schacon: Really like the "Independent Tree Hash Headers" idea.
How difficult would this be to get this functionality into git?
Would it cause any breaking changes with older versions?
Have you discussed this with any git devs to see if they are open to adding it?
Actually, this entire blog post came out of a short chat at Git Merge a few weeks ago with Jeff King. I argued more or less this and he didn't _entirely_ disagree, though he has good counterarguments on the list over the last few years, so I don't really know how he thinks about it ultimately.
I would write this to the mailing list, but I thought a conversation that includes people outside that list is more interesting to me. Ultimately I'm not sure if I'm dumb about this or the whistle blower that's willing to actually say "maybe this isn't the right call"
I recently placed some PDF files for some nontechnical people on Dropbox. To avoid confusing them with the long complicated Dropbox URL, I even created a shortened link for them to use (think https://event.myorg.test).
Almost none of them had Dropbox accounts.
I found out later from someone that 90% of them couldn’t access the files. The link didn’t require a login but they made it look to the unsophisticated observer that you need an account to get the files. So these folks (most of them were elderly), just gave up.
My elderly mother ended up with a Dropbox subscription because someone sent her a file on Dropbox, that she could technically access for free, but she got dark patterned into creating an account and subscribing. To a yearly plan no less
You don't need account, that's for sure, but multiple times I've seen a big upsell popup that suggests that account is required, while the tiny gray button "skip to files" is on the very bottom. I hate such patterns.
The dark pattern nags to unregistered users for shared files are the number one reason I permanently abandoned Dropbox for personal and business use. It was subtle at first, then it got pathetically bad.
When a company like Dropbox prioritizes user account growth over usability, that company debases itself and deserves to lose.
I've been self-hosting my email for a little over 2 decades.
The basic setup has more or less stayed the same, but there's some more extra components around it you have to know now (spam filtering and SPF/DKIM/DMARC come readily to mind).
To quote Michael Lucas: "everything complicated about emails revolves around spam and not getting it". I highly recommend his book, "Run Your Own Mail Server".[1]
In short, hosting your own email is not that bad at all. I strongly suspect, like many other skills, since it has atrophied with the advent of the cloud and people readily giving up to the large carriers, it has gotten the reputation of being hard, or as you said, a full time job. I don't think either of those things are true.
Just wanted to chime in on my beancount workflow, which you may also want to check out.
I also use vim, and I use it a bit to edit my beancount files, but I mostly use fava, a most excellent web interface for beancount. In addition to having a built in editor (which does formatting and can catch errors and show you exactly where they are), it allows you to quickly add new transactions based on old ones — the dialog box allows you to choose from previously used accounts to speed up input. It’s a lifesaver. I don’t think I would have continued using beancount long term if it wasn’t for fava.
Just about the only negative thing I can say about fava is that it does formatting slightly differently from bean-format. I actually prefer it to beancount, but there are some cases where I prefer the native formatting (like when declaring/opening accounts). So for some months, I will switch from one to another. A minor nitpick, but it’s slightly annoying.
Fava is great. My only problem is that I was lazy and haven't imported anything for at least 2 years, and now it feels too daunting to try and catch up.
I've been running VPSs with them for the last 9 years. Never had a problem. And unlike Digital Ocean, they allow you to mount your own ISOs and fully support the BSDs.
Unless someone buys them out in the future and platform decay[1] happens, you can trust them.
I was there two weeks ago. The tour guide took us through a route that bypassed the longer lines and through some underground areas—culminating in an entrance that completely blew my mind. I never realized how huge the interior was until I stepped in and saw it firsthand. There are few things in my life that completely took my breath away, this ranks in the top 5 for sure.
On a slightly related note, Michael W. Lucas[1] is working on an upcoming book entitled "Run Your Own Mail Server", that will be published shortly (there's a Kickstarter campaign as well[2]).
I attended his tutorial and talk at BSDCan[3] this year and both were excellent. I highly recommend buying the book when it comes out (or supporting the Kickstarter), it will go through all the gory details of setting up and running a mail server, and best practices, including a ton of material on SPF/DKIM/DMARC.
(P.S. I have no affiliation with the author or the book in any way.)
Looking forward to this. First thing I ever ponied up on KS for.
I don't even run a mailserver, I'm just hoping it will take a bunch of the guides that have been floating about on the web, consolidate the sharp edges, and make sure its up to date.
I also hope it has some discussion on troubleshooting. Like dealing with blacklists and what not, folks always talk about that, but I've never see it documented what is actually done to resolve these problems (Like who do you send an email to, how do you even find out who to send an email to, etc.)
