Linux Dev Time

Andy is annoyed that so much free and open source software is hosted on a proprietary platform that’s owned by Microsoft. There are plenty of alternatives to GitHub, but ultimately the network effect is why so many people host their code there. We dream of a proper federated solution. Maybe one day…         1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/linuxdevtime     Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

If you want to be a good developer, how many different programming languages should you learn? Maybe becoming an expert in one specific language is the way to go. Maybe it’s more a case of learning different concepts and paradigms than languages.         1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/linuxdevtime     Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Forks are a fundamental aspect of open source software so we get into the different types of forks, when and why you might want to fork a project, the maintenance burden that comes with a hard fork, the importance of winning mindshare for your fork, what exactly counts as a fork, when it’s not always a great idea to fork, and more.     Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

We are joined by Allan Jude to talk about what it’s like to run a company that develops and maintains open source software with a focus on upstreaming as much code as possible.   Klara November 2023 FreeBSD Vendor Summit – The Value of Upstream First How to upstream code to open source projects FiloSottile (Filippo Valsorda)           Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Andy is a huge proponent of test-driven development and explains why – including types of code testing including unit tests and integration tests, when you actually need to run tests, how long they should take, and more.   Emily Bache cyber‑dojo Test with Go         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Kevin and Andy answer Joe’s noob questions about development including the differences between compiled and interpreted languages, C vs C++, why the Linux kernel is written in C, Go vs Rust, and what memory safety means.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

We are joined by Drew DeVault to discuss his programming language called Hare, which aims for 100 years of forwards compatibility. We mentioned Drew’s blog posts Can I be on your podcast? and It takes a village         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

How we first learned to code, and how we learn new technologies now. Snake in Terraform Snake in lots of languages Web server in Sinclair BASIC       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

What we’ve learned over the years about the interview process for software development jobs, both as the applicant and the interviewer.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

The automation tools we use in our development and why we use them. Plus how to engage with your project’s community – both in real time, and asynchronously.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Andy Balaam joins us to talk about accepting contributions from devs with varying levels of experience. When to invest the time to mentor them, why documentation is important, how automated tools fit in, being willing to decline some contributions, dealing with companies vs individuals, and more.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

How we use AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, what they have done to the development industry, what might happen in the future, and the ethics of the whole thing. With guest host Linus.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/linuxdevtime to learn more.   Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed  

We follow up on last episode with some clarifications from Amolith about code collaboration. Plus we get into development workflows in general, code review, the paradigms we couldn’t do without, and more. With guest host Linus.   Amolith mentioned a Low energy game jam.     Support us on Patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes       See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

When it comes to collaboration workflows, Amolith dislikes the pull request model that GitHub made popular and much prefers the email/patch-based approach. Kevin does his best to get to the bottom of why, and Joe wonders if it might come down to disliking Microsoft.   Your GitHub pull request workflow is slowing everyone down Graphite git-branchless       See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Linux Downtime is now Linux Dev Time! In this first episode we talk about “sharpening our tools” – changing your dev tools, trying out new languages, using existing code vs writing something new, how to get over creative blocks, and more.   How Often Should We Sharpen Our Tools?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch. Subscribe to the RSS feed

Kevin joins us to talk about the hype that surrounds some programming languages like Rust and Python, how some languages like Java went out of fashion, and why the likes of PHP never saw much hype at all. With guest host Jim from 2.5 Admins.   Kevin’s Twitter Kevin’s Mastodon Clap         Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

There’s a meme that software developers should be forced to use low end hardware to experience what it’s like to be a real user. So what hardware should devs actually use to test their software? How does this differ for GUI and CLI applications? With guest host Jim from 2.5 Admins.       HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get free breakfast for life at hellofresh.com/ldtfree using code ldtfree. (One breakfast item per box while subscription is active).         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Roger Light to discuss what it’s like to work for a company that uses the open core model — maintaining an open source project and offering additional paid for proprietary features. With guest host Jim from 2.5 Admins.   Mosquitto Cedalo       Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Marcin Kulik – the creator and maintainer of asciinema. We talk about the project itself, developing on Linux, IDEs, targetting a technical audience, the advantages of writing for a command line interface, why -R is always wrong for the recursive flag, and more. With guest host Jim from 2.5 Admins. Marcin on Mastodon asciinema on Mastodon asciinema on Matrix         HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off plus free shipping at hellofresh.com/50ldt using code 50ldt.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Jim Salter joins us to talk about getting the most out of your open source project. From designing and planning, to attracting contributors, considering the correct scope, building on top of existing software, and more.   Sanoid and Syncoid Perlpv Jim’s website Jim’s social media links 2.5 Admins podcast       Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

How to get hired for your first development job, more on contributor license agreements, and our thoughts on different immutable OS approaches.   Fiduciary Licence Agreement (FLA) – FSFE Why the FSF Gets Copyright Assignments from Contributors         HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months at hellofresh.com/50ldt using code 50ldt.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Element developer Andy Balaam to talk about working on open source software after 20 years in the proprietary world. We get into working in public, the realities of accepting code contributions, being part of a distributed team, the pros and cons of working from home, and more.   Andy’s links: Live streams Website and blog Andy’s programming videos Retro games         Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are all on board with the right to be forgotten but it can cause some tricky problems for open source projects – particularly small ones. Plus why we won’t stop going on about why we take such a dim view of crypto. Amolith mentioned a toot from the Tor Project.       HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off and free shipping at hellofresh.com/50ldt using the promo code 50ldt.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Why Amolith uses Arch, why Gary uses Debian, and why Joe uses Ubuntu.       Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Contributor license agreements aren’t very popular, but not having a CLA can cause problems for projects in the future. Gary can’t do things like publishing Pidgin on Apple’s app stores, and Amolith is wrestling with how to keep his options open for the SaaS project he’s working on. Don’t sign a CLA Seriously, don’t sign a CLA       Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Chris Waldon to talk about how to get started with coding and software development. Chris mentioned his blog.       Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Is there really a renaissance in open communication tools? Does the success of the Fediverse mean that people are finally moving away from the huge companies that lock your data up? Are FOSS people just living in a bubble while the world continues to use the big platforms? How does Meta/Facebook joining the Fediverse fit into the picture? What about Bluesky?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Jorge tries to address Félim‘s concerns about immutable desktop distros like Silverblue and Universal Blue.     Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/ldt50 and use code ldt50 to get 50% off your first box.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Amolith attempts to argue that avoiding ads using open source software is piracy, and that piracy in this case is good.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Part 2 of our chat with Molly White from Web3 is Going Just Great. This time we talk about Mastodon and the Fediverse, central bank digital currencies, cashless societies, the hype around AI, corporate surveillance, and more. Check out part 1 here Molly’s Mastodon       ServerMania ServerMania offers a wide range of fully customizable dedicated, cloud, colocation, and IP Transit services, and free initial consultations. Go to servermania.com/ldt and use the promo code linuxdowntime to get 15% off dedicated servers – recurring for life.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.  

We are joined by Molly White from Web3 is Going Just Great to talk about the issues with crypto, Bitcoin, the Lightning network, blockchain, NFTs, and “web3”.   Molly’s Mastodon     Amolith will be at SELF June 9-11 in Charlotte NC.       ServerMania ServerMania offers a wide range of fully customizable dedicated, cloud, colocation, and IP Transit services, and free initial consultations. Go to servermania.com/ldt and use the promo code linuxdowntime to get 15% off dedicated servers – recurring for life.  

Liam from Gaming on Linux joins us to talk about the current state of Linux gaming, the Steam Deck, how things progressed to this point, Valve being the driving force behind it all, whether the lack of native Linux games matters when Proton exists, and loads more.   Gaming on Linux YouTube channel   Check out Linux Matters       ServerMania ServerMania offers a wide range of fully customizable dedicated, cloud, colocation, and IP Transit services, and free initial consultations. Go to servermania.com/ldt and use the promo code linuxdowntime to get 15% off dedicated servers – recurring for life.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Amolith from Linux Lads and Alan Pope to discuss Generation Z’s view of technology, and whether modern abstraction layers ultimately detract from ideas of software freedom and digital rights.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

We are joined by Alex from Self-Hosted to talk about home media setups. Is it a good idea to use a NAS running a desktop while connected to a TV, or does something like an Nvidia Shield make more sense?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

What is the right level of customisation for the Linux desktop?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Should open source projects use open platforms for their communities, or should they meet people where they are – places like Discord? Join the Discord server, Telegram group, Matrix room, or IRC channel.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Martin tells us about why he decided to work with Nix and NixOS professionally.   He mentioned Determinate Systems and Zero to Nix         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

In the modern world where we run more and more software from outside our distros’ repositories, how do we know what to trust?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Martin, Gary, and Hayden explain how their regular live streams benefit the open source projects that they work on.   Martin’s Twitch and YouTube Gary’s Twitch Hayden’s YouTube       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Modding a Game Cube with a Raspberry Pi Pico, writing a book about cross-platform and cross-architecture development, and the struggles of self-hosted security camera footage.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Alan Pope (popey) joins us to discuss building and fostering a positive and productive community.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Martin has created a new desktop environment and a container tool, Gary has been clustering Raspberry Pis, and Hayden has been playing with the new Microsoft Arm box.   Butterfly Turing Pi Windows Dev Kit 2023 machinespawn       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Simon Butcher joins us to talk about how open source AI can be, in theory and in practice.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

What problems that we are currently facing will be solved with Linux and FOSS in the future, and why does it involve AI/ML?       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Does it matter where you host your FOSS code? GitHub benefits from the network effect, but other options have their own benefits. Plus Gary explains why he doesn’t use Git.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

What’s the best way to implement telemetry and metrics in open source software, and should it be opt-in or opt-out?         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

What F/OSS means to us and why it’s important.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

It’s part 2 of our discussion about sustainability in FOSS. Make sure to listen to part 1 first.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

There is a sustainability problem in FOSS. How do we fix it?         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Hayden explains why he uses Windows Subsystem for Linux on a daily basis, and argues that Microsoft is a very different organisation from the one that was so hostile to FOSS 20+ years ago. He mentioned his unofficial timeline of Microsoft’s transition towards open source.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.