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Ghent University address book in Thunderbird

UGent address book support in Mozilla Thunderbird Ghent University has an LDAP address book which contains all students and staff. Adding this address book to Thunderbird is non-trivial, though. Follow these steps to add it.

How to verify the source of a Snap package

Many Snap packages contain two files which allow users to verify what sources were used to build the package. snap/snapcraft.yaml is the “source” of the package. This file was used by snapcraft to build the package. snap/manifest.yaml is a “recording” of the build of that package. It is similar to the first file, but it includes a lot more information to pinpoint what exact sources were being used. It records the exact package versions of dependencies, the git commit of all source repositories, checksums of any downloaded binary and more. The manifest is used by the Snap Store to check if Snap packages contain libraries with security vulnerabilities. If this is the case, the publisher gets an email asking them to rebuild the package.

How I became a cyborg pt2

This is part 2 of a series on how I became a cyborg. Warning: this article talks in details about heart surgery and shows post-op images. Read part 1 first

Why is there only one Snap Store?

Snap and Flatpak are the basis of two universal app stores for Linux: the Snap Store and Flathub. Interestingly, Flatpak has multiple repositories: Flathub is the main one but both Fedora and Elementary OS also host their own store. In contrast; there is only one Snap store. Why is that?

Copyleft and LGPL in Snaps and Flatpaks

The question often comes up of how Snaps and Flatpaks influence copyleft, GPL and LGPL licenses. It is a common misconception that these new packaging formats significantly influence license compliance.

Why Linux desktop apps need containers

The Snap Store and Flathub are two universal app stores for Linux. They are very different from how traditional software distribution works. As is always the case with new software, the question “why do we need this?” often arises. “Including software in distribution repositories has worked for so long, so why do we need to change it?”

A fundamental difference between Snap and Flatpak

Snaps and Flatpaks are often compared to each other because they both make it super easy for Linux users to get the latest versions of desktop applications. If a Linux user wants to install the latest version of apps like Slack, Krita or Blender, either tool will work just fine. There is one fundamental difference between Snaps and Flatpaks, however. While both are systems for distributing Linux apps, snap is also a tool to build Linux Distributions.

Tutorial: S4A on Ubuntu

S4A, or Scratch for Arduino, is an app that you can use to program Arduino boards using Scratch. You can program robots and LED’s without writing any code: all you need to do is drag and drop instructions in the visual programming environment.

What's up with CRI-O, Kata Containers and Podman?

The container ecosystem is moving rapidly. A lot happened in 2019! It seems the container ecosystem has arrived at the “consolidation” stage of the hype cycle: Docker Inc. sold off its enterprise business and had a bunch of restructuring. They shelved Docker Swarm saying “The primary orchestrator going forward is Kubernetes.” Twitter joined Spotify in moving away from Mesos-based container orchestration to Kubernetes. This was a huge blow to Mesos given Twitter was its original developer. The Cloud Native Compute Foundation archived rkt. Canonical doubled down on Kubernetes with MicroKubernetes for local development and Charmed Kubernetes for production setups and introduced support for Kata Containers to improve the security and isolation of containers. Red Hat released RHEL8 without Docker support, pointing customers towards their own Podman and CRI-O project. Kubernetes is the clear winner here, but how do Podman, CRI-O and Kata Containers relate to this ecosystem? The diagram below gives a simplified overview.

How I became a cyborg pt1

Close Encounters of the Third Kind “We really need to do something about the valve. We’ve passed the point where we can wait two more years to see how it progresses.”

Older blog (in Dutch)

In 2013 I blogged almost daily about my internship in Kigoma, Tanzania.

Read it →