2025-11-28:
Someone ruined the internet (x)
We all know that email@example.com is an email address. But what does an email address mean?
It means that on a server with the address example.com there is an account named email.
We also know itβs an email address, so we know which port to poke and what protocol to choose (details in dns).
And every *nix account can be written as user1@computer1, which means that on computer1 there exists an account user1.
The symbol @ literally means at:
user-at-computer1email-at-example.com
Cose. Uniform.
And then Twitter comes along and decides that everyone will be @user2, and breaks the internet.
TWITTER SHOULD HAVE USED user2@!!!111
We lost everything. Dark times are ahead.
2025-11-27:
Wordpress actions hooks and filter hooks
There are two types of hooks: Actions and Filters.
Actions allow you to add data or change how WordPress operates.
Filters give you the ability to change data during the execution of WordPress Core, plugins, and themes.
function add_action( $hook_name, $callback, $priority = 10, $accepted_args = 1 ) {
return add_filter( $hook_name, $callback, $priority, $accepted_args );
}
public function has_filters() {
foreach ($this->callbacks as $callbacks) {
if ($callbacks) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
2025-11-25:
Aluminum OS
Google's new 'Aluminium OS' project brings Android to PC
Will they make a fork "Aluminum OS"?
2025-11-22:
.ssh/unknown_hosts
When ssh connects to an unknown host, it asks the user to type "yes". No one knows why we should do it, but ssh will not connect without it.
You can avoid this prompt in two ways:
# 1. Disable security check (unsafe)
$ ssh -o "StrictHostKeyChecking no" user@example.com
# 2. Automatically make remote host known
$ ssh-keyscan -t rsa example.com >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
$ ssh user@example.com
There was no warning in the second case! And not because we disabled safety check, we made the host known to us!
Now you should understand that professional do different choices. Be professional, choose safety!
2025-11-18:
OTP registration
What if we look on OPIE and OTPW and decide we dont want it.
And we make registration by OTP generation. Singlefactory. While you have access to key -- you have access to the service.
No need to know any password, no any use of e-mails and logins.
Cool! Dumb and cool!
2025-11-16:
Zola SSG: the story of success
Many burned candles had I burn to figure out how the static site generator zola works.
It uses .md files, and it seemed like the safest option.
Apparently it can't render ``` and for some unknown reason it wraps everything in layers of <code> and <p> even with disabled highligting.
Thatβs unfortunate -- to fall on the text you shouldn't touch.


2025-11-10:
git vs git --bare
Your git repository could exist in two instances: normal and --bare. Normal is a ~git-client, not normal is a ~git-server. Not exactly, but --bare exists to be a remote in normal repositories. And it also doesn't have files inside.
You can create on your VPS a --bare repository and via ssh synchronize it, avoiding any services like github. And everyone with ssh access can use it as a remote.
Astoundingly, when you create normal it creates a directory for itself <repo>/.git</repo>, but when --bare it uses the given path as .git.
$ git init ./git-normal/
Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/.dotfiles/git-normal/.git/
$ git init --bare ./git-bare/
Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/.dotfiles/git-bare/
$ ls -lah git-normal/
.git/
$ ls -lah git-bare/
hooks/
info/
objects/
refs/
HEAD
config
description
Funny joke: if you put --bare in ./.git/, it will look like ./ has a git repository, and it is there, but it is not!
fatal: this operation must be run in a work tree
2025-09-28:
Local decentralized DNS without DNS: Multicast DNS (mDNS)
Entering
You have two linux items (others will also work, but you'll need to google why) that you want to communicate between.
The simplest way is to use ip, but only once. Tommorow the item will get a different ip, you can't win it.
The simplest way is to add an alias into /etc/hosts
192.168.0.48 destination
And use the alias everywhere:
$ scp kitty.gif user@destination:
But the ip will change anyway. But you will update it in a single place. But you will update it.
The simplest way to fix is install local DNS server on the server, make it the main server in the network, and proxy DNS queries throught it there is no.
Wouldnβt it be a breeze to avoid editing by hand?
Multicast DNS (mDNS)
In 2025 year 25 years ago was invented Multicast DNS (mDNS) which via brodcast request creates a local dynamic decentralized DNS that you shouldn't care about. But only within the single network. And only single host per item.
How Multicast DNS (how mDNS)
In linux when it converts word-names into numbers, it uses service Name Service Switch. This service has /etc/nsswitch.conf where it was shown where to how to look:
> cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
# Name Service Switch configuration file.
# See nsswitch.conf(5) for details.
passwd: files systemd
group: files [SUCCESS=merge] systemd
shadow: files systemd
gshadow: files systemd
publickey: files
hosts: mymachines resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
networks: files
For "hosts" it says to check first in local containers (mymachines)
Then it go to the (systemd-resolved) dns resolver which replaced nss-dns. If DNS returns unavailable, it quits.
Then it checks /etc/hosts, local hostname, and legacy DNS.
Engaging fact: we can add another service to the list. What if we will add the Multicast DNS (mDNS)?
Multicast DNS installation (mDNS installation)
Oviously, for literaly everyone we will have both and server, and client parts. We will do belows everywhere for harmony.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Avahi
Install package libnss-mdns in deps of which is avahi (we will add into NSS hosts as service):
# pacman -Sy nss-mdns
# emerge -av sys-auth/nss-mdns
# sudo apt-get install libnss-mdns avahi-daemon avahi-utils
Next add to /etc/nsswitch.conf following string mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return]:
# hosts: mymachines resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
hosts: mymachines mdns_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
# hosts: mymachines mdns_minimal resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
[NOTFOUND=return] tells not to look for domains*.local anymore, this will break entries in /etc/hosts so you can remove it to keep everything work as before, but better.
You can also catch domains beyond *.local, but we don't need it. We'll use /etc/hosts for it.
Set local domain in the file /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf and reload and check:
$ cat /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf | grep host-name
host-name=source
$ systemctl enable avahi-daemon.service # add to autorun
$ systemctl restart avahi-daemon.service # run
$ avahi-browse --all --verbose --resolve --terminate
$ avahi-resolve-host-name source.local
source.local 192.168.100.101
$ ping source.local
PING source.local 56 data bytes
64 bytes from source.local : icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.031 ms
64 bytes from source.local : icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.067 ms
64 bytes from source.local : icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.056 ms
^C
The problem is that we can have only one domain per item. If you want to have multiple local domains like:
git.local
server.local
You can easily do this via /etc/avahi/hosts, but there you also have to hardcode the ip.
The simplest way to fix it would be to run multiple instances of there is no simple way live with the single domain on it's all better anyway.avahi-publish & per each domain each time calcuting dynamic local ip
Enable sftp/ssh
$ cp /usr/share/doc/avahi/sftp-ssh.service /etc/avahi/services/
$ cp /usr/share/doc/avahi/ssh.service /etc/avahi/services/
$ systemctl restart avahi-daemon.service
Second item
Quickly repeat on the second item, then check from both they aren't alone. Configure an ssh connection by ip between two items. Then in ssh just replace ip to the local domain:
$ ssh my_user@destination.local -i ~/.ssh/my_key
When eveything works we add to ~/.ssh/config magic words:
Host destination
HostName destination.local
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/my_key
User my_user
An alias for ssh was magically created and fully configured:
$ ssh destination
That's all, we can now exchange files and remotely execute commands
$ cd /tmp/
$ date > temp_file
$ echo "source" >> temp_file
$ scp temp_file destination:
$ ssh destination 'echo destination >> ~/temp_file'
$ ssh destination 'cat ~/temp_file'
Uru ru ru, we can now exchange files and remotely execute commands. And now we can use domains not tied to ip!
Leaving
There is no multidomaning on the single item, but I can live with it.
You can apply the same to NFS and rsync and git!!!
And also mDNS the base of IoT and other home assistant networks!
2025-03-30:
egyptoglyphs vs japanoglyphs
You may not know this, but the Egyptians had already used tiny image-based communication long before it became mainstream. There's even a block in unicode specifically for it!
And I can't say it was bad:
| π | πΈ |
They even have a tiny image for a segway:
| π |
Unimpressed by modern times.
2025-01-26:
CLI params and Racket Language
Experienced unstoppable need to write a tiny binary executable file. It couldn't be a PHP as we all there are mentally passable people.
Next obvious choice was Racket language, so let's open the official Racket documentation:
(command-line optional-name-expr optional-argv-expr
flag-clause ...
finish-clause)
optional-name-expr =
| #:program name-expr
optional-argv-expr =
| #:argv argv-expr
flag-clause = #:multi flag-spec ...
| #:once-each flag-spec ...
| #:once-any flag-spec ...
| #:final flag-spec ...
| #:usage-help string ...
| #:help-labels string ...
| #:ps string ...
flag-spec = (flags id ... help-spec body ...+)
| (flags => handler-expr help-expr)
flags = flag-string
| (flag-string ...+)
help-spec = string
| (string-expr ...+)
finish-clause =
| #:args arg-formals body ...+
| #:handlers handlers-exprs
arg-formals = rest-id
| (arg ...)
| (arg ...+ . rest-id)
arg = id
| [id default-expr]
handlers-exprs = finish-expr arg-strings-expr
| finish-expr arg-strings-expr help-expr
| finish-expr arg-strings-expr help-expr
unknown-expr
Please, take a minute to visually contemplate the beauty of formatting.
Okay, that's enough. If you still have no idea how does it exactly work, there is a real example of someone who ascended:
(define parser
(command-line
#:usage-help
"Here you can write a general description of your program"
"You can have multiple strings to make multiple lines"
#:once-each
[("-m" "--my-parameter") MY-PARAMETER-NAME
"write a short description of what setting MY-PARAMETER-NAME does"
(my-parameter (string->number MY-PARAMETER-NAME))]
[("-a" "--another-parameter") ANOTHER-PARAM
"a little description of ANOTHER-PARAM"
(another-parameter (string=? "true" ANOTHER-PARAM))]
[("-s" "--string") A-STRING
"what is A-STRING?"
(a-string A-STRING)]
#:args () (void)))
Love very much the racket's usage of magic stings like #:once-each which definitely do something, but avoid autocompletion of official IDE. Wish you happy developing!
Very, very deep. I think it more than enough racket for me.