Notices by 🌈 A. Wilcox delicately (awilfox@mst3k.interlinked.me)

@mort well, if you did that, I would be forced to either: work with you if you are reasonable to fix these errant assumptions[1][2]; patch out your ridiculous static_assert and carry downstream patches to fix your errant assumptions if you aren't[3]; or if it's especially bad, I would be forced to just not ship your software in the Linux distributions I'm responsible for and call you out publicly in an article[4].

[1]: https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/12667
[2]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/128643
[3]: https://cgit.adelielinux.org/packages/tree/user/firefox-esr/skia-unified.patch?id=c3b800fe454b0839f2e696e77acefceb6cc2970d
[4]: https://catfox.life/2024/11/29/the-complexities-of-enabling-opencl-support/

who wants to see a blog article where I rip into every single thing that desktops get wrong? I would include both proprietary and open source environments and happily note the good things as well.

not to tip my hand, but the main problem with most of the open ones are not being careful enough with HIGs and being way too fast at deprecating things because they feel they need continued maintenance. like. Geary as an email client was deprecated because nobody was "actively maintaining" it, but, as long as it builds, the libraries themselves are where the attack surface is, so why would you just.. kill your entire bloody email client and leave people with NOTHING??

@aschmitz mm, so that was more of a security "importance" than anything. Fair.

I've been using desktop Linux since 1999, but I suppose my bar of suckitude (is that still a word?) drops lower ever year. I think all of them are terrible, Windows, Mac, KDE, especially GNOME, LXQt, XFCE, TDE, MATE, Cinnamon, elementary, I could go on… but for vastly different reasons. I primarily daily a mix of Mac and KDE and continue to desperately wish for one of two miracles: that Apple suddenly MIT or GPL's Aqua, or that KDE convinces Qt to stop using FOSS users as guinea pigs and beta testers only.

I am aware neither of these will happen.

@aschmitz a suggestion as someone who has been on both the giving and receiving end of comments like these: please stop making it seem like the only "important" use of Linux is in the server space.

"Some important packages [...] but mostly desktop software" implies that desktop Linux is not important. This is why the Linux desktop sucks so much. Because people don't take it seriously and don't WANT to take it seriously. It does not have to be this way.

Further info:

CV: https://www.awilfox.com/cv/cv.pdf
Partial list of OSS contributions: https://www.awilfox.com/oss/
GitHub: https://github.com/awilfox
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awilcoxdev
Blog that documents some of my work and regularly sees >3K impressions per day: https://catfox.life/

I have many soft skills, including presenting technical content in an easy-to-digest way, security engineering including threat modelling and change controls, and assisting teams to come to agreements in a fair and pragmatic way.

I have been active in Libre Software / OSS since 2003.

I also know Windows and Apple platforms (Mac OS, iOS, iPadOS, tvOS). This includes Cocoa and MFC, in addition to some passing exposure to .NET.

Hello, fediverse!

I am looking for contract work, or ideally full time employment. My financial situation is delicate at this time. I can start virtually immediately.

I have significant experience in C++, Python, Ruby, and C, including Linux internals: both the kernel and userspace components. My ideal work would involve one of those. I also know Perl, shell, and Rust, though I am still learning Rust.

I have done automation work, including setting up CI/CD pipelines in Travis and GitHub Actions for a greenfield team at IBM. I use GitLab personally and believe in the best of agile and waterfall techniques (sprints and retrospectives, but also a focus on documenting use cases). I love teaching team members - knowledge sharing is one of my favourite team activities.

I require a remote-only role due to my disabilities, but I'm a self-starter that is passionate about software engineering, so I will always bring dedication and a sense of purpose to your organisation.

Please boost!

I have done The Thing.

https://catfox.life/2024/09/05/porting-systemd-to-musl-libc-powered-linux/

I have ported #systemd to #musl. Properly. Passing all tests, properly. Booting my 2012 Ivy Bridge in 3.2 seconds, properly.

I'm aware of how unpopular this will be in some circles. But change does not happen without competition, and musl environments deserve more than what they have right now. systemd isn't a panacea, it isn't even that great, but it's here, it solves real issues people have, and it's now an option. Not a requirement, but an option.

@aral the gnome people are especially bad at this. I raised an issue that their "a11y" tests were failing, and they told me to disable them. "They don't work here either".

@ariadne I mean I wrote this less than two months ago, so I'd be surprised if it's actually improved since then. But if that's what people want, it certainly wouldn't be the first time I've been completely out of touch 🤷♀️