious to google (back before that became its own A"I" minefield) something, and find a post, where I was the only one banging my head against an issue (or providing some vague solution, that others apparently hadn't improved upon in the ensuing years).
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
The net-negative perspective kind of goes with the territory of being involved with less popular projects, but I've already been in these sorts of XKCD situations: https://xkcd.com/979/
Though it can be vaguely hilarious to google (back before that became its own A"I" minefield) something, and find a post, where I was the only one banging my head against an issue (or providing some vague solution, that others apparently hadn't improved upon in the ensuing years).
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Jan 06, 2026
IMHO, it's kind of a ray of hope that BSDs are (for now at least) relatively immune to A"I" BS?
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
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ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
ティージェーグレェ
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
It's teajaygrey on snac.BSD.cafe! I would probably write something else, but that rhymes, what can I say? Previously: @byterhymer@mastodon.social, @teajaygrey@rap.social, @teajaygrey@sfba.social, @teajaygrey@norcal.social, @teajaygrey@cupoftea.social @teajaygrey@djs.social Elsewhere, semi personal: http://www.artkiver.com Editor since 2004: https://undeadly.org libre/free open source maintainer glimpse: https://repology.org/maintainers/?search=artkiver Partial career history: http://www.artkiver.com/partialcareer.html Pre-career/amateur/personal history and some musical highlights: http://www.artkiver.com/noncommercialandmusical.html
snac.bsd.cafe
@teajaygrey@snac.bsd.cafe
·
Mar 23, 2025
A minor correction:
Bill English invented the mouse. I knew him and Doug personally and Doug did not appreciate the common incorrect attribution given that Bill and Doug were collaborators.
There was an iOS re-implementation of the chorded keyset utilized by early NLS systems maybe around 2010? Unfortunately it long since fell into bit rot and is not in the Apple Store anymore.
SRI had cross licensing arrangements with SAIL (Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab) and Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) so a lot of the inheritance mentioned on the Alto later in the thread was sanctioned.
Similarly, a number of researchers matriculated from PARC to Apple (e.g. Alan Kay) who also licensed the mouse from SRI.
Bill English invented the mouse. I knew him and Doug personally and Doug did not appreciate the common incorrect attribution given that Bill and Doug were collaborators.
There was an iOS re-implementation of the chorded keyset utilized by early NLS systems maybe around 2010? Unfortunately it long since fell into bit rot and is not in the Apple Store anymore.
SRI had cross licensing arrangements with SAIL (Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab) and Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) so a lot of the inheritance mentioned on the Alto later in the thread was sanctioned.
Similarly, a number of researchers matriculated from PARC to Apple (e.g. Alan Kay) who also licensed the mouse from SRI.
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