L’urgence de soutenir l’énergie du libre

Éditorial rédigé pour le Lama déchaîné n°9, l’hebdomadaire réalisé par l’April afin d’alerter sur la précarité financière de l’association. J’étais limité à 300 mots. Pour un bavard comme moi, c’est un exercice très difficile ! (il est déchaîné… hi hi hi ! Elle est amusante celle-là, je viens de la comprendre )

• Le Lama déchaîné n°9

Montée de l’extrémisme, catastrophes climatiques, crises politiques et sociales, guerres. Entre ces urgences, est-il encore raisonnable de consacrer de l’énergie au logiciel libre, aux communs numériques et culturels? Ne devrait-on pas revoir nos priorités?

Le raccourci est dangereux.

Ne faut-il pas au contraire revenir aux fondamentaux, réfléchir à l’infrastructure même de notre société?

Contrairement à ce que nous serinent les magnats de l’industrie, la technologie n’est jamais neutre. Elle porte en elle sa propre idéologie. Par essence, l’extrême centralisation de nos outils Internet préfigure la centralisation d’un pouvoir autoritaire fasciste. L’ubiquité du modèle publicitaire rend la croissance et l’hyperconsommation incontournable. Ces deux piliers se rejoignent et se complètent dans la normalisation de l’espionnage technologique permanent.

Si nous voulons changer de direction, si nous voulons apprendre à limiter notre consommation des ressources naturelles, à écouter et respecter nos différences, à bâtir des compromis démocratiques, il est urgent et indispensable de nous attaquer à la racine: notre infrastructure de communication et d’échange. De libérer le réseau qui nous relie, qui relie nos données, nos échanges commerciaux, nos pensées, nos émotions.

Rejoindre un groupe anticapitaliste sur Facebook, poster des vidéos zéro déchet sur Instagram ou utiliser l’infrastructure Outlook pour les mails de son syndicat sont des actes qui participent activement à promouvoir, justifier et perpétuer le système qu’ils cherchent, naïvement, à dénoncer.

Ce n’est pas un hasard si les discussions sur le Fediverse et le réseau Mastodon parlent de cyclisme, d’écologie, de féminisme. Parce que la technologie libre et décentralisée porte sa propre idéologie. Parce qu’elle arrive à se maintenir, à effrayer les plus gros monopoles que le capitalisme ait jamais engendrés, et cela malgré le fait qu’elle ne tienne que grâce à des bouts de ficelle et l’énergie de quelques personnes sous-payées ou bénévoles.

Lorsque tout semble aller de travers, il faut se concentrer sur les racines, les fondamentaux. L’infrastructure, l’éducation. C’est pourquoi je pense que les actions de l’April, la Quadrature du Net, Framasoft, la Contre-voie et toutes les associations libristes ne sont pas simplement importantes.

Elles sont vitales, cruciales.

Le libre n’est pas un luxe, c’est une urgence absolue.

— Et alors, hi hi hi, Ploum a dit : il est… hi hi hi… Il est déchaîné !
— Par pitié, faites un don à l’April sinon il va la raconter de nouveau !

• Faire un don à l’April
• Faire un don à la Quadrature du Net
• Faire un don à Framasoft
• Faire un don à la Contre-Voie

Il est déchaîné… hi hi hi…

• Le dessin du Lama est de Gee et sous licence CC By-SA

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 2)

Previously in "20 years of Linux on the Deskop" : Looking to make the perfect desktop with GNOME and Debian, a young Ploum finds himself joining a stealth project called "no-name-yet". The project is later published under the name "Ubuntu".

• 20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 1)

Flooded with Ubuntu CD-ROMs

The first official Ubuntu release was 4.10. At that time, I happened to be the president of my University LUG: LouvainLiNux. LouvainLiNux was founded a few years before by Fabien Pinckaers, Anthony Lesuisse and Benjamin Henrion as an informal group of friends. After they graduated and left university, Fabien handled me all the archives, all the information and told me do continue the work while he was running his company that would, much later, becomes Odoo. With my friend Bertrand Rousseau, we decided to make Louvain-Li-Nux a formal and enduring organisation known as "KAP" (Kot-à-Projet). Frédéric Minne designed the logo by putting the student hat ("calotte") of Fabien on a penguin clipart.

• Louvain-Li-Nux

In 2005 and 2006, we worked really hard to organise multiple install parties and conferences. We were also offering resources and support. At a time where broadband Internet was not really common, the best resource to install GNU/Linux was an installation CD-ROM.

Thanks to Mark Shuttleworth’s money, Ubuntu was doing something unprecedented: sending free CD-ROMs of Ubuntu to anyone requesting them. Best of all: the box contained two CD-ROMs. A live image and an installation CD. Exactly how I dreamed it (I’m not sure if the free CD-ROMs started with 4.10, 5.04 or even 5.10).

I managed to get Louvain-Li-Nux recognised as an official Ubuntu distributor and we started to receive boxes full of hundreds of CD-ROMs with small cardboard dispensers. We had entire crates of Ubuntu CD-ROMs. It was the easiest to install. It was the one I knew the best and I had converted Bertrand (before Fabien taught me about Debian, Bertrand tried to convert me to Mandrake, which he was using himself. He nevertheless spent the whole night with me when I installed Debian for the first time, not managing to configure the network because the chipset of my ethernet card was not the same as the one listed on the box of said card. At the time, you had to manually choose which module to load. It was another era, kids these days don’t know what they are missing).

With Louvain-Li-Nux, we literally distributed hundreds of CD-ROMs. I’ve myself installed Ubuntu on tenths of computers. It was not always easy as the market was pivoting from desktop computers to laptops. Laptops were starting to be affordable and powerful enough. But laptops came with exotic hardware, wifi, Bluetooth, power management, sleep, hibernate, strange keyboard keys and lots of very complex stuff that you don’t need to handle on a desktop computer with a RJ-45 hole.

Sound was a hard problem. I remember spending hours on a laptop before realising there was a hardware switch. To play multiple sounds at the same time, you needed to launch a daemon called ESD. Our frustration with ESD would lead Bertrand and I to trap Lennart Poetering in a cave in Brussels to spend the whole night drinking beers with him while swearing we would wear a "we love Lennart" t-shirt during FOSDEM in order to support is new Polypaudio project that was heavily criticised at the time. Spoiler: we never did the t-shirt thing but Polypaudio was renamed Pulseaudio and succeeded without our support.

Besides offering beers to developers, I reported all the bugs I experienced and worked hard with Ubuntu developers. If I remember correctly, I would, at some point, even become the head of the "bug triaging team" (if such a position ever existed. It might be that someone called me like that to flatter my ego). Selected as a student for the Google Summer of Code, I created a python client for Launchpad called "Conseil". Launchpad had just replaced Bugzilla but, as I found out after starting Conseil, was not open source and had no API. I learned web scrapping and was forced to update Conseil each time something changed on Launchpad side.

The most important point about Bugzilla and Launchpad was the famous bug #1. Bug #1, reported by sabdfl himself, was about breaking Microsoft monopoly. It could be closed once it would be considered that any computer user could freely choose which operating system to use on a newly bought computer.

The very first book about Ubuntu

Meanwhile, I was contacted by a French publisher who stumbled upon my newly created blog that I mainly used to profess my love of Ubuntu and Free Software. Yes, the very blog you are currently reading.

That French publisher had contracted two authors to write a book about Ubuntu and wanted my feedback about the manuscript. I didn’t really like what I read and said it bluntly. Agreeing with me, the editor asked me to write a new book, using the existing material if I wanted. But the two other authors would remain credited and the title could not be changed. I naively agreed and did the work, immersing myself even more in Ubuntu.

The result was « Ubuntu, une distribution facile à installer », the very first book about Ubuntu. I hated the title. But, as I have always dreamed of becoming a published author, I was proud of my first book. And it had a foreword by Mark Shuttleworth himself.

I updated and rewrote a lot of it in 2006, changing its name to "Ubuntu Efficace". A later version was published in 2009 as "Ubuntu Efficace, 3ème édition". During those years, I was wearing Ubuntu t-shirts. In my room, I had a collection of CD-ROMs with each Ubuntu version (I would later throw them, something I still regret). I bootstrapped "Ubuntu-belgium" at FOSDEM. I had ploum@ubuntu.com as my primary email on my business card and used it to look for jobs, hoping to set the tone. You could say that I was an Ubuntu fanatic.

Ironically, I was never paid by Canonical and never landed a job there. The only money I received for that work was from my books or from Google through the Summer of Code (remember: Google was still seen as a good guy). I would later work for Lanedo and be paid to contribute to GNOME and LibreOffice. But never to contribute to Ubuntu nor Debian.

In the Ubuntu and GNOME community with Jeff Waugh

Something which was quite new to me was that Ubuntu had a "community manager". At the time, it was not the title of someone posting on Twitter (which didn’t exist). It was someone tasked with putting the community together, with being the public face of the project.

Jeff Waugh is the first Ubuntu community manager I remember and I was blown away by his charism. Jeff came from the GNOME project and one of his pet issues was to make computers easier. He started a trend that would, way later, gives birth to the infamous GNOME 3 design.

You have to remember that the very first fully integrated desktop on Linux was KDE. And KDE had a very important problem: it was relying on the Qt toolkit which, at the time, was under a non-free license. You could not use Qt in a commercial product without paying Trolltech, the author of Qt.

GNOME was born as an attempt by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena to create a KDE-like desktop using the free toolkit created for the Gimp image editor: Gtk.

This is why I liked to make the joke that the G in GNOME stands for Gtk, that the G in Gtk stands for Gimp, that the G in Gimp stands for GNU and that the G in GNU stands for GNU. This is not accurate as the G in GNOME stands for GNU but this makes the joke funnier. We, free software geeks, like to have fun.

Like its KDE counterpart, GNOME 1 was full of knobs and whistles. Everything could be customised to the pixel and to the milliseconds. Jeff Waugh often made fun of it by showing the preferences boxes and asking the audience who wanted to customise a menu animation to the millisecond. GNOME 1 was less polished than KDE and heavier than very simple window managers like Fvwm95 or Fvwm2 (my WM of choice before I started my quest for the perfect desktop).

With GNOME 2, GNOME introduced its own paradigm and philosophy: GNOME would be different from KDE by being less customisable but more intuitive. GNOME 2 opened a new niche in the Linux world: a fully integrated desktop for those who don’t want to tweak it.

KDE was for those wanting to customise everything. The most popular distributions featured KDE: Mandrake, Red Hat, Suse. The RPM world. There was no real GNOME centric distribution. And there was no desktop distribution based on Debian. As Debian was focused on freedom, there was no KDE in Debian.

Which explains why GNOME + Debian made a lot of sense in my mind.

As Jeff Waugh had been the GNOME release manager for GNOME 2 and was director of the GNOME board, having him as the first Ubuntu community manager set the tone: Ubuntu would be very close to GNOME. And it is exactly what happened. There was a huge overlap between GNOME and Ubuntu enthusiasts. As GNOME 2 would thrive and get better with each release, Ubuntu would follow.

But some people were not happy. While some Debian developers had been hired by Canonical to make Ubuntu, some others feared that Ubuntu was a kind of Debian fork that would weaken Debian. Similarly, Red Hat had been investing lot of time and money in GNOME. I’ve never understood why, as Qt was released under the GPL in 2000, making KDE free, but Red Hat wanted to offer both KDE and GNOME. It went as far as tweaking both of them so they would look perfectly identical when used on Red Hat Linux. Red Hat employees were the biggest pool of contributors to GNOME.

There was a strong feeling in the atmosphere that Ubuntu was piggybacking on the work of Debian and Red Hat.

I didn’t really agree as I thought that Ubuntu was doing a lot of thankless polishing and marketing work. I liked the Ubuntu community and was really impressed by Jeff Waugh. Thanks to him, I entered the GNOME community and started to pay attention to user experience. He was inspiring and full of energy.

Benjamin Mako Hill

What I didn’t realise at the time was that Jeff Waugh’s energy was not in infinite supply. Mostly burned out by his dedication, he had to step down and was replaced by Benjamin Mako Hill. That’s, at least, how I remember it. A quick look at Wikipedia told me that Jeff Waugh and Benjamin Mako Hill were, in fact, working in parallel and that Jeff Waugh was not the community manager but an evangelist. It looks like I’ve been wrong all those years. But I choose to stay true to my own experience as I don’t want to write a definitive and exhaustive history.

Benjamin Mako Hill was not a GNOME guy. He was a Debian and FSF guy. He was focused on the philosophical aspects of free software. His intellectual influence would prove to have a long-lasting effect on my own work. I remember fondly that he introduced the concept of "anti-features" to describe the fact that developers are sometimes working to do something against their own users. They spend energy to make the product worse. Examples include advertisement in apps or limited-version software. But it is not limited to software: Benjamin Mako Hill took the example of benches designed so you can’t sleep on them, to prevent homeless person to take a nap. It is obviously more work to design a bench that prevents napping. The whole anti-feature concept would be extended and popularised twenty years later by Cory Doctorow under the term "enshitification".

Benjamin Mako Hill introduced a code of conduct in the Ubuntu community and made the community very aware of the freedom and philosophical aspects. While I never met him, I admired and still admire Benjamin. I felt that, with him at the helm, the community would always stay true to its ethical value. Bug #1 was the leading beacon: offering choice to users, breaking monopolies.

Jono Bacon

But the one that would have the greatest influence on the Ubuntu community is probably Jono Bacon who replaced Benjamin Mako Hill. Unlike Jeff Waugh and Benjamin Mako Hill, Jono Bacon had no Debian nor GNOME background. As far as I remember, he was mostly unknown in those communities. But he was committed to communities in general and had very great taste in music. I’m forever grateful for introducing me to Airbourne.

With what feels like an immediate effect but probably lasted months or years, the community mood switched from engineering/geek discussions to a cheerful, all-inclusive community.

It may look great on the surface but I hated it. The GNOME, Debian and early Ubuntu communities were shared-interest communities. You joined the community because you liked the project. The communities were focused on making the project better.

With Jono Bacon, the opposite became true. The community was great and people joined the project because they liked the community, the sense of belonging. Ubuntu felt each day more like a church. The project was seen as less important than the people. Some aspects would not be discussed openly not to hurt the community.

I felt every day less and less at home in the Ubuntu community. Decisions about the project were taken behind closed doors by Canonical employees and the community transformed from contributors to unpaid cheerleaders. The project to which I contributed so much was every day further away from Debian, from freedom, from openness and from its technical roots.

But people were happy because Jono Bacon was such a good entertainer.

Something was about to break…

(to be continued)

Subscribe by email or by rss to get the next episodes of "20 years of Linux on the Desktop".

I’m currently turning this story into a book. I’m looking for an agent or a publisher interested to work with me on this book and on an English translation of "Bikepunk", my new post-apocalyptic-cyclist typewritten novel which sold out in three weeks in France and Belgium.

La colère de l’écrivain

RAPPEL: je serai à Louvain-la-Neuve mardi 10 décembre à 19h à La Page d’Après pour ma dernière rencontre de l’année.

• Rencontre Littéraire Bikepunk avec Ploum (mobilizon.fr)

Comme je l’explique dans la suite de ce billet, le succès de Bikepunk a pris le distributeur au dépourvu et le livre s’est retrouvé indisponible pour beaucoup de libraires. La situation devrait être à présent résolue. Si votre libraire ne peut pas l’avoir rapidement, commandez avant le 10-11 décembre sur le site PVH. Vous devriez le recevoir avant Noël. Un tout grand merci pour votre patience !

• Commander Bikepunk sur le site PVH

Une colère inextinguible

Il y a une vingtaine d’années, je me suis rendu dans un grand hôtel bruxellois pour une soirée de lectures de poésie. J’ai appelé l’ascenseur. Quand il s’est ouvert devant moi, je me suis subitement retrouvé face à Jean-Marie Le Pen et son garde du corps. Je l’ai reconnu sans aucune hésitation, sans aucun doute.

J’ai été tétanisé.

Sans réfléchir, par réflexe, j’ai fait un pas en arrière et refusé de rentrer dans l’ascenseur. Tout en montant les escaliers, je me suis longuement demandé si ce réflexe était juste. Si cette personne méritait cette attention, si j’aurais du l’ignorer totalement et faire comme si de rien n’était. Je me demandais également s’il se rendait à la même soirée que moi, soirée organisée par la veuve d’un résistant belge célèbre qui avait été prisonnier à Dachau.

À la fin de la soirée, discutant avec cette vieille dame adorable et très intéressante, je lui tends un recueil de mes propres poèmes. Elle prend un très long moment pour lire mes poèmes, les relire avant de se tourner vers moi avec un petit signe de dénégation :

— Vous n’êtes pas un poète.

La douche est froide.

— Vous avez trop de choses à dire. Trop de colère, trop de sujets à aborder. Vous n’êtes pas un poète. Vous êtes un écrivain !

Cette rencontre me revient régulièrement en tête et je ne peux que constater la justesse de cette analyse. Je veux en dire trop tout le temps. Parfois, je laisse écouler ma colère, brute, sauvage, violente et agressive. Parfois je tente de la catalyser ou de la camoufler en utilisant l’analyse rationnelle, l’humour voire même l’hypocrisie. Il n’en reste pas moins que je ne fais que rajouter un « é » devant chacun de mes cris pour en faire des écrits.

Chaque écrit est un cri, chaque cri est un écrit. Toute ma vie n’est que la gestion de cette colère bouillonnante qui m’anime (et que mon épouse m’éduque à contrôler).

C’est pour quoi j’ai été incroyablement touché de découvrir que Terry Pratchett, un de mes modèles, était un homme profondément, désespérément en colère.

• Neil Gaiman: ‘Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He’s angry’ (www.theguardian.com)

Une autre anecdote que j’ai retenue de la très chouette biographie de Terry Pratchett est, qu’au bord du burn-out, il a finalement accepté de prendre six mois sabbatiques pour se reposer de l’écriture. À son retour, son agent lui a demandé ce qu’il avait fait de ces six mois. « J’ai écrit deux livres » a répondu Terry Pratchett.

Tout le monde peut écrire. L’écrivain est celui qui ne peut pas s’empêcher d’écrire. Il en est de même du blogging. On me demande parfois pourquoi je blogue autant. Je ne peux que répondre : « Parce que je ne peux physiquement pas faire moins ». Comme je répondais à Eddy Caekelberghs sur les ondes de la RTBF, si je ne le faisais pas, j’ai l’impression que j’exploserais. J’écris comme je refuse de monter dans un ascenseur avec Jean-Marie Le Pen : par réflexe, par nécessité vitale.

• Ploum à l’émission Majuscules avec Eddy Caekelberghs (indymotion.fr)

J’ai tellement de choses à écrire et il me reste tellement peu d’années pour le faire. Je dois en permanence faire des choix, me dire « non » à moi-même, repousser les nouvelles idées qui m’assaillent. Un problème que Thurk a appelé « The Boltzmann Brain ».

• The Existential Boltzmann Brain (thurk.org)

L’industrie du livre

Écrire. Oui, mais pourquoi ? Pour être lu bien sûr ! Le Graal, pour un auteur non anglophone, c’est d’être traduit en anglais pour accéder au marché international. Mais ce marché rêvé est-il si formidable ? Le monde de l’édition est typiquement un marché de type « Winner takes it all » comme le décrit Jaron Lanier dans son livre « Who owns the future ? ».

Si vous n’êtes pas une mégacélébrité de type Michelle Obama ou un auteur à franchise de type Tom Clancy, n’espérez pas vendre plus de 1000 voire 2000 livres. Dans le monde entier. Et, en fait, même si vous êtes une mégacélébrité avec des millions de followers, le succès n’est pas du tout garanti.

• No one buys books (www.elysian.press)

Mais pourquoi y’a-t-il autant de livres alors ? Parce que, comme les investisseurs dans les startups, les éditeurs cherchent le prochain Harry Potter ou le prochain 50 Shades of Grey, l’anomalie qui n’arrive que tous les 5 ou 10 ans.

L’article dépeint également une dépendance incroyablement morbide à Amazon, avec une grande partie du budget marketing des livres partant chez Amazon pour « remonter dans les résultats de recherche ». Faut dire qu’un livre sur deux est aujourd’hui acheté chez Amazon.

Alors, par pitié, soutenez les libraires indépendants ! Allez flâner, commandez chez eux, écoutez leurs recommandations. Nous avons déjà perdu trop de libertés chez les GAFAM, l’idée de perdre les librairies me terrorise.

Je vous propose de nous retrouver ce mardi 10 décembre, à 19h à La Page d’Après à Louvain-la-Neuve pour une rencontre littéraire. J’aime les libraires ! Si vous êtes libraire, n’hésitez pas à me contacter, je me déplace avec plaisir ou je profite de déplacements pour vous rendre visite.

• Rencontre Littéraire Bikepunk avec Ploum (mobilizon.fr)
• La Page d'Après (www.lapagedapres.be)

L’indisponibilité de Bikepunk

Je suis conscient de me tirer une balle dans le pied. De par la stratégie de mon éditeur de minimiser les interactions avec Amazon, de ne leur céder que le strict nécessaire, mon roman Bikepunk s’est retrouvé en rupture de stock chez le géant américain alors même que je faisais plusieurs apparitions télé. Puis en rupture de stock chez les libraires, le distributeur ne pouvant pas suivre la demande. On en est au point où je crains que la version EPUB soit bientôt également épuisée.

Je ne vais pas me plaindre que mon livre ait du succès ! Au point de voir une émission télé accoler mon nom à la phrase « Le vélo comme seule arme contre l’aveuglement d’une société ».

Ou de lire le peu suspect de gauchisme Paris-Match définir Bikepunk comme un mouvement de rébellion urbaine « utilisant le vélo comme symbole de résistance contre les systèmes dominants » (sic).

• Deux roues, un combat : quand le bikepunk redéfinit la rébellion urbaine (www.parismatch.be)

Je suis à la fois empli de gratitude envers vous pour cet enthousiasme, pour votre incroyable soutien et plein de frustration, car ce sont certainement des centaines d’exemplaires de Bikepunk qui n’ont pas trouvé leurs lecteurs. Des centaines de personnes frustrées ou déçues. Des opportunités manquées parce que tant mon éditeur que moi tentons de sortir de la ligne Amazon/grands distributeurs appartenant à des milliardaires.

Si Bikepunk n’est pas disponible chez votre libraire et que vous le voulez pour Noël, commandez-le en urgence sur le site PVH.

• Commander Bikepunk en ligne

Et rappelez-vous qu’il est sous licence libre. Vous avez le droit de le copier et de le partager ! La première liberté est celle de l’imagination. Libérez les histoires, libérez l’imaginaire !

De la nourriture que nous offrons à notre cerveau

Cette mainmise de quelques monopoles sur l’industrie du livre me rend inquiet. Beaucoup de jeunes auteurs ne sont pas mis en avant pour promouvoir des « valeurs sûres ». Si nous avons besoin de relire en permanence Zola ou Hugo, nous avons également besoin d’entendre de nouvelles voix, de tester de nouvelles idées. Pour éviter l’uniformisation, un livre n’a pas besoin d’être génialissime, grandiose ou culte. Il peut se contenter de nous offrir, à un moment de notre vie, une nouvelle perspective inconsciente. Il suffit qu’il soit différent. Votre corps est composé de ce que vous mangez, votre esprit est composé de ce que vous lisez. Même si vous ne vous en souvenez plus, même si ça vous a semblé sans importance, même si vous n’avez pas fini le livre. Vous êtes ce que vous lisez.

• You Are What You Read, Even If You Don’t Always Remember It (blog.jim-nielsen.com)

Il y a déjà 11 ans, je faisais une analogie entre la nourriture que nous consommons et ce que nous offrons à notre cerveau.

• Pour une alimentation intellectuelle saine et variée (ploum.net)

Cal Newport, l’auteur de « Digital Minimalism » a repris cette analogie pour décrire les réseaux sociaux comme des fabriques de contenus « ultra-transformés ». La nourriture ultra-transformée est, en effet, produite pour être irrésistible : un goût très fort, du sel, de la graisse, un engourdissement de la satiété. Finalement, on se rue sur des posts Facebook ou Instagram tout comme on se jette sur sachet de chips.

• On Ultra-Processed Content (calnewport.com)

Ce qui me perturbe dans cette analogie, c’est la réalisation que les problèmes sont identiques, mais que les personnes qui sont conscientes de l’un ignorent complètement l’autre.

Dans les rassemblements de geeks linuxiens ou de rôlistes libristes, le coca et la cigarette, par exemple, sont trop souvent normalisés et tolérés (ce que je réprouve fortement).

Mais l’inverse est tout aussi vrai : les personnes attentives à l’alimentation, à l’écologie, à la santé se concentrent sur Instagram, Facebook, Tik-Tok et/ou Twitter, alimentant une crise d’obésité informationnelle morbide. Leur suggérer de communiquer par Signal plutôt que Whatsapp leur fait souvent lever les yeux au ciel. Le domaine ne les intéresse pas. Je ne parle même pas de Mastodon…

Il y a même des groupes "anticapitalistes" sur Facebook !

La cohérence plutôt que la perfection

C’est pourquoi je suis particulièrement heureux de travailler avec un éditeur qui explore, qui teste de nouveaux modèles, qui crée une atmosphère de collaboration entre tous les auteurs et qui a pour mission première de contribuer à la liberté de la culture.

Non seulement les livres sont sous licence libre, mais les auteurs sont encouragés à rejoindre le Fediverse !

• Suivre tous les auteurs PVH sur Mastodon

L’équipe PVH lutte tous les jours, toutes les heures pour tenter de diffuser des livres et des idées de liberté sans baisser son froc devant les milliardaires qui tentent d’imposer ce qu’ils sont sûrs de vendre ou, pire, ce qui arrange leurs intérêts idéologiques. C’est difficile, il y a des couacs comme l’indisponibilité de Bikepunk. Mais, vous savez quoi ? Ça commence à fonctionner ! Le logiciel libre Be-Bop, développé en interne, commence à prendre de l’ampleur.

• Be-bop, le logiciel de vente de PVH

PVH n’est pas parfait. Personne n’est parfait. Mais nous tentons de garder une ligne cohérente dans notre combat pour promouvoir et diffuser la culture de l’imaginaire et la philosophie du libre.

Votre compréhension, votre patience, vos achats, vos partages sont le meilleur des soutiens. Merci ! Merci de faire partie de cette aventure, de parler de nous autour de vous. Vous n’apaisez pas ma colère, mais vous m’aidez à la transformer, à la canaliser pour contribuer à quelque chose de plus grand, quelque chose dont nous pourrons un jour être fières et fiers.

Comme le dit très bien Framasoft : Le chemin est long, mais la voie est libre !

• Pour les curieux, la vidéo d’où est extraite l’image. Mais ne perdez pas votre temps, ça reste de la télé.

It’s been 2 years since AOPro was launched and a lot has happened in that time; bugs were squashed, improvements were made and some great features were added. Taking that into account on one hand and increasing costs from suppliers on the other: prices will see a smallish increase as from 2025 (exact amounts still to be determined) But rest assured; if you already signed up, you will continue to…

Source

Pérenniser ma numérique éphémérité

J’écris mon journal personnel à la machine à écrire. De simples feuilles de papier que je fais relier chaque année et dont le contenu n’est nulle part en ligne.

Pourtant, j’ai le sentiment que ce contenu a beaucoup plus de chances d’être un jour accessible voire, soyons fou, lu par mes enfants, mes petits enfants et, qui sait, plus loin encore.

Parce qu’hormis un incendie dramatique, ces écrits sont quasiment indestructibles. Qu’ils sont facilement trouvables sur l’étagère de mon bureau. Qu’ils sont facilement lisibles et le resteront sans aucune connaissance autre que la langue française.

Tout ce qui est publié numériquement est à quelques erreurs de manipulation de se faire effacer définitivement. Un accident anodin peut rendre un support illisible. Un mot de passe oublié rendre des documents définitivement inaccessibles. Mais pas besoin d’aller si loin : si demain je disparais, qui serait capable de retrouver quoi que ce soit dans le fouillis de mon disque dur ? Même en imaginant qu’il ne soit pas chiffré !

Si tout est transitoire, le pire n’est-il pas de confier cette impermanence à des entreprises externes ?

L’anti-pérennité des réseaux propriétaires

Votre histoire sur les réseaux sociaux propriétaires peut disparaître à tout moment. Cela fait longtemps que je le crie et le répète partout, mais rien ne vaut un bon exemple.

Depuis 2024, Strava n’autorise plus de partager un lien. Qu’il soit dans un post ou une activité, ce lien est supprimé.

Pire: tous les liens des posts précédents ont été supprimés. Toutes vos histoires Strava ont été altérées de manière permanente.

• Upholding platform safety (communityhub.strava.com)

Bon, il faut avouer que Strava est en train de suivre à la lettre le processus de merdification en limitant son API et ses conditions d’utilisation.

• Strava's Big Changes Aim To Kill Off Apps (www.dcrainmaker.com)
• De la merdification des choses (ploum.net)

Ne faites confiance à aucun réseau social propriétaire ! N’oubliez pas que tout service propriétaire va un jour fermer ou devenir soudainement inutilisable selon vos critères. Ou supprimer arbitrairement votre compte.

• Et si vos comptes disparaissaient demain ? (ploum.net)

Si votre unique raison de garder un compte sur un service propriétaire est "parce que vous y avez un historique", sachez que cet historique ne vous appartient pas. La question n’est pas de savoir s’il va disparaître ou non, mais « quand ? » Car il va disparaître. C’est une certitude.

L’humanité et la non-marchandisation des réseaux libres

Vous allez me dire que le libre n’est pas nécessairement mieux. Mastodon, par exemple, ne permet à ma connaissance pas d’exporter l’intégralité de son historique personnel.

Mais, comme c’est du logiciel libre, rien ne s’oppose à implémenter des outils qui font ce genre de choses. Rien n’empêche de trouver ou de créer des alternatives.

C’est complètement imparfait, mais, au moins, on est face à des êtres humains.

Un très beau témoignage d’Aemarielle, aquarelliste arrivée sur Mastodon en 2022. En résumé, Mastodon c’est vachement mieux pour les humains.

• Mastodon, mon ressenti | Aemarielle (www.aemarielle.com)

Mais les influenceurs aux grosses métriques sont complètement perdus : il n’y a pas d’algorithme et donc pas moyen de les exploiter pour faire monter son audience. Il n’y a pas des milliers de robots et de comptes abandonnés qui font grimper le nombre de followers. La population du Fediverse a également tendance à ignorer voire à critiquer les contenus publicitaires ou avec des titres inutilement accrocheurs.

Les compétences développées par certain·e·s durant quinze ans sur Twitter sont donc inutiles, voire contreproductives, sur Mastodon !

Certains ne sont pas prêts à ce genre de plateforme. Ils ont eu la chance d’un moment être favorisés par les algorithmes Twitter/X/Instagram et, du coup, ils se raccrochent à tout prix à ces plateformes, à ce modèle.

Sur ces plateformes, vous êtes la marchandise comme le rappelle judicieusement X. En effet, le magazine satirique The Onion souhaite racheter le média d’extrême droite InfoWars (ce qui est très drôle). Mais X rappelle qu’ils sont propriétaires du compte X d’InfoWars et ne le transmettront pas à The Onion.

• X's Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts (www.404media.co)

Libre et science

L’accès libre et pérenne aux données et aux algorithmes n’est pas seulement historique et pratique, c’est également essentiel pour le principe scientifique. Si, en lisant votre papier, il n’est pas possible de reproduire vos résultats, car il manque l’un et/ou l’autre, ce n’est plus de la science, mais du simple « personal branding ».

Le marketing et la "protection de la propriété intellectuelle" sont deux vers qui rongent les cerveaux, y compris des scientifiques les plus pointus.

• Pour un écosystème scientifique plus solide, plus transparent et plus fiable (bernardrentier.wordpress.com)

À propos, j’ai appris que les mots « sciences » et « shit » ont la même racine. Et que « nice » vient de la négation de science et signifiait à la base « ignorant » avant de subtilement évoluer vers « gentil ». Bref, un peu concon…

• Science and Shit (www.arrantpedantry.com)

J’adore l’étymologie.

La solution du libre

Le logiciel de gestion de librairie Biblys se libère. Un très beau témoignage de son auteur.

• Biblys est désormais un logiciel libre (blog.biblys.fr)

Le libre n’est pas utopiste, il n’est pas meilleur, il n’est pas idéaliste : il est aujourd’hui indispensable !

Penser sa propre disparition avec git

Si la pérennité de vos données en ligne est importante, il faut y penser, vous y préparer. C’est une des raisons majeures qui m’ont poussé à simplifier ce blog et en faire un simple répertoire remplit de fichiers au format texte que n’importe qui peut copier entièrement avec une simple commande git.

• La fin d’un blog et la dernière version de ploum.net (ploum.net)

Pour avoir sur votre ordinateur une copie de tout mon blog, y compris le logiciel qui le génère, il suffit de taper, dans un terminal :

git clone https://git.sr.ht/~lioploum/ploum.net

J’envisage même de mettre les sources de mes livres dans ce dépôt. Faut que j’investigue les sous-dépôts dans git.

• ~lioploum/ploum.net - Static generator for my blog with content - sourcehut git (lioploum)

Gwit

Je suis le développement de Gwit, une manière de publier des sites Internet à travers Git. L’auteur de Gwit a justement pris mon site en exemple pour l’adapter au format Gwit.

• Adapting Ploum's sites to gwit (oldest.gwit.site)

C’est très technique, mais ce que je pense que tout le monde devrait retenir c’est que ça a été rendu possible, car les sources et le contenu de mon blog sont disponibles sous une licence libre et avec une simple commande git comme cité plus haut. L’auteur n’a pas du me demander la permission, n’a pas hésité. Il a le droit de le faire.

Et j’en suis incroyablement flatté…

L’arme ultime : RSS

Je le dis, je le répète : la solution à l’immense majorité de nos problèmes, le réseau social ultime, c’est le flux RSS. On suit ce qu’on veut suivre, sans publicités, sans tracking, dans la police qui est le plus lisible pour nous. Nos abonnements restent confinés à notre lecteur de RSS.

Il faut juste apprendre à s’en servir (et c’est beaucoup plus facile que l’email).

Il y a une raison pour laquelle les grandes plateformes tentent de tuer le RSS. Il y a une raison pour laquelle vous devriez suivre ce blog par RSS.

• Pluralistic: You should be using an RSS reader (16 Oct 2024) (pluralistic.net)

Aaron Swartz a contribué à la norme RSS. En l’utilisant (ou en utilisant son successeur ATOM), vous célébrez sa mémoire et son combat.

Vous souhaitez utiliser un lecteur RSS en ligne classique ? Je vous conseille le FreshRSS de Zaclys ou de Flus:

• Flux, chez Zaclys
• FreshRSS de Flus (que j’ai utilisé pendant des années)

Vous préférez un truc plus automatisé, plus moderne ? Flus est pour vous.

• Flus.fr

Mais il y a des centaines de possibilités. Et, comme le souligne Cory Doctorrow, vous pouvez passer de l’un à l’autre sans problème. Il suffit d’exporter la liste de vos flux dans un format (appelé OPML) puis de l’importer dans la nouvelle plateforme.

Penser la disparition

Après, on peut faire comme Bruno, l’auteur du portrait d’Aaron Swartz ci-dessus, et souhaiter disparaître. On peut célébrer l’impermanence.

Préserver et transmettre notre patrimoine culturel personnel se pense, s’organise. Mais ne se confie surtout pas à une multinationale publicitaire.

La conjuration de la fierté ignorante

Les scientifiques, les vulgarisateurs, les professeurs consacrent leur vie à lutter contre l’ignorance. Mais l’ignorance n’est pas vraiment le problème. Ce qui est dangereux c’est lorsqu’elle se camoufle. Lorsqu’elle se transforme en confiance.

Pour un parfait ignorant, l’ignorance camouflée est indistinguable de la connaissance voire de l’expertise. D’ailleurs, l’expert dira toujours : « C’est compliqué, je n’ai pas de réponse toute faite ! » là où l’ignorant camouflé répondra : « C’est très simple ! J’ai la vérité, je vais te l’expliquer ! »

De par leur conception, les outils comme ChatGPT sont des ignorants camouflés. Ils ont été littéralement conçus pour faire croire qu’ils savent alors que ce n’est pas le cas. Pour camoufler leur ignorance sous un excès de confiance, ce qui fonctionne très bien depuis des siècles, les politiciens et autres CEOs de multinationales en sont la preuve.

C’est d’ailleurs la raison pour laquelle ces gens-là sont persuadés que l’intelligence artificielle peut remplacer les travailleurs. Parce que leur propre métier consiste à faire semblant de comprendre les choses et qu’ils ont fait tellement semblant qu’ils ont oublié que certains postes, subalternes certes, nécessitent de réellement comprendre.

La peur comme outil marketing

Une excellente analogie de Marcello Vitali-Rosati. ChatGPT utilise la technique des LLMs pour produire un automate conversationnel. L’utiliser pour n’importe quoi d’autre (par exemple pour faire des recherches, des résumés, des traductions, des analyses …) revient à tenter de conduire une tronçonneuse sur l’autoroute sous prétexte qu’elle possède un moteur à explosion.

• ChatGPT et la tronçonneuse (blog.sens-public.org)

D’une manière générale, c’est effrayant comme les gens qui ne comprennent rien sont tellement effrayés à l’idée d’accepter qu’ils ne comprennent rien qu’ils s’engouffrent dans toutes les conneries du marketing. Ce sont par exemple les politiciens tout fiers d’encourager de former les jeunes « à l’IA » (c’est quoi bon sang « se former à l’IA » ?) ou certains professeurs dans les domaines des sciences sociales, tous fiers de montrer une fenêtre ChatGPT à leurs étudiants pour analyser un texte ou préparer les sujets à aborder lors d’un cours.

Lorsque j’interroge des gens sur les raisons qui les poussent à utiliser l’IA, la réponse la plus fréquente est : « Pour ne pas être à la traîne ». La peur.

Ce qui me frappe certainement le plus c’est que toutes les personnes que j’ai rencontrées qui sont à fond dans « l’IA » sont complètement abasourdies que je soi moi-même critique. Elles n’ont jamais entendu la moindre critique. Elles n’ont jamais imaginé que l’on puisse être critique. On parle de médecins, d’avocats, de banquiers, de chefs d’entreprises : l’IA est pour ces personnes une évidence inquestionnable.

Le fait que je puisse être critique les surprend. Elles sont déstabilisées. Elles ne pensaient pas que ce soit possible. Mais peut-être que c’est parce que je ne comprends pas bien.

Alors j’assène un coup fatal : je dis que j’ai fait ma thèse de master dans ce domaine et que j’enseigne au département d’informatique de la faculté polytechnique. Je sais, c’est un argument d’autorité moyennement pertinent. Mais ça me permet de raccourcir la conversation sans faire à chaque fois une conférence « Pouet Pouet Coin Coin ».

• Comprendre les bulles - Pouet Pouet Coin Coin (Rennes BreizhCamp 2024)

Du danger de l’ignorance camouflée

La pire catégorie de personnes est celle des ignares technologiques qui ont la prétention de ne pas en être. Ceux qui ont élevé au rang de compétence principale le camouflage de leur ignorance. Cette prétention à la connaissance leur permet de ne pas écouter ceux qui ont des connaissances réelles voire même de les regarder de haut en les traitant de « geeks ». Il y a un truc pour les reconnaître : ils parlent de « nouvelles technologies », lapsus qui révèle à quel point ces technologies qu’ils font semblant de comprendre à coup de partages sur LinkedIn sont encore nouvelles et inexplorées dans leurs esprits.

ChatGPT est l’aboutissement ultime de l’abrutissement par l’outil. Il ne nécessite aucune interface, aucun apprentissage. N’importe qui arrivant à taper sur les touches d’un clavier peut l’utiliser.

Lorsqu’un outil est utile, mais complexe à utiliser, la croyance est qu’il faut le rendre plus simple, plus accessible. C’est en partie vrai, mais jusqu’à un certain point.

Tout outil requiert un apprentissage pour comprendre dans quoi il s’insère. Pour obtenir un permis de conduire, la première chose qu’on vérifie est votre connaissance du code de la route, connaissance complètement indépendante et orthogonale à votre capacité d’appréhender la mécanique d’une voiture.

En supprimant totalement la barrière de l’apprentissage, votre outil devient du grand n’importe quoi. Les gens l’utilisent sans réfléchir. On ne peut pas apprendre à utiliser ChatGPT : il est de toute façon par nature aléatoire, il subit des mises à jour. Vous pouvez l’utiliser pendant 10 ans tous les jours sans jamais devenir « meilleur ». Comme on n’apprend pas à regarder la télévision. Le principe même est stupide.

L’ignorance crée l’abstraction qui crée la complexité qui nourrit l’ignorance

En informatique, les couches d’abstraction créées pour simplifier l’interface ajoutent, au niveau technique, de la complexité, de l’opacité. Empêche l’apprentissage. Ceux qui s’insurgent contre une mauvaise utilisation de leur travail sont traités comme des réactionnaires, sont moqués et exclus de leur propre système.

Lorsque, cas réel vécu il y a 25 ans, une personne envoie un email contenant un document au format .doc contenant lui-même une macro lançant un fichier en .exe qui se révèle une animation au format Flash avec le lecteur Flash intégré et que cette animation est en tout et pour tout une image fixe au format .jpg, cette personne est considérée comme normale.

Je n’invente rien, ça m’est réellement arrivé.

Cette personne, qui n’avait aucune connaissance informatique, m’a ensuite prétendu que j’étais le seul à avoir eu des problèmes pour ouvrir sa photo.

Toute personne ne sachant pas voir l’image devrait donc considérer que c’est de sa faute. Qu’il était normal, à l’époque, d’avoir la version de Microsoft Outlook qui ouvre automatiquement la version de Word qui lance automatiquement les macros. Que le geek (moi) qui, devant le risque de sécurité béant, avait configuré l’ordinateur familial pour ne pas permettre cette hérésie était un « alternatif avec des trucs qui ne marchent jamais ».

Pour être normal, il faut donc être stupide. Il faut se plier au niveau du plus stupide. C’est une course effrénée vers le bas pour se fondre dans le troupeau du plus crétin tout en prétendant le contraire.

Les entreprises comptent là-dessus. Sans cet instinct d’idiotie grégaire, il n’y aurait pas de monopole de Microsoft Windows depuis des décennies (Microsoft Windows étant l’archétype du « C’est nul, ça ne marche pas, mais tout le monde fait comme ça »).

Les apparences sont tellement trompeuses que pour tenter d’apparaître le plus malin, il faut être le plus stupide de la bande. Pour tenter d’apparaître le plus riche, il faut s’appauvrir en se payant des trucs inutiles incroyablement chers.

Suivre aveuglément de peur de paraitre ignorant

En 2006, jeune ingénieur cherchant du travail dans une foire d’emploi, je m’installe à la table d’un recruteur et lui tends mon CV.

— Aha, Linux. C’est bien pour les étudiants. Mais bon, pour travailler, il faut être sérieux, il faut utiliser Microsoft.
— Je pense que Linux est très sérieux et je compte bien travailler dans ce domaine où j’ai une expertise reconnue.
— Non, il faut être sérieux. Bill Gates est l’homme le plus riche du monde. Si vous voulez devenir riche, il faut le suivre, pas lutter contre lui !

J’ai eu un blanc. À l’époque, je ne pensais pas encore que les gens plus âgés, plus expérimentés et mieux payés que moi pouvaient être à ce point stupides. J’ai d’abord tenté de comprendre :

— Mais en le suivant, vous lui donnez de l’argent pour le rendre riche justement. Mieux vaut entrer en compétition.
— Aha, vous êtes jeune, vous ne connaissez pas encore la réalité du business.

Je me suis levé, j’ai pris le CV des mains du recruteur en disant :

— Je reprends mon CV, je ne pense pas qu’il puisse vous être utile. Au revoir.

Cette anecdote m’est restée longtemps en tête, me faisant douter de ma propre compréhension. Mais aujourd’hui j’ai l’expérience pour reconnaître que, oui, ce mec était complètement crétin. Donner des sous à un milliardaire en espérant que ça t’enrichisse, c’est complètement con.

Et pourtant, c’est incroyablement courant parce que personne n’ose dire : « Je ne comprends pas comment je peux devenir riche » et tout le monde se dit « Je vais obéir aveuglément à quelqu’un de riche parce que je veux lui ressembler » (ce qui est stupide, on est d’accord).

L’écologie de la stupidité

Un autre truc qui est complètement crétin dès qu’on se pose la question de comment ça fonctionne : les mécanismes de compensation carbone.

• Les mécanismes de compensation carbone expliqués à mon hamster (ploum.net)

Ça parait évident que ces mécanismes nous prennent pour des crétins. Heureusement, certains commencent à s’en rendre compte. L’université d’Exeter a investigué les crédits carbone et conclut, sans surprise, que leur impact est soit nul, soit négatif. En gros, dans le meilleur des cas, ça ne sert à rien, mais, le plus souvent, ça pollue encore plus que ne rien faire du tout.

• We have officially advised our university to ditch carbon offsets - and focus on cutting emissions (theconversation.com)

Mais bon, ce ne sont qu’une minorité d’intellectuels qui rationalisent. Certes, ils ont raison. Mais avoir raison n’est pas une bonne chose pour le succès individuel.

L’objectif n’est pas d’être intelligent, mais de convaincre des millions de gens qu’on l’est.

L’objectif d’un CEO n’est pas de prendre une bonne décision, mais de convaincre son auditoire qu’il l’a prise.

L’objectif d’un politicien n’est pas d’avoir une opinion sur un sujet, mais de faire croire aux électeurs qu’il a la même qu’eux.

La particularité des gens intelligents, c’est qu’ils doutent. Ils ne sont donc pas très convaincants…

L’intelligence condamne à faire partie des perdants.

• Ode aux perdants (ploum.net)

Offrez des évasions livresques !

La fin de l’année approche à grands pas et, avec elle, l’obligation d’offrir des cadeaux à la famille, la belle-famille, les amis. Difficile d’échapper à cette pression consumériste sans passer pour un rustre. Tenter le cadeau réutilisable ?

• Le Cadeau réutilisable (ploum.net)

Mais le meilleur cadeau réutilisable n’est-il pas un livre qui peut se partager, se prêter, se perdre, se retrouver ? Alors voici quelques idées de livres pour vous inspirer et prendre un peu d’avance avant que les centres commerciaux ne soient bondés !

Sauf mention contraire, les romans recommandés sont sous licence libre ! La plupart des auteur·e·s mentionné·e·s sont sur Mastodon et tou·te·s sont des gens très biens que j’ai beaucoup de plaisir à fréquenter dans la vraie vie !

Le pack « Cyclisteurs »

Pour offrir emballé dans un gilet jaune fluo avec une paire de gants de vélo :

• Bikepunk de Ploum
• Cyclotrope de Thierry Crouzet (livre qui apparait dans le roman précité, ce qui est un bon gag) (non-libre)
• 5 livres vélo sélectionnés par Weelz!

Le pack « Écologie, protection des communs et des écureuils qui gambadent »

Pour chambrer gentiment, mais sans en avoir l’air le tonton qui roule en SUV et soutien la construction de la nouvelle bretelle d’autoroute :

• Bikepunk de Ploum
• Pour ne rien regretter d’Henri Lœvenbruck (non-libre)
• Place d’âmes de Sara Schneider

Le pack « Adblock, anticapitalisme et résistance »

Chère Tata syndicaliste, voici de la lecture pour les piquets de grève de 2025, car on va avoir besoin de toi, je le sens :

• Printeurs de Ploum
• Pour ne rien regretter d’Henri Lœvenbruck (non-libre)
• Sortilèges & Syndicats de Gee

Le pack anti-GAFAM

Cher cousin René, en plus d’un don en ton nom à Framasoft et d’une migration de ton compte mail vers un fournisseur éthique, je t’offre ces belles lectures.

• Stagiaire au spatioport Omega 3000 de Ploum
• Pour ne rien regretter d’Henri Lœvenbruck (non-libre)
• Printeurs de Ploum
• Faire un don à Framasoft

Le pack « LOL, mais un peu jaune »

Je te sens crispée, voici de quoi détendre l’atmosphère en ces temps troublés…

• Stagiaire au spatioport Omega 3000 de Ploum
• Sortilèges & Syndicats de Gee
• La grande sieste de Natalia Lecœur

Le pack « Histoire, avec un grand F, comme dans Fantastique »

Toi qui aimes particulièrement l’histoire, la grande, la voici, mais avec, à chaque fois, une légère pointe de fantastique surprenant.

• Hoc Est Corpus de Stéphane Paccaud
• L’apothicaire d’Henri Lœvenbruck (non-libre)
• Place d’âmes de Sara Schneider

Le pack « âmes sensibles s’abstenir »

Ne venez pas dire que vous n’étiez pas prévenus !

• Carcinopolis de Julien Hirt
• Si c’était un homme de Jack Machillot (non-libre)

Les coffrets

Pour découvrir la science-fiction vue par un auteur suisse, un auteur français et un auteur belge, le tout dans un magnifique coffret collector tout argenté. Parfait pour actualiser la culture SF.

• Coffret SF en VF, de Pascal Lovis, Thierry Crouzet et Ploum
• BONUS: À l’orée de la ville, d’Allius, qui se marie très bien avec les trois précédents

Pour découvrir trois univers de Fantasy très différents et très complémentaires dans un magnifique coffret rouge. Parfait pour ceux cherchent de nouveaux horizons.

• Coffret Fantasy Suisse, de Pascal Lovis, Aquilegia Nox et Stéphane Paccaud

Commandez-vite !

Il est possible que votre libraire n’ait pas certains de ces livres.

Si vous passez commande avant le 2 décembre sur le site PVH, vous êtes non seulement certains de recevoir vos colis avant Noël, mais, de plus, 20% de la somme récoltée sera allouée à une toute nouvelle bourse pour soutenir les artistes créant sous licence libre. Une raison de plus de commander rapidement !

• Les 10 ans de PVH Editions (pvh-editions.com)

Retrouvez les auteurs sur Mastodon…

Pour ajouter une touche de personnalisation, offrez à votre heureux bénéficiaire de créer avec lui un compte Mastodon et d’entrer directement en contact avec les auteurs !

• Ploum
• Henri Lœvenbruck
• Gee
• Thierry Crouzet
• Sara Schneider
• Stéphane Paccaud
• Allius
• Julien Hirt
• Aquilegia Nox

Bonnes lectures et bonne fête de solstice d’hiver !

It's been a while since I last blogged one of my favorite songs. Even after more than 25 years of listening to "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins, it has never lost its magic. It has aged better than I have.

Installation instructions for end users and testers

We will use DDEV to setup and run Drupal on your computer. DDEV handles all the complex configuration by providing pre-configured Docker containers for your web server, database, and other services.

To install DDEV, you can use Homebrew (or choose an alternative installation method):

$ brew install ddev/ddev/ddev

Next, download a pre-packaged zip-file. Unzip it, navigate to the new directory and simply run:

$ ddev launch

That's it! DDEV will automatically configure everything and open your new Drupal site in your default browser.

Installation instructions for contributors

If you plan to contribute to Drupal CMS development, set up your environment using Git to create merge requests and submit contributions to the project. If you're not contributing, this approach isn't recommended. Instead, follow the instructions provided above.

First, clone the Drupal CMS Git repository:

$ git clone https://git.drupalcode.org/project/drupal_cms.git

This command fetches the latest version of Drupal CMS from the official Git repository and saves it in the drupal_cms directory.

Drupal CMS comes pre-configured for DDEV with all the necessary settings in .ddev/config.yaml, so you don't need to configure anything.

So, let's just fire up our engines:

$ ddev start

The first time you start DDEV, it will setup Docker containers for the web server and database. It will also use Composer to download the necessary Drupal files and dependencies.

The final step is configuring Drupal itself. This includes things like setting your site name, database credentials, etc. You can do this in one of two ways:

• Option 1: Configure Drupal via the command line

  $ ddev drush site:install

  This method is the easiest and the fastest, as things like the database credentials are automatically setup. The downside is that, at the time of this writing, you can't choose which Recipes to enable during installation.

• Option 2: Configure Drupal via the web installer

  You can also use the web-based installer to configure Drupal, which allows you to enable individual Recipes. You'll need your site's URL and database credentials. Run this command to get both:

  $ ddev describe

  Navigate to your site and step through the installer.

Once everything is installed and configured, you can access your new Drupal CMS site. You can simply use:

$ ddev launch

This command opens your site's homepage in your default browser — no need to remember the specific URL that DDEV created for your local development site.

To build or manage a Drupal site, you'll need to log in. By default, Drupal creates a main administrator account. It's a good idea to update the username and password for this account. To do so, run the following command:

$ ddev drush uli

This command generates a one-time login link that takes you directly to the Drupal page where you can update your Drupal account's username and password.

That's it! Happy Drupal-ing!

Hyperconnexion, addiction et obéissance

De l’hyperconnexion

Nous sommes désormais connectés partout, tout le temps. J’appelle cela "l’hyperconnexion" (et elle ne passe pas nécessairement par les écrans).

Parfois, je tente de me convaincre que mon addiction personnelle à cette hyperconnexion est surtout liée à mon côté geek, que je ne peux généraliser mon cas.

Et puis, quand je roule à vélo, je me rends compte du nombre de piétons qui n’entendent pas ma sonnette, qui ne me voie pas arriver (même de face), qui ne s’écartent pas et qui, lorsqu’ils réalisent ma présence (qui va, dans certains cas, jusqu’à nécessiter une tape sur l’épaule), ont un air complètement abruti, comme si je venais de les extirper d’un univers parallèle.

Et puis je vois cette mère, dans une salle d’attente, dont la petite fille de deux ans tente vainement d’attirer l’attention « Regarde maman ! Regarde ! ».

Et puis je me souviens de cette autre mère qui avait placé sa gamine sur un parapet avec plusieurs mètres de vide en dessous juste pour faire une jolie photo pour Instagram.

Et puis je vois cet homme d’affaires dans un costume chic, à l’air très sérieux, qui sort son téléphone pour aligner quelques fruits virtuels durant les trente secondes que dure l’attente de son café ou les quinze secondes d’un feu rouge à un carrefour.

Et puis, à vélo, je tente vainement de croiser le regard de ces automobilistes, les yeux rivés sur leur écran, mettent en danger la vie de leurs propres enfants assis à l’arrière.

Il est impossible de juger chaque anecdote. Parce qu’il y a plein de justifications qui sont, dans certains cas, complètement valables. Une mère peut juste être épuisée de donner toute son attention à son enfant toute la journée. Elle a le droit de penser à autre chose. Un piéton peut être absorbé dans une conversation téléphonique importante ou dans ses pensées.

L’individu a le droit. Mais le problème me semble global.

Dans les témoignages que je recueille, le plus difficile pour ceux qui arrivent à se déconnecter, c’est qu’ils se rendent compte de l’addiction des autres. C’est particulièrement frappant dans les couples.

Si les deux sont addicts, aucun ne souffre. Mais que l’un tente de regagner un peu de liberté mentale et il découvre que son conjoint ne l’écoute pas. Est inattentif. Gritty décrit ici la douleur de sa déconnexion en remarquant que son épouse ne l’écoute plus, qu’elle écoute en permanence des messages audios. Il n’avait jamais remarqué le problème avant de se déconnecter lui-même.

• The Mind and Dropping Off The Internet (gemini.smallweb.space)

Je pense à nos enfants. Nous nous inquiétons de l’impact des écrans sur nos enfants. Mais n’est-ce pas avant tout l’impact de l’hyperconnexion sur les parents qui déteint sur les enfants ?

Négocier avec les machines

Et si cette addiction n’était qu’une adaptation à notre environnement ? Car, comme le décrit très bien Gee, on doit désormais passer notre temps à nous adapter aux machines, à négocier avec leur comportement absurde.

• LHDG20. Négocier avec une machine (grisebouille.net)

Négocier, c’est quand tu veux que la machine fasse quelque chose et qu’elle ne veut pas. Mais il y a pire. Les machines donnent des ordres. Les notifications.

Il y a évidemment les notifications sur le smartphone qui nécessitent de tout abandonner pour y obéir. Je viens à l’instant de voir mon plombier, à quatre pattes contre un mur ouvert, les deux mains en train de glisser des tuyaux dans une gaine, se contorsionner pour répondre au téléphone. Une enquête de satisfaction. À laquelle il a répondu posément pendant plusieurs minutes, malgré sa position inconfortable.

Outre les smartphones, chaque appareil cherche désormais à imposer son fonctionnement. Mon micro-onde bipe de manière très énervante quand il a fini jusqu’au moment où on ouvre la porte. Si tu profites des deux minutes où ta soupe réchauffe pour aller à la toilette, t’es bon pour te farcir un bip sonore dans toute la maison durant toute la durée. Il faut donc attendre et obéir patiemment. C’est encore plus absurde avec le lave-linge et le sèche-linge. Ce n’est pas comme si c’était urgent ! Mention à mon lave-vaisselle qui, lui, ne bipe pas du tout et se contente de s’ouvrir pour dire qu’il a fini, ce qui est une très bonne idée et prouve qu’il est possible de ne pas emmerder l’utilisateur. Sans doute une erreur qui sera corrigée dans la prochaine version.

La palme revient à mes, heureusement anciennes, plaques de cuisson qui ne supportaient pas qu’un objet soit posé dessus. Et qui était d’une telle sensibilité que la moindre tache de graisse ou d’humidité entrainait un bruit continu extrêmement irritant pour dire : « Nettoie-moi, humain ! Tout de suite ! ». Oui, même à trois heures du matin si une mouche s’était posée dessus ou si elle avait soudainement détecté un coin de l’éponge de nettoyage.

À noter que la même plaque se désactivait lorsqu’elle détectait une goutte de liquide. Oui, même au milieu d’une cuisson. Et, pendant une cuisson, une tache de graisse ou d’eau, c’est quand même fréquent.

— Nettoie-moi, humain !
— Finis d’abord de cuire mon repas !
— Non, nettoie-moi d’abord.
— T’es une taque de cuisson, tu peux survivre à une goutte d’eau sur ta surface.
— Nettoie-moi !
— Mais tu es bouillante, je ne peux pas te nettoyer, je dois d’abord te laisser refroidir.
— C’est ton problème, nettoie-moi !
— Alors, arrête au moins de sonner le temps que tu refroidisses.
— NETTOIE-MOI HUMAIN !

Les outils non intelligents sont désormais un luxe.

• Les petits plaisirs du shopping moderne (ploum.net)

L’addiction à la suffisance

Lorsqu’on est ingénieur où qu’on a des compétences techniques, on sait comment fonctionnent ces engins. Lorsque, comme moi, on a travaillé dans l’industrie, on peut même percevoir les dizaines de décisions stupides prises par des petits chefs qui ont mené à ce qui est un désastre d’inefficacité. Négocier pendant 4 minutes avec une machine pour faire ce qui devrait prendre une seconde est absurde, énervant, irritant.

Mais chez les personnes pour lesquelles la technologie est une sorte de magie noire, j’observe souvent une satisfaction voire une fierté à arriver à contourner les limitations parfaitement arbitraire.

Les gens sont fiers ! Tellement fiers d’arriver à faire un truc absurde et contre-intuitif qu’ils s’en vantent voire se proposent de l’enseigner à d’autres. Ils font des vidéos Youtube pour montrer comment ils activent une option de leur iPhone ou comment ils font un prompt ChatGPT. Ils deviennent addicts à cette fierté, cette satisfaction, cette fausse impression de contrôle de la technologie.

Ils plongent dans l’hyperconnexion en regardant de haut les pauvres geeks comme moi « qui ne savent pas s’adapter aux nouvelles technologies », ils obéissent comme des moutons aux sirènes du marketing, aux décisions commerciales qui leur imposent une nouvelle interface propriétaire. Ils s’autoproclament "geeks" parce qu’ils passent leur journée sur Whatsapp et Fruit Ninja.

Ils pensent apprendre, ils ne font qu’obéir.

Les humains sont addicts à l’obéissance aveugle. Ils aiment se soumettre à un pouvoir totalitaire opaque à la condition d’avoir de brefs moments où on leur donne l’illusion d’avoir eux-mêmes du pouvoir.

Et sur une chose, ils ont raison : les pauvres rebelles qui luttent pour une liberté dont personne ne veut sont des inadaptés.

• On se retrouve entre inadaptés ce jeudi 14 novembre à Paris pour discuter de tout ça ?
• Photo par Matt Brown

Rencontres littéraires à Paris, à Louvain-la-Neuve et un bout de contribution aux communs

Paris le 14 novembre

Ce jeudi 14 novembre à 19h, je participerai à une rencontre littéraire à Paris, à la librairie Wallonie-Bruxelles. C’est l’occasion de faire dédicacer un exemplaire de Bikepunk à mettre sous le sapin.

• Rencontre avec Ploum pour Bikepunk. Les chroniques du flash (PVH) (www.librairiewb.com)

Louvain-la-Neuve le 10 décembre

Pour les Belges, la rencontre littéraire se déroulera le mardi 10 décembre à 19h dans mon fief de Louvain-la-Neuve, à La Page d’Après, une librairie qui sent bon la librairie. Inscrivez-vous dès à présent en leur envoyant un email.

• La Page d'Après (www.lapagedapres.be)

J’irai dédicacer chez vous…

Pour les Bruxellois qui désirent une dédicace avant Noël et qui ne savent pas venir à Louvain-la-Neuve, je vous propose d’aller chercher un exemplaire de Bikepunk à la librairie Chimères et d’y laisser le livre en dépôt avec un petit papier décrivant la dédicace que vous souhaitez. Je dois passer à la librairie fin novembre, je dédicacerai les livres en attente pour que vous puissiez les récupérer plus tard.

• Librairie Chimères (www.librairie-chimeres.be)

Bien entendu, la francophonie ne se limite pas à Paris, Bruxelles et Louvain-la-Neuve. Mais je vais là où je suis invité. Ni mon éditeur ni moi ne disposons d’un attaché de presse en France pour nous mettre en relation avec les médias français et de nous placer des séances de dédicaces dans les librairies de l’hexagone.

Et c’est là que vous, lecteurices, vous pouvez nous aider !

En parlant du livre avec votre libraire et, si intérêt de sa part, en nous mettant en contact pour que nous fixions une date (j’essaie, bien entendu, de combiner les déplacements). Je viendrai avec ma machine à écrire et mon stylo-ploum. Si vous avez des contacts dans des médias indépendants et/ou cyclistes, parlez de nous !

• Thread Mastodon sur ce que peuvent faire les lecteurs de Bikepunk

Merci à vous de poster des photos de vos vélos avec le tag #bikepunk. Ça me fait chaud au cœur à chaque fois ! (merci Vincent Jousse d’avoir lancé la mode !)

• #bikepunk sur Mastodon

De l’importance des communs

Bon, maintenant qu’on a évacué les questions administratives, parlons sérieusement : un aspect important que je n’ai pas encore évoqué à propos de Bikepunk est qu’il est sous licence libre (CC By-SA). Il fait donc, dès à présent, partie des communs. Je dois reconnaître que, malheureusement, cela ne semble pas intéresser les médias.

Les communs sont un concept parfois difficile à percevoir, que le capitalisme cherche à invisibiliser et qui est pourtant tellement indispensable. Sans n’être jamais nommés, les communs ne me sont jamais apparus plus clairement que dans le roman « Place d’âmes », de Sara Schneider (qui est, bien entendu, lui aussi sous licence libre).

Je ne connais rien à l’histoire du Jura suisse. La question ne m’intéresse pas le moins du monde. C’est par pur copinage avec Sara que je me suis lancé dans son « Place d’âmes », un peu à reculon. Sauf que j’ai été happé, aspiré. La question qui anime le livre n’est celle du Jura qu’en apparence. En réalité, il s’agit de protéger nos communs. De protéger nos rebelles, nos révolutionnaires, nos sorcières qui, iels-mêmes, protègent nos communs.

Une uchronie historique poétique et actuelle, indispensable. À travers l’histoire du Jura, c’est la planète Terre toute entière que décrit Sara.

• Critique de "Place d’âmes", de Sara Schneider, par Alias (erdorin.org)
• Commander « Place d’âmes »

D’ailleurs, tant qu’on parle de biens communs, Bruno Leyval commence à mettre ses archives sous licence Art Libre. Parce que l’art est une grammaire, un vocabulaire. En faire un bien commun, c’est donner à chacun le pouvoir de se l’approprier, de le modifier, d’affiner sa perception du monde comme un citoyen acteur et non plus un simple consommateur.

• Libre − Bruno Leyval (libre.brunoleyval.fr)

Utilisez, modifiez ces images !

Bruno est notamment l’auteur de la couverture de Bikepunk et de l’illustration qui orne ce blog. Elles sont sous licence libre. Vous êtes nombreux à avoir réclamé des t-shirts (on y bosse, promis, ça va prendre un peu de temps).

Mais, vous savez quoi ? Vous n’êtes pas obligés de nous attendre. Les images, comme le livre, sont dans les communs.

Ils vous appartiennent désormais autant qu’à moi ou à Bruno…

A number of years ago, my friend Klaas and I made a pact: instead of exchanging birthday gifts, we'd create memories together. You can find some of these adventures on my blog, like Snowdonia in 2019 or the Pemi Loop in 2023. This time our adventure led us to the misty Isle of Skye in Scotland.

For a week, we lived out of a van, wild camping along Scotland's empty roads. Our days were filled with muddy hikes, including the iconic Storr and Quiraing trails. The weather was characteristically Scottish – a mix of fog, rain, and occasional clear skies that revealed breathtaking cliffs and rolling highlands. Along the way, we shared the landscape with Highland cows and countless sheep, who seemed unfazed by our presence.

Our daily routine was refreshingly simple: wake up to misty mornings, often slightly cold from sleeping in the van. Fuel up with coffee and breakfast, including the occasional haggis breakfast roll, and tackle a hike. We'd usually skip lunch, but by the end of the day, we'd find a hearty meal or local pub. We even found ourselves having evening coding sessions in our mobile home; me working on my location tracking app and Klaas working on an AI assistant.

Though we mostly embraced the camping lifestyle, we did surrender to civilization on day three, treating ourselves to a hotel room and much-needed shower. We also secretly washed our camping dishes in the bathroom sink.

At one point, a kind park ranger had to kick us out of a parking lot, but decided to sprinkle some Scottish optimism our way. The good news is that the weather will get better …, he said, watching our faces light up. Then came the punchline, delivered with the timing of a seasoned comedian: ... in April..

Would April have offered better weather? Perhaps. But watching the fog dance around the peaks of Skye, coding in our van during quiet evenings, and sharing sticky toffee pudding in restaurants made for exactly the kind of memory we'd hoped to create. Each year, these birthday trips deepen our friendship – the hugs get stronger and the conversations more meaningful.

Dear WordPress friends in the USA: I hope you vote and when you do, I hope you vote for respect. The world worriedly awaits your collective verdict, as do I. Peace! Watch this video on YouTube.

Source

At Acquia Engage NYC this week, our partner and customer conference, we shared how Acquia's Digital Experience Platform (DXP) helps organizations deliver digital experiences through three key capabilities:

• Content: Create, manage and deliver digital content and experiences - from images and videos to blog posts, articles, and landing pages - consistently across all your digital channels.
• Optimize: Continuously improve your digital content and experiences by improving accessibility, readability, brand compliance, and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Insights: Understand how people interact with your digital experiences, segment audiences based on their behavior and interests, and deliver personalized content that drives better engagement and conversion rates.

Since our last Acquia Engage conference in May, roughly six months ago, we've made some great progress, and we announced some major innovations and updates across our platform.

Simplify video creation in Acquia DAM

Video is one of the most engaging forms of media, but it's also one of the most time-consuming and expensive to create. Producing professional, branded videos has traditionally required significant time, budget, and specialized skills. Our new Video Creator for DAM changes this equation. By combining templating, AI, and DAM's workflow functionality, organizations can now create professional, on-brand videos in minutes rather than days.

Make assets easier to find in Acquia DAM

Managing large digital asset libraries can become increasingly overwhelming. Traditional search methods rely on extensive metadata tagging and manual filtering options. Depending on what you are looking for, it might be difficult to quickly find the right assets.

To address this, we introduced Acquia DAM Copilot, which transforms the experience through conversational AI. Instead of navigating complicated filter menus, users can now simply type natural requests like "show me photos of bikes outside" and refine their search conversationally with commands like "only show bikes from the side view". This AI-powered approach eliminates the need for extensive tagging and makes finding the right content intuitive and fast.

Easier site building with Drupal

I updated the Acquia Engage audience on Drupal CMS (also known as Drupal Starshot), a major initiative I'm leading in the Drupal community with significant support from Acquia. I demonstrated several exciting innovations coming to Drupal: "recipes" to simplify site building, AI-powered site creation capabilities, and a new Experience Builder that will transform how we build Drupal websites.

Many in the audience had already watched my DrupalCon Barcelona keynote and expressed continued enthusiasm for the direction of Drupal CMS and our accelerated pace of innovation. Even after demoing it multiple times the past month, I'm still very excited about it myself. If you want to learn more, be sure to check out my DrupalCon presentation!

Improving content ranking with Acquia SEO

Creating content that ranks well in search engines traditionally requires both specialized SEO expertise and skilled content writers - making it an expensive and time-consuming process. Our new SEO Copilot, powered by Conductor, integrated directly into Drupal's editing experience, provides real-time guidance on keyword optimization, content suggestions, length recommendations, and writing complexity for your target audience. This helps content teams create search-engine-friendly content more efficiently, without needing deep SEO expertise.

Improving content quality with Acquia Optimize

We announced the rebranding of Monsido to Acquia Optimize and talked about two major improvements to this offering.

First, we improved how organizations create advanced content policies. Creating advanced content policies usually requires some technical expertise, as it can involve writing regular expressions. Now, users can simply describe in plain language what they want to monitor. For example, they could enter something like "find language that might be insensitive to people with disabilities", and AI will help create the appropriate policy rules. Acquia Optimize will then scan content across all your websites to detect any violations of those rules.

Second, we dramatically shortened the feedback loop for content checking. Previously, content creators had to publish their content and then wait for scheduled scans to discover problems with accessibility, policy compliance or technical SEO - a process that could take a couple of days. Now, they can get instant feedback. Authors can request a check while they work, and the system immediately flags accessibility issues, content policy violations, and other problems, allowing them to fix problems while the content is being written. This shift from "publish and wait" to "check and fix" helps teams maintain higher content quality standards, allows them to work faster, and can prevent non-compliant content from ever going live.

FedRAMP for Acquia Cloud Next

We were excited to announce that our next-generation Drupal Cloud, Acquia Cloud Next (ACN), has achieved FedRAMP accreditation, just like our previous platform, which remains FedRAMP accredited.

This means our government customers can now migrate their Drupal sites onto our latest cloud platform, taking advantage of improved autoscaling, self-healing, and cutting-edge features. We already have 56 FedRAMP customers hosting their Drupal sites on ACN, including Fannie Mae, The US Agency for International Development, and the Department of Education, to name a few.

Improved fleet management for Drupal

Acquia Cloud Site Factory is a platform that helps organizations manage fleets of Drupal sites from a single dashboard, making it easier to launch, update, and scale sites. Over the past two years, we've been rebuilding Site Factory on top of Acquia Cloud Next, integrating them more closely. Recently, we reached a major milestone in this journey. At Engage, we showcased Multi-Experience Operations (MEO) to manage multiple Drupal codebases across your portfolio of sites.

Previously, all sites in a Site Factory instance had to run the same Drupal code, requiring simultaneous updates across all sites. Now, organizations can run sites on different codebases and update them independently. This added flexibility is invaluable for large organizations managing hundreds or thousands of Drupal sites, allowing them to update at their own pace and maintain different Drupal versions where needed.

Improved conversion rates with Acquia Convert

Understanding user behavior is key to optimizing digital experiences, but interpreting the data and deciding on next steps can be challenging. We introduced some new Acquia Convert features (powered by VWO) to solve this.

First, advanced heat-mapping shows exactly how users interact with your pages, where they click first, how far they scroll, and where they show signs of frustration (like rage clicks).

Next, and even more powerful, is our new Acquia Convert Copilot that automatically analyzes this behavioral data to suggest specific improvements. For example, if the AI notices high interaction with a pricing slider but also signs of user confusion, it might suggest an A/B test to clarify the slider's purpose. This helps marketers and site builders make data-driven decisions and improve conversion rates.

Privacy-first analytics with Piwik Pro

As data privacy regulations become stricter globally, organizations face growing challenges with web analytics. Google Analytics has been banned in several European countries for not meeting data sovereignty requirements, leaving organizations scrambling for compliant alternatives.

We announced a partnership with Piwik Pro to address this need. Piwik Pro offers a privacy-first analytics solution that maintains compliance with global data regulations by allowing organizations to choose where their data is stored and maintaining full control over their data.

This makes it an ideal solution for organizations that operate in regions with strict data privacy laws, or any organization that wants to ensure their analytics solution remains compliant with evolving privacy regulations.

After the Piwik Pro announcement at Acquia Engage, I spoke with several customers who are already using Piwik Pro. Most worked in healthcare and other sectors handling sensitive data. They were excited about our partnership and a future that brings deeper integration between Piwik Pro, Acquia Optimize, Drupal, and other parts of our portfolio.

Conclusion

The enthusiasm from our customers and partners at Acquia Engage always reinvigorates me. None of these innovations would be possible without the dedication of our teams at Acquia. I'm grateful for their hard work in bringing these innovations to life, and I'm excited for what is next!

Ils nous mentent

Le mensonge politicien

Lors de ma campagne électorale pour le Parti Pirate en 2012, j’ai été interpellé dans la rue par un citoyen de ma commune qui me demandait ce que j’allais faire pour sauver son emploi.

J’ai été étonné par la question et j’ai répondu sincèrement. Rien ! Rien, car, si je suis élu, je serai conseiller communal dans l’opposition d’une commune qui n’a rien à voir avec l’usine. En fait, tout candidat qui vous prétend le contraire vous ment. Car il ne sait rien faire. L’usine n’est pas sur la commune.

— Alors, je ne voterai pas pour vous ! Les autres disent qu’ils feront quelque chose.

J’avais expliqué que les autres mentaient, mais la personne préférait un mensonge. L’immense majorité des humains préfère un mensonge réconfortant. Moi qui déteste mentir, qui en suis physiquement incapable, je découvrais à plus de trente balais que certains humains pouvaient mentir droit dans les yeux et que tout le monde semblait apprécier cela (je sais, je suis à la fois naïf et pas très rapide).

Par essence, les politiciens mentent parce que ça fonctionne. Et aussi parce qu’ils sont confrontés à plein de groupes mouvants et multiples. Contrairement à ce qu’on croit parfois, la société n’est pas binaire et divisée entre d’un côté les ouvriers et de l’autre les cadres, les étrangers et les « de souche », les automobilistes et les cyclistes, etc. Nous sommes tous dans plein de cases à la fois. Nous sommes incompatibles avec nous-mêmes.

Alors, le politicien va dire aux cyclistes qu’il va construire plus de pistes cyclables. Puis aux automobilistes qu’il va construire plus de parkings. Les deux propositions sont contradictoires. Personne ne le remarque même si certaines personnes sont dans les deux assemblées (la majorité des cyclistes étant également automobilistes). Le politicien ment. Il le sait. Il ne peut pas faire autrement. C’est ce qu’on attend de lui.

De toute façon, une fois élu, il fera ce qu’il faut faire, ce que la machine administrative le pousse à faire en tentant de légèrement l’influencer selon ses propres intérêts du moment. De toute façon, aux prochaines élections, il pourra raconter n’importe quoi. De toute façon, les personnes intéressées par le « fact checking » sont une minorité qui ne vote pas pour lui.

Les politiciens mentent, c’est l’essence même de la politique. Celleux qui tentent de ne pas le faire ne tiennent pas assez longtemps pour acquérir un réel pouvoir. C’est impossible. Dénoncer les mensonges d’un politicien, c’est comme dénoncer l’humidité de l’eau.

Mais le mensonge des politiciens reste artisanal, humain. Ils tentent de convaincre chaque électeur en lançant cent propositions toutes contradictoires, mais en sachant que l’humain moyen n’entendra que celle qu’il veut entendre.

Secrètement, les politiciens envient tous Trump qui n’a même plus besoin de faire des propositions parce qu’une frange de l’électorat croit entendre ce qu’il veut dans le moindre de ses borborygmes.

Mais ce n’est rien face au mensonge industriel, ce mensonge gigantesque, énorme. Celui qui est à la base des plus grosses fortunes de notre ère. Le mensonge qu’on a élevé au rang de discipline universitaire en le parant du nom « marketing ».

Le mensonge de l’industrie

Le mensonge est à la base de toute l’industrie moderne. Les marketeux apprennent à mentir, s’encouragent à le faire à travers des séminaires tout en rêvant de devenir les plus gros menteurs de l’histoire moderne : les dirigeants des multinationales du numérique.

Contrairement aux pires industries comme le tabac ou le soda sucré, qui vendent de la merde, mais au moins vendent quelque chose, les CEOs de la Silicon Valley ne cherchent pas à créer une entreprise rentable ou un service utile. Ils nous racontent des histoires, ils inventent des mythes, des mensonges. Nous croyons que c’est une technique marketing au service de leur produit.

Mais c’est le contraire : le produit n’est qu’un support à leur histoire, à leur fiction. Le produit doit faire le strict minimum pour que leur histoire reste crédible auprès des gens les plus crédules : les médias.

Mark Zuckerberg n’est pas un génie de l’informatique ni de la publicité. Il a simplement réussi à faire croire aux publicitaires qu’il avait inventé la technique publicitaire ultime, un « rayon de contrôle des esprits ». Et il a réussi à faire croire que nous devrions tous être des publicitaires pour bénéficier de son invention (même si nous sommes tous convaincus que le rayon de contrôle ne fonctionne pas sur nous, c’est juste pour les autres).

Ça fonctionne parce que c’est comme ça que les CEOs de la Silicon Valley voient toute leur vie : comme un support au mythe qu’ils sont en train de créer. Steve Jobs ne cherchait pas à créer l’iPhone. Il était initialement opposé à l’App Store. Mais il a créé un business qui a fait croire qu’il était un visionnaire et s’est transformé en un dieu immortel dont la biographie s’arrache.

Bill Gates n’a jamais créé de système d’exploitation. Il a créé un monde dans lequel tout le monde doit payer Bill Gates pour en avoir un. Il n’était pas spécialement un bon codeur, mais il a réussi à convaincre le monde que partager un logiciel sans le payer était une hérésie. Pour ensuite appliquer son idéologie à la vaccination.

Elon Musk n’a pas créé Tesla. Mais il en a transformé l’histoire pour devenir, après coup, un fondateur. Il a inventé le concept d’Hyperloop et l’a promu en sachant très bien que ça ne fonctionnerait jamais, mais que croire que ça pourrait fonctionner empêcherait le développement du train traditionnel qui risquait de faire concurrence à l’automobile individuelle.

Ces gens sont, par essence, par définition, des mythomanes. Ils ne sont pas bêtes, ils sont même très intelligents, mais, comme le souligne Edward Zitron, ils ne sont pas du tout intellectuels et n’ont pas la moindre morale. Ils lisent tous les mêmes livres. Ils ne vont jamais au fond des choses. Ils sont fiers de prendre des décisions cruciales en trois minutes. Ils ne sont pas intéressés par la subtilité, par le raisonnement. Ce sont des junkies de l’adrénaline et de l’adulation des foules.

• You Can't Make Friends With The Rockstars (www.wheresyoured.at)

S’ils lisent le résumé d’un livre de science-fiction, ils trouvent les idées géniales alors même que l’auteur cherchait à nous mettre en garde contre elles.

Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary Tale

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don’t Create The Torment Nexus

– Alex Blechman

Ils sont intellectuellement médiocres en tout. Sauf dans la capacité cruciale à se donner une image médiatique, une aura.

Et cette image médiatique altère la réalité. Nous leur donnons des sous. Nos gouvernements leur donnent les clés de nos démocraties. Les politiciens vendent un rein pour être pris en photo avec eux. Les journalistes sont tout contents d’obtenir des interviews consensuels alors même que ces milliardaires ont besoin des journalistes pour exister ! Mais comme ils contrôlent les organes de presse, que ce soit en les possédant ou en étant leurs plus gros clients, ils s’arrangent pour que tout journaliste un peu trop malin soit vite évincé.

Lorsqu’une entreprise se paye des encarts publicitaires dans les médias, ce n’est pas pour faire de la publicité auprès du grand public, même si c’est un effet secondaire intéressant. Le véritable objectif est de rendre le média dépendant de cette manne financière, d’exercer un pouvoir : si ce que vous publiez ne nous plait plus, on coupe les robinets. Il faut voir la fierté naïve du rédacteur en chef d’un média, pourtant financé en grande partie par l’argent public, lorsqu’il signe un contrat publicitaire avec Google ou Microsoft.

Toutes les rédactions saisissent intuitivement ce rapport de force et exercent, parfois inconsciemment, un contrôle sur les journalistes un peu trop indépendants. Qui sont de toute façon trop mal payés pour avoir le temps d’enquêter ou de réfléchir sérieusement et se contentent de relayer, parfois sans même les relire ou les modifier, les « communiqués de presse ». (pour ceux qui l’ignorent, un communiqué de presse est en fait un article pré-écrit que le journaliste peut copier/coller pour atteindre son quota d’articles publiés dans la journée sans trop se fouler)

Toute la communication autour d’OpenAI, le fournisseur de ChatGPT, n’est qu’un gigantesque mensonge. Même les investisseurs qui mettent des millions n’obtiennent, en réalité, pas de parts dans l’entreprise, mais « une promesse d’intéressement aux bénéfices futurs ». Or toute personne qui a le niveau mathématique de l’école primaire comprend très vite qu’il est littéralement impossible pour OpenAI de faire un jour des bénéfices. Pire : pour survivre, la société va devoir trouver plus d’investisseurs qu’aucune autre société avant elle dans l’histoire du capitalisme. Et cela, chaque année ! « On dépense tellement d’argent qu’on va bien finir par en gagner et si vous nous donnez votre argent, vous aurez une part lorsque ça arrivera ». Le business OpenAI est la définition d’une pyramide de Ponzi sauf que c’est légal, car écrit noir sur blanc dans le contrat.

• The Subprime AI Crisis (www.wheresyoured.at)

La valeur de la société Nvidia, qui fournit le matériel permettant de faire tourner ChatGPT, approche des 15% du produit intérieur brut des États-Unis. Aucune personne sensée ne peut défendre le fait que quelques puces électroniques représentent presque un sixième de la valeur du travail des États-Unis tout entier. Le fait que Nvidia soit désormais un « investisseur » dans OpenAI démontre qu’ils savent parfaitement qu’il s’agit d’une bulle et qu’ils choisissent de l’autoalimenter. Il est évident que Nvidia et OpenAI nous mentent, en s’étonnant eux-mêmes que ça continue à fonctionner.

À ce niveau, j’ai envie de dire que les crétins qui continuent à y croire méritent vraiment ce qui va leur arriver. Et ceux qui, sur LinkedIn, s’émerveillent encore sur l’impact que ChatGPT pourrait avoir sur leur business méritent amplement de porter une pancarte avec écrit « Je suis littéralement le dernier des crétins ».

Mais même leurs plus farouches opposants aux milliardaires les prennent au mot et tentent de les affronter dans leurs propres mythologies. Facebook contrôle nos esprits, c’est mal ! ChatGPT va détruire l’emploi, c’est mal ! Bill Gates va mettre des puces 5G dans les vaccins qu’il nous vend ! Ces peurs, fictives, ne font que renforcer la fiction que racontent ceux qui s’imaginent en supervilains à la James Bond et qui sont incroyablement flattés de voir que même leurs ennemis les croient bien plus puissants qu’ils ne le sont en réalité.

Pourtant, comme n’importe quelle superstition, comme n’importe quel gourou sectaire, il suffirait d’une simple chose pour détruire ces mensonges. Il nous suffirait d’arrêter de les croire.

Il suffirait de leur dire « N’importe quoi ! » en rigolant et en haussant les épaules.

Il suffirait d’arrêter de penser que les publicités Facebook/Instagram fonctionnent, d’arrêter de donner du crédit aux métriques qu’ils inventent (les "vues" et les likes") pour que Méta s’effondre (ces métriques ont été amplement démontrées comme complètement fictives). Il suffirait d’arrêter de croire que les résultats de Google sont pertinents pour qu’Alphabet s’effondre (ils ne le sont plus depuis longtemps). Il suffirait de réaliser les défauts de Tesla et des dangers d’une voiture individuelle connectée pour que la fortune d’Elon Musk fonde comme neige au soleil (fortune qui est basée sur la fiction selon laquelle Tesla vendra plus de voitures que tous les autres constructeurs automobiles chaque année durant toutes les prochaines décennies). Il suffirait de s’arrêter pour réfléchir trente secondes pour réaliser que ChatGPT n’est pas le début d’une révolution, mais la fin d’une bulle.

• Une bulle d’intelligence artificielle et de stupidité naturelle (ploum.net)

Mais s’arrêter pour réfléchir trente secondes entre deux notifications est devenu un luxe. Un luxe inimaginable, une difficulté inouïe.

Plutôt que de réfléchir à ce que nous voyons, nous préférons cliquer sur le bouton « J’aime » et passer à autre chose. Le mensonge est plus confortable.

Chaque fois que nous sortons notre téléphone, nous ne demandons qu’une chose…

Qu’ils nous mentent.

20 years of Linux on the Desktop (part 1)

Twenty years ago, I had an epiphany: Linux was ready for the desktop.

(*audience laughs*)

I had been one of those teenagers invited everywhere to "fix" the computer. Neighbours, friends, family. Yes, that kind of nerdy teenager. You probably know what I mean. But I was tired of installing cracked antivirus and cleaning infested Microsoft Windows computers, their RAM full of malware, their CPU slowing to a crawl, with their little power LED begging me to alleviate their suffering.

Tired of being an unpaid Microsoft support technician, I offered people to install Linux on their computer, with my full support, or to never talk with me about their computer any more.

To my surprise, some accepted the Linux offer.

I started to always have two CD-ROMs with me: the latest Knoppix and Debian Woody. I would first launch Knoppix, the first Live CD Linux, make a demonstration to my future victims and, more importantly, save the autogenerated XFree86 config file. I would then install Debian. When X would fail to start after installation, which was a given, I would copy the X config file from Knoppix, install GNOME 2 and OpenOffice from the testing repository and start working on what needed to be done. Like installing and launching ESD by default to allow multiple sounds. Configuring the network which was, most of the time, a USB ADSL modem requiring some proprietary firmware that I would have downloaded beforehand.

I would also create some shell scripts for common operations: connect to Internet, mount the USB camera, etc. I put those scripts on the GNOME desktop so people could simply click to launch them. In some cases, I would make a quick Zenity interface.

It was a lot of work upfront but, after that, it worked. People were using their computer for months or years without messing or breaking anything. Most of my complains were about running some windows software (like those on CD-ROM founds in cereal boxes).

With GNOME 2.0, I felt that Linux was ready for the desktop. It was just really hard to install. And that could be fixed.

The Perfect Desktop

I had my own public wiki (called the FriWiki) with a few regular contributors. On it, I wrote a long text called: "Debian+GNOME=The Perfect Desktop?". It explained my observations and all the problems that needed to be fixed.

As I wanted to improve the situation, I described how the installation should autodetect everything, like Knoppix did. I also suggested to have a LiveCD and an Installation CD that would be totally mirroring each other so you could test then install. In a perfect world, you could install directly from the LiveCD but I didn’t know if it was technically possible. That installation should also offer standard partitions schemes, autodetect and preserve the Windows partition so people would not be afraid of messing their system.

Installation was not everything. I suggested that the user created during installation should automatically have root rights. I had learned that two passwords were really too high of a bar for most if not for all people. I don’t remember anyone understanding the "root" concept. Systems with multiple users were too complex to teach so I ended in every case with a single whole family account. The fact that this single account was prevented from doing some stuff on the computer was baffling. Especially for trivial things such as mounting a CD-ROM or a USB key.

Speaking of root: installing software could be really more friendly. I imagined a synaptic-like interface which would only display main applications (not all packages) with screenshots, descriptions and reviews. I did some mockups and noted that the hardest parts would probably be the selection and the translation. I’ve lost those mockups but, in my souvenirs, they were incredibly close of what app stores would become years later.

I, of course, insisted on installing ESD by default to multiplex sound, to include all the multimedia codecs, lbdvdcss and all possible firmware (called "drivers" at the time) in case hardware is added later.

I had pages and pages of detailed analysis of every single aspect I wanted to be improved to make Linux ready for the desktop.

With 2.0, GNOME switched to a bi-yearly release. Every six months, a new GNOME desktop would be released, no matter what. I thought it would be a nice idea to have the underlying OS released just after, to be kept in sync. But every six months was probably a bit too much work and people I knew would not upgrade as often anyway. So I advocated for a yearly release where the version number would be the full year. This would greatly help people to understand what version they were running. Like in "I’m running Linux Desktop 2003".

UserLinux

When you have a good idea, it’s probably because this idea is already in the zeitgeist of the time. I don’t believe in "ownership" or even "stealing" when it’s about ideas. Bruce Perens himself was thinking about the subject. He decided to launch UserLinux, an initiative that had the goal of doing exactly what I had in mind.

I immediately joined the project and started to be a very vocal member, always referring to my "Perfect Desktop" essay. I wanted UserLinux to succeed. If Bruce Perens was behind it, it could not not succeed, right?

Unfortunately, most of UserLinux people were, like me, talking a lot but not doing much. The only active member was an artist who designed a logo and started to create multiple GNOME themes. It was great. And lots of discussions about how to make the theme even better ensued.

This is how I learned about "bike shedding".

UserLinux was the ultimate bikeshedded project. To my knowledge, no code was ever written. In fact, it was not even clear what code should be written at all. After launching the initial idea, Bruce Perens was mostly discussing with us, everybody waiting for someone to "do something".

No-name-yet

At the start of 2004, I was contacted by Sébastien Bacher, a Debian developer who told me that he had read my "Perfect Desktop" essay months ago and forwarded it to someone who had very similar ideas. And lots of money. So much money that they were already secretly working on it and, now that it was starting to take shape, they were interested in my feedback about the very alpha version.

I, of course, agreed and was excited. This is how I joined a mysterious project called "no-name-yet" with a nonameyet.com website and an IRC channel. While discussing about the project and learning it in great depth, my greatest fear was that it would become a fork of Debian. I felt strongly that one should not fork Debian lightly. Instead, it should be more a few packages and metapackages that would sit on top of Debian. Multiple people in the team assured me that the goal was to cooperate with Debian, not to fork it.

At one point, I strongly argued with someone on IRC whose nick was "sabdfl". Someone else asked me in private if I knew who it was. I didn’t.

That’s how I learned that the project was funded by Mark Shuttleworth himself.

Dreaming of being an astronaut, I was a huge fan of Mark Shuttleworth. The guy was an astronaut but was also a free software supporter. I knew him from the days when he tried to offer bounties to improve free software like Thunderbird. Without much success. But I was surprised to learn that Mark had also been a Debian developer.

This guy was my hero (and still kinda is). He represented all of my dreams: an astronaut, a debian developer and a billionaire (in my order of importance). Years later, I would meet him once in the hall of an Ubuntu Summit. He was typing on his laptop, looked at me and I could not say anything other than "Hello". And that was it. But I’m proud to say that his hackergothi on planet.ubuntu.com is still the one I designed for him as a way to celebrate his space flight.

During the spring or early summer of 2004, I received a link to the very first alpha version of no-name-yet. Which, suddenly, had a real name. And I liked it: Ubuntu. I installed Ubuntu on a partition to test. Quickly, I found myself using it daily, forgetting about my Debian partition. It was brown. Very brown at first. A bit later, it even got naked people on the login screen (and I defended sabdfl for this controversial decision). Instead of studying for my exams, I started to do lengthy reports about what could be improved, about bugs I found, etc.

This makes me one of the very few people on earth who started to use Ubuntu with 4.04 (it was not named like that, of course).

Wanting to promote Ubuntu and inspired by Tristan Nitot, I decided to start a blog.

A blog which, coincidentally, was started the very same day the first public Ubuntu was released, exactly twenty years ago.

A blog you are reading right now.

And this was just the beginning…

• Continue your reading with part 2 of "20 years of Linux on the Desktop"

Subscribe by email or by rss to get the next episodes of "20 years of Linux on the Desktop".

I’m currently turning this story into a book. I’m looking for an agent or a publisher interested to work with me on this book and on an English translation of "Bikepunk", my new post-apocalyptic-cyclist typewritten novel.

I'm excited to share an experiment I've been working on: a solar-powered, self-hosted website running on a Raspberry Pi. The website at https://solar.dri.es is powered entirely by a solar panel and battery on our roof deck in Boston.

By visiting https://solar.dri.es, you can dive into all the technical details and lessons learned – from hardware setup to networking configuration and custom monitoring.

As the content on this solar-powered site is likely to evolve or might even disappear over time, I've included the full article below (with minor edits) to ensure that this information is preserved.

Finally, you can view the real-time status of my solar setup on my solar panel dashboard, hosted on my main website. This dashboard stays online even when my solar-powered setup goes offline.

Background

For over two decades, I've been deeply involved in web development. I've worked on everything from simple websites to building and managing some of the internet's largest websites. I've helped create a hosting business that uses thousands of EC2 instances, handling billions of page views every month. This platform includes the latest technology: cloud-native architecture, Kubernetes orchestration, auto-scaling, smart traffic routing, geographic failover, self-healing, and more.

This project is the complete opposite. It's a hobby project focused on sustainable, solar-powered self-hosting. The goal is to use the smallest, most energy-efficient setup possible, even if it means the website goes offline sometimes. Yes, this site may go down on cloudy or cold days. But don't worry! When the sun comes out, the website will be back up, powered by sunshine.

My primary website, https://dri.es, is reliably hosted on Acquia, and I'm very happy with it. However, if this solar-powered setup proves stable and efficient, I might consider moving some content to solar hosting. For instance, I could keep the most important pages on traditional hosting while transferring less essential content – like my 10,000 photos – to a solar-powered server.

Why am I doing this?

This project is driven by my curiosity about making websites and web hosting more environmentally friendly, even on a small scale. It's also a chance to explore a local-first approach: to show that hosting a personal website on your own internet connection at home can often be enough for small sites. This aligns with my commitment to both the Open Web and the IndieWeb.

At its heart, this project is about learning and contributing to a conversation on a greener, local-first future for the web. Inspired by solar-powered sites like LowTech Magazine, I hope to spark similar ideas in others. If this experiment inspires even one person in the web community to rethink hosting and sustainability, I'll consider it a success.

Solar panel and battery

The heart of my solar setup is a 50-watt panel from Voltaic, which captures solar energy and delivers 12-volt output. I store the excess power in an 18 amp-hour Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP or LiFePO4) battery, also from Voltaic.

I'll never forget the first time I plugged in the solar panel – it felt like pure magic. Seeing the battery spring to life, powered entirely by sunlight, was an exhilarating moment that is hard to put into words. And yes, all this electrifying excitement happened right in our laundry room.

Voltaic's battery system includes a built-in charge controller with Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technology, which regulates the solar panel's output to optimize battery charging. In addition, the MPPT controller protects the battery from overcharging, extreme temperatures, and short circuits.

A key feature of the charge controller is its ability to stop charging when temperatures fall below 0°C (32°F). This preserves battery health, as charging in freezing conditions can damage the battery cells. As I'll discuss in the Next steps section, this safeguard complicates year-round operation in Boston's harsh winters. I'll likely need a battery that can charge in colder temperatures.

I also encountered a voltage mismatch between the 12-volt solar panel output and the Raspberry Pi's 5-volt input requirement. Fortunately, this problem had a more straightforward solution. I solved this using a buck converter to step down the voltage. While this conversion introduces some energy loss, it allows me to use a more powerful solar panel.

Raspberry Pi models

This website is currently hosted on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. The main reason for choosing the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is its energy efficiency. Consuming just 0.4 watts at idle and up to 1.3 watts under load, it can run on my battery for about a week. This decision is supported by a mathematical uptime model, detailed in Appendix 1.

That said, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W has limitations. Despite its quad-core 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM, it may still struggle with handling heavier website traffic. For this reason, I also considered the Raspberry Pi 4. With its 1.5 GHz quad-core ARM processor and 4 GB of RAM, the Raspberry Pi 4 can handle more traffic. However, this added performance comes at a cost: the Pi 4 consumes roughly five times the power of the Zero 2 W. As shown in Appendix 2, my 50W solar panel and 18Ah battery setup are likely insufficient to power the Raspberry Pi 4 through Boston's winter.

With a single-page website now live on https://solar.dri.es, I'm actively monitoring the real-world performance and uptime of a solar-powered Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. For now, I'm using the lightest setup that I have available and will upgrade only when needed.

Networking

The Raspberry Pi's built-in Wi-Fi is perfect for our outdoor setup. It wirelessly connects to our home network, so no extra wiring was needed.

I want to call out that my router and Wi-Fi network are not solar-powered; they rely on my existing network setup and conventional power sources. So while the web server itself runs on solar power, other parts of the delivery chain still depend on traditional energy.

Running this website on my home internet connection also means that if my ISP or networking equipment goes down, so does the website – there is no failover in place.

For security reasons, I isolated the Raspberry Pi in its own Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). This ensures that even if the Pi is compromised, the rest of our home network remains protected.

To make the solar-powered website accessible from the internet, I configured port forwarding on our router. This directs incoming web traffic on port 80 (HTTP) and port 443 (HTTPS) to the Raspberry Pi, enabling external access to the site.

One small challenge was the dynamic nature of our IP address. ISPs typically do not assign fixed IP addresses, meaning our IP address changes from time to time. To keep the website accessible despite these IP address changes, I wrote a small script that looks up our public IP address and updates the DNS record for solar.dri.es on Cloudflare. This script runs every 10 minutes via a cron job.

I use Cloudflare's DNS proxy, which handles DNS and offers basic DDoS protection. However, I do not use Cloudflare's caching or CDN features, as that would somewhat defeat the purpose of running this website on solar power and keeping it local-first.

The Raspberry Pi uses Caddy as its web server, which automatically obtains SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt. This setup ensures secure, encrypted HTTP connections to the website.

Monitoring and dashboard

One key feature that influenced my decision to go with the Voltaic battery is its RS485 interface for the charge controller. This allowed me to add an RS485 CAN HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) to the Raspberry Pi, enabling communication with the charge controller using the Modbus protocol. In turn, this enabled me to programmatically gather real-time data on the solar panel's output and battery's status.

I collect data such as battery capacity, power output, temperature, uptime, and more. I send this data to my main website via a web service API, where it's displayed on a dashboard. This setup ensures that key information remains accessible, even if the Raspberry Pi goes offline.

My main website runs on Drupal. The dashboard is powered by a custom module I developed. This module adds a web service endpoint to handle authentication, validate incoming JSON data, and store it in a MariaDB database table. Using the historical data stored in MariaDB, the module generates Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) for the dashboard graphs. For more details, check out my post on building a temperature and humidity monitor, which explains a similar setup in much more detail. Sure, I could have used a tool like Grafana, but sometimes building it yourself is part of the fun.

For more details on the charge controller and some of the issues I've observed, please refer to Appendix 3.

Energy use, cost savings, and environmental impact

When I started this solar-powered website project, I wasn't trying to revolutionize sustainable computing or drastically cut my electricity bill. I was driven by curiosity, a desire to have fun, and a hope that my journey might inspire others to explore local-first or solar-powered hosting.

That said, let's break down the energy consumption and cost savings to get a better sense of the project's impact.

The tiny Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W at the heart of this project uses just 1 Watt on average. This translates to 0.024 kWh daily (1W * 24h / 1000 = 0.024 kWh) and approximately 9 kWh annually (0.024 kWh * 365 days = 8.76 kWh). The cost savings? Looking at our last electricity bill, we pay an average of $0.325 per kWh in Boston. This means the savings amount to $2.85 USD per year (8.76 kWh * $0.325/kWh = $2.85). Not exactly something to write home about.

The environmental impact is similarly modest. Saving 9 kWh per year reduces CO2 emissions by roughly 4 kg, which is about the same as driving 16 kilometers (10 miles) by car.

There are two ways to interpret these numbers. The pessimist might say that the impact of my solar setup is negligible, and they wouldn't be wrong. Offsetting the energy use of a Raspberry Pi Zero 2, which only draws 1 Watt, will never be game-changing. The $2.85 USD saved annually won't come close to covering the cost of the solar panel and battery. In terms of efficiency, this setup isn't a win.

But the optimist in me sees it differently. When you compare my solar-powered setup to traditional website hosting, a more compelling case emerges. Using a low-power Raspberry Pi to host a basic website, rather than large servers in energy-hungry data centers, can greatly cut down on both expenses and environmental impact. Consider this: a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W costs just $15 USD, and I can power it with main power for only $0.50 USD a month. In contrast, traditional hosting might cost around $20 USD a month. Viewed this way, my setup is both more sustainable and economical, showing some merit.

Lastly, it's also important to remember that solar power isn't just about saving money or cutting emissions. In remote areas without grid access or during disaster relief, solar can be the only way to keep communication systems running. In a crisis, a small solar setup could make the difference between isolation and staying connected to essential information and support.

Why do so many websites need to stay up?

The reason the energy savings from my solar-powered setup won't offset the equipment costs is that the system is intentionally oversized to keep the website running during extended low-light periods. Once the battery reaches full capacity, any excess energy goes to waste. That is unfortunate as that surplus could be used, and using it would help offset more of the hardware costs.

This inefficiency isn't unique to solar setups – it highlights a bigger issue in web hosting: over-provisioning. The web hosting world is full of mostly idle hardware. Web hosting providers often allocate more resources than necessary to ensure high uptime or failover, and this comes at an environmental cost.

One way to make web hosting more eco-friendly is by allowing non-essential websites to experience more downtime, reducing the need to power as much hardware. Of course, many websites are critical and need to stay up 24/7 – my own work with Acquia is dedicated to ensuring essential sites do just that. But for non-critical websites, allowing some downtime could go a long way in conserving energy.

It may seem unconventional, but I believe it's worth considering: many websites, mine included, aren't mission-critical. The world won't end if they occasionally go offline. That is why I like the idea of hosting my 10,000 photos on a solar-powered Raspberry Pi.

And maybe that is the real takeaway from this experiment so far: to question why our websites and hosting solutions have become so resource-intensive and why we're so focused on keeping non-essential websites from going down. Do we really need 99.9% uptime for personal websites? I don't think so.

Perhaps the best way to make the web more sustainable is to accept more downtime for those websites that aren't critical. By embracing occasional downtime and intentionally under-provisioning non-essential websites, we can make the web a greener, more efficient place.

Next steps

As I continue this experiment, my biggest challenge is the battery's inability to charge in freezing temperatures. As explained, the battery's charge controller includes a safety feature that prevents charging when the temperature drops below freezing. While the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W can run on my fully charged battery for about six days, this won't be sufficient for Boston winters, where temperatures often remain below freezing for longer.

With winter approaching, I need a solution to charge my battery in extreme cold. Several options to consider include:

1. Adding a battery heating system that uses excess energy during peak sunlight hours.
2. Applying insulation, though this alone may not suffice since the battery generates minimal heat.
3. Replacing the battery with one that charges at temperatures as low as -20°C (-4°F), such as Lithium Titanate (LTO) or certain AGM lead-acid batteries. However, it's not as simple as swapping it out – my current battery has a built-in charge controller, so I'd likely need to add an external charge controller, which would require rewiring the solar panel and updating my monitoring code.

Each solution has trade-offs in cost, safety, and complexity. I'll need to research the different options carefully to ensure safety and reliability.

The last quarter of the year is filled with travel and other commitments, so I may not have time to implement a fix before freezing temperatures hit. With some luck, the current setup might make it through winter. I'll keep monitoring performance and uptime – and, as mentioned, a bit of downtime is acceptable and even part of the fun! That said, the website may go offline for a few weeks and restart after the harshest part of winter. Meanwhile, I can focus on other aspects of the project.

For example, I plan to expand this single-page site into one with hundreds or even thousands of pages. Here are a few things I'd like to explore:

1. Testing Drupal on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W: As the founder and project lead of Drupal, my main website runs on Drupal. I'm curious to see if Drupal can actually run on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. The answer might be "probably not", but I'm eager to try.
2. Upgrading to a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5: I'd like to experiment with upgrading to a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5, as I know it could run Drupal. As noted in Appendix 2, this might push the limits of my solar panel and battery. There are some optimization options to explore though, like disabling CPU cores, lowering the RAM clock speed, and dynamically adjusting features based on sunlight and battery levels.
3. Creating a static version of my site: I'm interested in experimenting with a static version of https://dri.es. A static site doesn't require PHP or MySQL, which would likely reduce resource demands and make it easier to run on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. However, dynamic features like my solar dashboard depend on PHP and MySQL, so I'd potentially need alternative solutions for those. Tools like Tome and QuantCDN offer ways to generate static versions of Drupal sites, but I've never tested these myself. Although I prefer keeping my site dynamic, creating a static version also aligns with my interests in digital preservation and archiving, offering me a chance to delve deeper into these concepts.

Either way, it looks like I'll have some fun ahead. I can explore these ideas from my office while the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W continues running on the roof deck. I'm open to suggestions and happy to share notes with others interested in similar projects. If you'd like to stay updated on my progress, you can sign up to receive new posts by email or subscribe via RSS. Feel free to email me at dries@buytaert.net. Your ideas, input, and curiosity are always welcome.

Appendix

Appendix 1: Sizing a solar panel and battery for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

To keep the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W running in various weather conditions, we need to estimate the ideal solar panel and battery size. We'll base this on factors like power consumption, available sunlight, and desired uptime.

The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is very energy-efficient, consuming only 0.4W at idle and up to 1.3W under load. For simplicity, we'll assume an average power consumption of 1W, which totals 24Wh per day (1W * 24 hours).

We also need to account for energy losses due to inefficiencies in the solar panel, charge controller, battery, and inverter. Assuming a total loss of 30%, our estimated daily energy requirement is 24Wh / 0.7 ≈ 34.3Wh.

In Boston, peak sunlight varies throughout the year, averaging 5-6 hours per day in summer (June-August) and only 2-3 hours per day in winter (December-February). Peak sunlight refers to the strongest, most direct sunlight hours. Basing the design on peak sunlight hours rather than total daylight hours provides a margin of safety.

To produce 34.3Wh in the winter, with only 2 hours of peak sunlight, the solar panel should generate about 17.15W (34.3Wh / 2 hours ≈ 17.15W). As mentioned, my current setup includes a 50W solar panel, which provides well above the estimated 17.15W requirement.

Now, let's look at battery sizing. As explained, I have an 18Ah battery, which provides about 216Wh of capacity (18Ah * 12V = 216Wh). If there were no sunlight at all, this battery could power the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W for roughly 6 days (216Wh / 34.3Wh per day ≈ 6.3 days), ensuring continuous operation even on snowy winter days.

These estimates suggest that I could halve both my 50W solar panel and 18Ah battery to a 25W panel and a 9Ah battery, and still meet the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W's power needs during Boston winters. However, I chose the 50W panel and larger battery for flexibility, in case I need to upgrade to a more powerful board with higher energy requirements.

Appendix 2: Sizing a solar panel and battery for a Raspberry Pi 4

If I need to switch to a Raspberry Pi 4 to handle increased website traffic, the power requirements will rise significantly. The Raspberry Pi 4 consumes around 3.4W at idle and up to 7.6W under load. For estimation purposes, I'll assume an average consumption of 4.5W, which totals 108Wh per day (4.5W * 24 hours = 108Wh).

Factoring in a 30% loss due to system inefficiencies, the adjusted daily energy requirement increases to approximately 154.3Wh (108Wh / 0.7 ≈ 154.3Wh). To meet this demand during winter, with only 2 hours of peak sunlight, the solar panel would need to produce about 77.15W (154.3Wh / 2 hours ≈ 77.15W).

While some margin of safety is built into my calculations, this likely means my current 50W solar panel and 216Wh battery are insufficient to power a Raspberry Pi 4 during a Boston winter.

For example, with an average power draw of 4.5W, the Raspberry Pi 4 requires 108Wh daily. In winter, if the solar panel generates only 70 to 105Wh per day, there would be a shortfall of 3 to 38Wh each day, which the battery would need to cover. And with no sunlight at all, a fully charged 216Wh battery would keep the system running for about 2 days (216Wh / 108Wh per day ≈ 2 days) before depleting.

To ensure reliable operation, a 100W solar panel, capable of generating enough power with just 2 hours of winter sunlight, paired with a 35Ah battery providing 420Wh, could be better. This setup, roughly double my current capacity, would offer sufficient backup to keep the Raspberry Pi 4 running for 3-4 days without sunlight.

Appendix 3: Observations on the Lumiax charge controller

As I mentioned earlier, my battery has a built-in charge controller. The brand of the controller is Lumiax, and I can access its data programmatically. While the controller excels at managing charging, its metering capabilities feel less robust. Here are a few observations:

1. I reviewed the charge controller's manual to clarify how it defines and measures different currents, but the information provided was insufficient.
   • The charge controller allows monitoring of the "solar current" (register 12367). I expected this to measure the current flowing from the solar panel to the charge controller, but it actually measures the current flowing from the charge controller to the battery. In other words, it tracks the "useful current" – the current from the solar panel used to charge the battery or power the load. The problem with this is that when the battery is fully charged, the controller reduces the current from the solar panel to prevent overcharging, even though the panel could produce more. As a result, I can't accurately measure the maximum power output of the solar panel. For example, in full sunlight with a fully charged battery, the calculated power output could be as low as 2W, even though the solar panel is capable of producing 50W.
   • The controller also reports the "battery current" (register 12359), which appears to represent the current flowing from the battery to the Raspberry Pi. I believe this to be the case because the "battery current" turns negative at night, indicating discharge.
   • Additionally, the controller reports the "load current" (register 12362), which, in my case, consistently reads zero. This is odd because my Raspberry Pi Zero 2 typically draws between 0.1-0.3A. Even with a Raspberry Pi 4, drawing between 0.6-1.3A, the controller still reports 0A. This could be a bug or suggest that the charge controller lacks sufficient accuracy.
2. When the battery discharges and the low voltage protection activates, it shuts down the Raspberry Pi as expected. However, if there isn't enough sunlight to recharge the battery within a certain timeframe, the Raspberry Pi does not automatically reboot. Instead, I must perform a manual 'factory reset' of the charge controller. This involves connecting my laptop to the controller – a cumbersome process that requires me to disconnect the Raspberry Pi, open its waterproof enclosure, detach the RS485 hat wires, connect them to a USB-to-RS485 adapter for my laptop, and run a custom Python script. Afterward, I have to reverse the entire process. This procedure can't be performed while traveling as it requires physical access.
3. The charge controller has two temperature sensors: one for the environment and one for the controller itself. However, the controller's temperature readings often seem inaccurate. For example, while the environment temperature might correctly register at 24°C, the controller could display a reading as low as 14°C. This seems questionable though there might be an explanation that I'm overlooking.
4. The battery's charge and discharge patterns are non-linear, meaning the charge level may drop rapidly at first, then stay steady for hours. For example, I've seen it drop from 100% to 65% within an hour but remain at 65% for over six hours. This is common for LFP batteries due to their voltage characteristics. Some advanced charge controllers use look-up tables, algorithms, or coulomb counting to more accurately predict the state of charge based on the battery type and usage patterns. The Lumiax doesn't support this, but I might be able to implement coulomb counting myself by tracking the current flow to improve charge level estimates.

Appendix 4: When size matters (but it's best not to mention it)

When buying a solar panel, sometimes it's easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

One day, I casually mentioned to my wife, "Oh, by the way, I bought something. It will arrive in a few days."

"What did you buy?", she asked, eyebrow raised.

"A solar panel", I said, trying to sound casual.

"A what?!", she asked again, her voice rising.

Don't worry!", I reassured her. "It's not that big", I said, gesturing with my hands to show a panel about the size of a laptop.

She looked skeptical but didn't push further.

Fast forward to delivery day. As I unboxed it, her eyes widened in surprise. The panel was easily four or five times larger than what I'd shown her. Oops.

The takeaway? Sometimes a little underestimation goes a long way.

Proton is a compatibility layer for Windows games to run on Linux. Running a Windows games is mostly just hitting the Play button within Steam. It’s that good that many games now run faster on Linux than on native Windows. That’s what makes the Steam Deck the best gaming handheld of the moment.

But a compatibility layer is still a layer, so you may encounter … incompatibilities. Ember Knights is a lovely game with fun co-op multiplayer support. It runs perfectly on the (Linux-based) Steam Deck, but on my Ubuntu laptop I encountered long loading times (startup was 5 minutes and loading between worlds was slow). But once the game was loaded it ran fine.

Debugging the game reveled that there were lost of EAGAIN errors while the game was trying to access the system clock. Changing the numer of allowed open files fixed the problem for me.

Add this to end end of the following files:

• in /etc/security/limits.conf:

* hard nofile 1048576

• in /etc/systemd/system.conf and /etc/systemd/user.conf:

DefaultLimitNOFILE=1048576 

Reboot.

“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. I certainly agree with that sentiment.

At its core, The Witcher 3 is a action-role playing game with a third-person perspective in a huge open world. You develop your character while the story advances. At the same time you can freely roam and explore as much as you like. The main story is captivating and the world is filled with with side quests and lots of interesting people. Fun for at least 200 hours, if you’re the exploring kind. If you’re not, the base game (without DLCs) will still take you 50 hours to finish.

While similar to other great games like Nintendo’s Zelda Breath of the Wild and Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn, the strength of the game is a deep lore originating from the Witcher series novels written by the “Polish Tolkien” Andrzej Sapkowski. It’s not a game, but a universe (nowadays it even includes a Netflix tv-series).

A must play.

Played on the Steam Deck without any issues (“Steam Deck Verified”)

A couple of months after reaching 1600, I hit another milestone: Elo 1700!

When I reached an Elo rating of 1600, I expected the climb to get more difficult. Surprisingly, moving up to 1700 was easier than I thought.

I stuck with my main openings but added a few new variations. For example, I started using the "Queen's Gambit Declined: Cambridge Springs Defense" against white opening with 1. d4 – a name that, just six months ago, might as well have been a spell from Harry Potter. Despite expanding my opening repertoire, my opening knowledge remains limited, and I tend to stick to the few openings I know well.

A key challenge I keep facing is what my chess coach calls "pattern recognition", the ability to instantly recognize common tactical setups and positional themes. Vanessa, my wife, would almost certainly agree with that – she's great at spotting patterns in my life that I completely miss. To work on this blind spot, I've made solving chess puzzles a daily habit.

What has really started to make sense for me is understanding pawn breaks and how to create weaknesses in my opponent's position – while avoiding creating weaknesses in my own. These concepts are becoming clearer, and I feel like I'm seeing the board better.

Next stop: Elo 1800.

Recently, a public dispute has emerged between WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and hosting company WP Engine. Matt has accused WP Engine of misleading users through its branding and profiting from WordPress without adequately contributing back to the project.

As the Founder and Project Lead of Drupal, another major open source Content Management System (CMS), I hesitated to weigh in on this debate, as this could be perceived as opportunistic. In the end, I decided to share my perspective because this conflict affects the broader open source community.

I've known Matt Mullenweg since the early days, and we've grown both our open source projects and companies alongside each other. With our shared interests and backgrounds, I consider Matt a good friend and can relate uniquely to him. Equally valuable to me are my relationships with WP Engine's leadership, including CEO Heather Brunner and Founder Jason Cohen, both of whom I've met several times. I have deep admiration for what they've achieved with WP Engine.

Although this post was prompted by the controversy between Automattic and WP Engine, it is not about them. I don't have insight into their respective contributions to WordPress, and I'm not here to judge. I've made an effort to keep this post as neutral as possible.

Instead, this post is about two key challenges that many open source projects face:

1. The imbalance between major contributors and those who contribute minimally, and how this harms open source communities.
2. The lack of an environment that supports the fair coexistence of open source businesses.

These issues could discourage entrepreneurs from starting open source businesses, which could harm the future of open source. My goal is to spark a constructive dialogue on creating a more equitable and sustainable open source ecosystem. By solving these challenges, we can build a stronger future for open source.

This post explores the "Maker-Taker problem" in open source, using Drupal's contribution credit system as a model for fairly incentivizing and recognizing contributors. It suggests how WordPress and other open source projects could benefit from adopting a similar system. While this is unsolicited advice, I believe this approach could help the WordPress community heal, rebuild trust, and advance open source productively for everyone.

The Maker-Taker problem

At the heart of this issue is the Maker-Taker problem, where creators of open source software ("Makers") see their work being used by others, often service providers, who profit from it without contributing back in a meaningful or fair way ("Takers").

Five years ago, I wrote a blog post called Balancing Makers and Takers to scale and sustain Open Source, where I defined these concepts:

The difference between Makers and Takers is not always 100% clear, but as a rule of thumb, Makers directly invest in growing both their business and the open source project. Takers are solely focused on growing their business and let others take care of the open source project they rely on.

In that post, I also explain how Takers can harm open source projects. By not contributing back meaningfully, Takers gain an unfair advantage over Makers who support the open source project. This can discourage Makers from keeping their level of contribution up, as they need to divert resources to stay competitive, which can ultimately hurt the health and growth of the project:

Takers harm open source projects. An aggressive Taker can induce Makers to behave in a more selfish manner and reduce or stop their contributions to open source altogether. Takers can turn Makers into Takers.

Solving the Maker-Taker challenge is one of the biggest remaining hurdles in open source. Successfully addressing this could lead to the creation of tens of thousands of new open source businesses while also improving the sustainability, growth, and competitiveness of open source – making a positive impact on the world.

Drupal's approach: the Contribution Credit System

In Drupal, we've adopted a positive approach to encourage organizations to become Makers rather than relying on punitive measures. Our approach stems from a key insight, also explained in my Makers and Takers blog post: customers are a "common good" for an open source project, not a "public good".

Since a customer can choose only one service provider, that choice directly impacts the health of the open source project. When a customer selects a Maker, part of their revenue is reinvested into the project. However, if they choose a Taker, the project sees little to no benefit. This means that open source projects grow faster when commercial work flows to Makers and away from Takers.

For this reason, it's crucial for an open source community to:

1. Clearly identify the Makers and Takers within their ecosystem
2. Actively support and promote their Makers
3. Educate end users about the importance of choosing Makers

To address these needs and solve the Maker-Taker problem in Drupal, I proposed a contribution credit system 10 years ago. The concept was straightforward: incentivize organizations to contribute to Drupal by giving them tangible recognition for their efforts.

We've since implemented this system in partnership with the Drupal Association, our non-profit organization. The Drupal Association transparently tracks contributions from both individuals and organizations. Each contribution earns credits, and the more you contribute, the more visibility you gain on Drupal.org (visited by millions monthly) and at events like DrupalCon (attended by thousands). You can earn credits by contributing code, submitting case studies, organizing events, writing documentation, financially supporting the Drupal Association, and more.

Drupal's credit system is unique and groundbreaking within the Open Source community. The Drupal contribution credit system serves two key purposes: it helps us identify who our Makers and Takers are, and it allows us to guide end users towards doing business with our Makers.

Here is how we accomplish this:

• Certain benefits, like event sponsorships or advertising on Drupal.org, are reserved for organizations with a minimum number of credits.
• The Drupal marketplace only lists Makers, ranking them by their contributions. Organizations that stop contributing gradually drop in ranking and are eventually removed.
• We encourage end users to require open source contributions from their vendors. Drupal users like Pfizer and the State of Georgia only allow Makers to apply in their vendor selection process.

Governance and fairness

To make sure the contribution credit system is fair, it benefits from the oversight from an independent, neutral party.

In the Drupal ecosystem, the Drupal Association fulfills this crucial role. The Drupal Association operates independently, free from control by any single company within the Drupal ecosystem. Some of the Drupal Association's responsibilities include:

1. Organizing DrupalCons
2. Managing Drupal.org
3. Overseeing the contribution tracking and credit system

It's important to note that while I serve on the Drupal Association's Board, I am just one of 12 members and have not held the Chair position for several years. My company, Acquia, receives no preferential treatment in the credit system; the visibility of any organization, including Acquia, is solely determined by its contributions over the preceding twelve months. This structure ensures fairness and encourages active participation from all members of the Drupal community.

Drupal's credit system certainly isn't perfect. It is hard to accurately track and fairly value diverse contributions like code, documentation, mentorship, marketing, event organization, etc. Some organizations have tried to game the system, while others question whether the cost-benefit is worthwhile.

As a result, Drupal's credit system has evolved significantly since I first proposed it ten years ago. The Drupal Association continually works to improve the system, aiming for a credit structure that genuinely drives positive behavior.

Recommendations for WordPress

WordPress has already taken steps to address the Maker-Taker challenge through initiatives like the Five for the Future program, which encourages organizations to contribute 5% of their resources to WordPress development.

Building on this foundation, I believe WordPress could benefit from adopting a contribution credit system similar to Drupal's. This system would likely require the following steps to be taken:

1. Expanding the current governance model to be more distributed.
2. Providing clear definitions of Makers and Takers within the ecosystem.
3. Implementing a fair and objective system for tracking and valuing various types of contributions.
4. Implementing a structured system of rewards for Makers who meet specific contribution thresholds, such as priority placement in the WordPress marketplace, increased visibility on WordPress.org, opportunities to exhibit at WordPress events, or access to key services.

This approach addresses both key challenges highlighted in the introduction: it balances contributions by incentivizing major involvement, and it creates an environment where open source businesses of all sizes can compete fairly based on their contributions to the community.

Conclusion

Addressing the Maker-Taker challenge is essential for the long-term sustainability of open source projects. Drupal's approach may provide a constructive solution not just for WordPress, but for other communities facing similar issues.

By transparently rewarding contributions and fostering collaboration, we can build healthier open source ecosystems. A credit system can help make open source more sustainable and fair, driving growth, competitiveness, and potentially creating thousands of new open source businesses.

As Drupal continues to improve its credit system, we understand that no solution is perfect. We're eager to learn from the successes and challenges of other open source projects and are open to ideas and collaboration.

Approximately 1,100 Drupal enthusiasts gathered in Barcelona, Spain, last week for DrupalCon Europe. As per tradition, I delivered my State of Drupal keynote, often referred to as the "DriesNote".

If you missed it, you can watch the video or download my slides (177 MB).

In my keynote, I gave an update on Drupal Starshot, an ambitious initiative we launched at DrupalCon Portland 2024. Originally called Drupal Starshot, inspired by President Kennedy's Moonshot challenge, the product is now officially named Drupal CMS.

The goal of Drupal CMS is to set the standard for no-code website building. It will allow non-technical users, like marketers, content creators, and site builders, to create digital experiences with ease, without compromising on the power and flexibility that Drupal is known for.

A four-month progress report

While Kennedy gave NASA eight years, I set a goal to deliver the first version of Drupal CMS in just eight months. It's been four months since DrupalCon Portland, which means we're halfway through.

So in my keynote, I shared our progress and gave a 35-minute demo of what we've built so far. The demo highlights how a fictional marketer, Sarah, can build a powerful website in just hours with minimal help from a developer. Along her journey, I showcased the following key innovations:

1. A new brand for a new market: A brand refresh of Drupal.org, designed to appeal to both marketers and developers. The first pages are ready and available for preview at new.drupal.org, with more pages launching in the coming months.
2. A trial experience: A trial experience that lets you try Drupal CMS with a single click, eliminating long-standing adoption barriers for new users. Built with WebAssembly, it runs entirely in the browser – no servers to install or manage.
3. An improved installer: An installer that lets users install recipes – pre-built features that combine modules, configuration, and default content for common website needs. Recipes bundle years of expertise into repeatable, shareable solutions.
4. Events recipe: A simple events website that used to take an experienced developer a day to build can now be created in just a few clicks by non-developers.
5. Project Browser support for recipes: Users can now browse the Drupal CMS recipes in the Project Browser, and install them in seconds.
6. First page of documentation: New documentation created specifically for end users. Clear, effective documentation is key to Drupal CMS's success, so we began by writing a single page as a model for the quality and style we aim to achieve.
7. AI for site building: AI agents capable of creating content types, configuring fields, building Views, forms, and more. These agents will transform how people build and manage websites with Drupal.
8. Responsible AI policy: To ensure responsible AI development, we've created a Responsible AI policy. I'll share more details in an upcoming blog, but the policy focuses on four key principles: human-in-the-loop, transparency, swappable large language models (LLMs), and clear guidance.
9. SEO Recipe: Combines and configures all the essential Drupal modules to optimize a Drupal site for search engines.
10. 14 recipes in development: In addition to the Events and SEO recipes, 12 more are in development with the help of our Drupal Certified Partners. Each Drupal CMS recipe addresses a common marketing use case outlined in our product strategy. We showcased both the process and progress during the Initiative Lead Keynote for some of the tracks. After DrupalCon, we'll begin developing even more recipes and invite additional contributors to join the effort.
11. AI-assisted content migration: AI will crawl your source website and handle complex tasks like mapping unstructured HTML to structured Drupal content types in your destination site, making migrations faster and easier. This could be a game-changer for website migrations.
12. Experience Builder: An early preview of a brand new, out-of-the-box tool for content creators and designers, offering layout design, page building, basic theming and content editing tools. This is the first time I've showcased our progress on stage at a DrupalCon.
13. Future-proof admin UI with React: Our strategy for modernizing Drupal's backend UI with React.
14. The "Adopt-a-Document" initiative: A strategy and funding model for creating comprehensive documentation for Drupal CMS. If successful, I'm hopeful we can expand this model to other areas of Drupal. For more details, please read the announcement on drupal.org.
15. Global Documentation Lead: The Drupal Association's commitment to hire a dedicated Documentation Lead, responsible for managing all aspects of Drupal's documentation, beyond just Drupal CMS.

The feedback on my presentation has been incredible, both online and in-person. The room was buzzing with energy and positivity! I highly recommend watching the recording.

Attendees were especially excited about the AI capabilities, Experience Builder, and recipes. I share their enthusiasm as these capabilities are transformative for Drupal.

Many of these features are designed with non-developers in mind. Our goal is to broaden Drupal's reach beyond its traditional user base and reach more people than ever before.

Release schedule

Our launch plan targets Drupal CMS's release on Drupal's upcoming birthday: January 15, 2025. It's also just a couple of weeks after the Drupal 7 End of Life, marking the end of one era and the beginning of another.

The next milestone is DrupalCon Singapore, taking place from December 9–11, 2024, less than 3 months away. We hope to have a release candidate ready by then.

Now that we're back from DrupalCon and have key milestone dates set, there is a lot to coordinate and plan in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for updates.

Call for contribution

Ambitious? Yes. But achievable if we work together. That's why I'm calling on all of you to get involved with Drupal CMS. Whether it's building recipes, enhancing the Experience Builder, creating AI agents, writing tests, improving documentation, or conducting usability testing – there are countless ways to contribute and make a difference. If you're ready to get involved, visit https://drupal.org/starshot to learn how to get started.

Thank you

This effort has involved so many people that I can't name them all, but I want to give a huge thank you to the Drupal CMS Leadership Team, who I've been working with closely every week: Cristina Chumillas (Lullabot), Gábor Hojtsy (Acquia), Lenny Moskalyk (Drupal Association), Pamela Barone (Technocrat), Suzanne Dergacheva (Evolving Web), and Tim Plunkett (Acquia).

A special shoutout goes to the demo team we assembled for my presentation: Adam Hoenich (Acquia), Amber Matz (Drupalize.me), Ash Sullivan (Acquia), Jamie Abrahams (FreelyGive), Jim Birch (Kanopi), Joe Shindelar (Drupalize.me), John Doyle (Digital Polygon), Lauri Timmanee (Acquia), Marcus Johansson (FreelyGive), Martin Anderson-Clutz (Acquia), Matt Glaman (Acquia), Matthew Grasmick (Acquia), Michael Donovan (Acquia), Tiffany Farriss (Palantir.net), and Tim Lehnen (Drupal Association).

I also want to thank the Drupal CMS track leads and contributors for their development work. Additionally, I'd like to recognize the Drupal Core Committers, Drupal Association staff, Drupal Association Board of Directors, and Certified Drupal Partners for continued support and leadership. There are so many people and organizations whose contributions deserve recognition that I can't list everyone individually, partly to avoid the risk of overlooking anyone. Please know your efforts are deeply appreciated.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who helped make DrupalCon Barcelona a success. It was excellent!

In previous blog posts, we discussed setting up a GPG smartcard on GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.

In this blog post, we will configure Thunderbird to work with an external smartcard reader and our GPG-compatible smartcard.

Before Thunderbird 78, if you wanted to use OpenPGP email encryption, you had to use a third-party add-on such as https://enigmail.net/.

Thunderbird’s recent versions natively support OpenPGP. The Enigmail addon for Thunderbird has been discontinued. See: https://enigmail.net/index.php/en/home/news.

I didn’t find good documentation on how to set up Thunderbird with a GnuPG smartcard when I moved to a new coreboot laptop, so this was the reason I created this blog post series.

GnuPG configuration

We’ll not go into too much detail on how to set up GnuPG. This was already explained in the previous blog posts.

• Use a GPG smartcard with Thunderbird. Part 1: setup GnuPG
• Use a GPG smart card with Thunderbird. Part 2: setup GnuPG on FreeBSD

If you want to use a HSM with GnuPG you can use the gnupg-pkcs11-scd agent https://github.com/alonbl/gnupg-pkcs11-scd that translates the pkcs11 interface to GnuPG. A previous blog post describes how this can be configured with SmartCard-HSM.

• https://stafwag.github.io/blog/blog/2020/05/02/using-smartcardhsm-with-gpg/

We’ll go over some steps to make sure that the GnuPG is set up correctly before we continue with the Thunderbird configuration. The pinentry command must be configured with graphical support to type our pin code in the Graphical user environment.

Import Public Key

Make sure that your public key - or the public key of the reciever(s) - is/are imported.

[staf@snuffel ~]$ gpg --list-keys
[staf@snuffel ~]$ 

[staf@snuffel ~]$ gpg --import <snip>.asc
gpg: key XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX: public key "XXXX XXXXXXXXXX <XXX@XXXXXX>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1
[staf@snuffel ~]$ 

[staf@snuffel ~]$  gpg --list-keys
/home/staf/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
-----------------------------
pub   xxxxxxx YYYYY-MM-DD [SC]
      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
uid           [ xxxxxxx] xxxx xxxxxxxxxx <xxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx>
sub   xxxxxxx xxxx-xx-xx [A]
sub   xxxxxxx xxxx-xx-xx [E]

[staf@snuffel ~]$ 

Pinentry

Thunderbird will not ask for your smartcard’s pin code.

This must be done on your smartcard reader if it has a pin pad or an external pinentry program.

The pinentry is configured in the gpg-agent.conf configuration file. As we’re using Thunderbird is a graphical environment we’ll configure it to use a graphical version.

Installation

I’m testing KDE plasma 6 on FreeBSD, so I installed the Qt version of pinentry.

On GNU/Linux you can check the documentation of your favourite Linux distribution to install a graphical pinentry. If you use a Graphical user environment there is probably already a graphical-enabled pinentry installed.

[staf@snuffel ~]$ sudo pkg install -y pinentry-qt6
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
        pinentry-qt6: 1.3.0

Number of packages to be installed: 1

76 KiB to be downloaded.
[1/1] Fetching pinentry-qt6-1.3.0.pkg: 100%   76 KiB  78.0kB/s    00:01    
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
[1/1] Installing pinentry-qt6-1.3.0...
[1/1] Extracting pinentry-qt6-1.3.0: 100%
==> Running trigger: desktop-file-utils.ucl
Building cache database of MIME types
[staf@snuffel ~]$ 

Configuration

The gpg-agent is responsible for starting the pinentry program. Let’s reconfigure it to start the pinentry that we like to use.

[staf@snuffel ~]$ cd .gnupg/
[staf@snuffel ~/.gnupg]$ 

[staf@snuffel ~/.gnupg]$ vi gpg-agent.conf

The pinentry is configured in the pinentry-program directive. You’ll find the complete gpg-agent.conf that I’m using below.

debug-level expert
verbose
verbose
log-file /home/staf/logs/gpg-agent.log
pinentry-program /usr/local/bin/pinentry-qt

Reload the sdaemon and gpg-agent configuration.

staf@freebsd-gpg3:~/.gnupg $ gpgconf --reload scdaemon
staf@freebsd-gpg3:~/.gnupg $ gpgconf --reload gpg-agent
staf@freebsd-gpg3:~/.gnupg $ 

Test

To verify that gpg works correctly and that the pinentry program works in our graphical environment we sign a file.

Create a new file.

$ cd /tmp
[staf@snuffel /tmp]$ 

[staf@snuffel /tmp]$ echo "foobar" > foobar
[staf@snuffel /tmp]$ 

Try to sign it.

[staf@snuffel /tmp]$ gpg --sign foobar
[staf@snuffel /tmp]$ 

If everything works fine, the pinentry program will ask for the pincode to sign it.

Thunderbird

In this section we’ll (finally) configure Thunderbird to use GPG with a smartcard reader.

Allow external smartcard reader

Open the global settings, click on the "Hamburger" icon and select settings.

Or press [F10] to bring-up the "Menu bar" in Thunderbird and select [Edit] and Settings.

In the settings window click on [Config Editor].

This will open the Advanced Preferences window.

In the Advanced Preferences window search for "external_gnupg" settings and set mail.indenity.allow_external_gnupg to true.

Setup End-To-End Encryption

The next step is to configure the GPG keypair that we’ll use for our user account.

Open the account setting by pressing on the "Hamburger" icon and select Account Settings or press [F10] to open the menu bar and select Edit, Account Settings.

Select End-to-End Encryption at OpenPG section select [ Add Key ].

Select the ( * ) Use your external key though GnuPG (e.g. from a smartcard)

And click on [Continue]

The next window will ask you for the Secret Key ID.

Execute gpg --list-keys to get your secret key id.

Copy/paste your key id and click on [ Save key ID ].

Test

As a test we send an email to our own email address.

Open a new message window and enter your email address into the To: field.

Click on [OpenPGP] and Encrypt.

Thunderbird will show a warning message that it doesn't know the public key to set up the encryption.

Click on [Resolve].

In the next window Thunderbird will ask to Discover Public Keys online or to import the Public Keys From File, we'll import our public key from a file.

In the Import OpenPGP key File window select your public key file, and click on [ Open ].

Thunderbird will show a window with the key fingerprint. Select ( * ) Accepted.

Click on [ Import ] to import the public key.

With our public key imported, the warning about the End-to-end encryption requires resolving key issue should be resolved.

Click on the [ Send ] button to send the email.

To encrypt the message, Thunderbird will start a gpg session that invokes the pinentry command type in your pincode. gpg will encrypt the message file and if everything works fine the email is sent.

Have fun!

Links

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP
• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP:Smartcards
• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/openpgp-thunderbird-howto-and-faq
• https://addons.thunderbird.net/nl/thunderbird/addon/enigmail/
• https://wiki.debian.org/Smartcards/OpenPGP
• https://www.floss-shop.de/en/security-privacy/smartcards/13/openpgp-smart-card-v3.4?c=11
• https://www.gnupg.org/howtos/card-howto/en/smartcard-howto-single.html
• https://support.nitrokey.com/t/nk3-mini-gpg-selecting-card-failed-no-such-device-gpg-card-setup/5057/7
• https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/233916/gnupg-connecting-to-specific-card-reader-when-multiple-reader-available#233918
• https://www.fsij.org/doc-gnuk/stop-scdaemon.html
• https://wiki.debian.org/Smartcards
• https://github.com/OpenSC/OpenSC/wiki/Overview/c70c57c1811f54fe3b3989d01708b45b86fafe11
• https://superuser.com/questions/1693289/gpg-warning-not-using-as-default-key-no-secret-key
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46689885/how-to-get-public-key-from-an-openpgp-smart-card-without-using-key-servers

The NBD protocol has grown a number of new features over the years. Unfortunately, some of those features are not (yet?) supported by the Linux kernel.

I suggested a few times over the years that the maintainer of the NBD driver in the kernel, Josef Bacik, take a look at these features, but he hasn't done so; presumably he has other priorities. As with anything in the open source world, if you want it done you must do it yourself.

I'd been off and on considering to work on the kernel driver so that I could implement these new features, but I never really got anywhere.

A few months ago, however, Christoph Hellwig posted a patch set that reworked a number of block device drivers in the Linux kernel to a new type of API. Since the NBD mailinglist is listed in the kernel's MAINTAINERS file, this patch series were crossposted to the NBD mailinglist, too, and when I noticed that it explicitly disabled the "rotational" flag on the NBD device, I suggested to Christoph that perhaps "we" (meaning, "he") might want to vary the decision on whether a device is rotational depending on whether the NBD server signals, through the flag that exists for that very purpose, whether the device is rotational.

To which he replied "Can you send a patch".

That got me down the rabbit hole, and now, for the first time in the 20+ years of being a C programmer who uses Linux exclusively, I got a patch merged into the Linux kernel... twice.

So, what do these things do?

The first patch adds support for the ROTATIONAL flag. If the NBD server mentions that the device is rotational, it will be treated as such, and the elevator algorithm will be used to optimize accesses to the device. For the reference implementation, you can do this by adding a line "rotational = true" to the relevant section (relating to the export where you want it to be used) of the config file.

It's unlikely that this will be of much benefit in most cases (most nbd-server installations will be exporting a file on a filesystem and have the elevator algorithm implemented server side and then it doesn't matter whether the device has the rotational flag set), but it's there in case you wish to use it.

The second set of patches adds support for the WRITE_ZEROES command. Most devices these days allow you to tell them "please write a N zeroes starting at this offset", which is a lot more efficient than sending over a buffer of N zeroes and asking the device to do DMA to copy buffers etc etc for just zeroes.

The NBD protocol has supported its own WRITE_ZEROES command for a while now, and hooking it up was reasonably simple in the end. The only problem is that it expects length values in bytes, whereas the kernel uses it in blocks. It took me a few tries to get that right -- and then I also fixed up handling of discard messages, which required the same conversion.

My HTTP Header Analyzer continues to be used a lot. Last week, I received a bug report, so I decided to look into it over the weekend. One thing led to another, and I ended up making a slew of improvements:

1. Clarified the explanations for various Cloudflare headers, including CF-Edge-Cache, CF-APO-Via, CF-BGJ, CF-Polish, CF-Mitigated, CF-Ray, CF-Request-ID, CF-Connecting-IP, and CF-IPCountry.
2. Added support for new headers: X-Logged-In, X-Hacker, X-Vimeo-Device, and Origin-Agent-Cluster.
3. Improved checks and explanations for cache-related headers, including X-Cache, X-Cache-Status, and X-Varnish.
4. Expanded the validation and explanation for the X-Content-Type-Options header.
5. Marked X-Content-Security-Policy as a deprecated version of the Content-Security-Policy header and provided a more comprehensive breakdown of Content Security Policy (CSP) directives.
6. Improved the validation for CORS-related headers: Access-Control-Expose-Headers and Access-Control-Max-Age.
7. Expanded the explanation of the Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy header, covering its possible values.
8. Added support for the Timing-Allow-Origin header.
9. Clarified the X-Runtime header, which provides timing information for server response generation.
10. Expanded the explanations for TLS and certificate-related headers: Strict-Transport-Security, Expect-Staple, and Expect-CT.
11. Added an explanation for the Host-Header header.
12. Improved details for X-Forwarded-For.
13. Refined the explanations for Cache-Control directives like Public, Private, and No-Cache.
14. Expanded the explanation for the Vary header and its impact on caching behavior.
15. Added an explanation for the Retry-After header.
16. Updated the explanation for the legacy X-XSS-Protection header.
17. Added an explanation for the Akamai-specific Akamai-Age-MS header.

HTTP headers are crucial for web application functionality and security. While some are commonly used, there are many lesser-known headers that protect against security vulnerabilities, enforces stronger security policies, and improves performance.

To explore these headers further, you can try the latest HTTP Header Analyzer. It is pretty simple to use: enter a URL, and the tool will analyze the headers sent by your website. It then explains these headers, provides a score, and suggests possible improvements.

IT architects generally use architecture-specific languages or modeling techniques to document their thoughts and designs. ArchiMate, the framework I have the most experience with, is a specialized enterprise architecture modeling language. It is maintained by The Open Group, an organization known for its broad architecture framework titled TOGAF.

My stance, however, is that architects should not use the diagrams from their architecture modeling framework to convey their message to every stakeholder out there...

An enterprise framework for architects

Certainly, using a single modeling language like ArchiMate is important. It allows architects to use a common language, a common framework, in which they can convey their ideas and designs. When collaborating on the same project, it would be unwise to use different modeling techniques or design frameworks among each other.

By standardizing on a single framework for a particular purpose, a company can optimize their efforts surrounding education and documentation. If several architecture frameworks are used for the same purpose, inefficiencies arise. Supporting tooling can also be selected (such as Archi), which has specialized features to support this framework. The more architects are fluent in a common framework, the less likely ambiguity or misunderstandings occur about what certain architectures or designs want to present.

Now, I highlighted "for a particular purpose", because that architecture framework isn't the goal, it's a means.

Domain-specific language, also in architecture

In larger companies, you'll find architects with different specializations and focus areas. A common set is to have architects at different levels or layers of the architecture:

• enterprise architects focus on the holistic and strategic level,
• domain architects manage the architecture for one or more domains (a means of splitting the complexity of a company, often tied to business domains),
• solution or system architects focus on the architecture for specific projects or solutions,
• security architects concentrate on the cyber threats and protection measures,
• network architects look at the network design, flows and flow controls, etc.

Architecture frameworks are often not meant to support all levels. ArchiMate for instance, is tailored to enterprise and domain level in general. It also supports solution or system architecture well when it focuses on applications. Sure, other architecture layers can be expressed as well, but after a while, you'll notice that the expressivity of the framework lacks the details or specifics needed for those layers.

It is thus not uncommon that, at a certain point, architects drop one framework and start using another. Network architecture and design is expressed differently than the ICT domain architecture. Both need to 'plug into each other', because network architects need to understand the larger picture they operate in, and domain architects should be able to read network architecture design and relate it back to the domain architecture.

Such a transition is not only within IT. Consider city planning and housing units, where architects design new community areas and housing. These designs need to be well understood by the architects, who are responsible for specific specializations such as utilities, transportation, interior, landscaping, and more. They use different ways of designing, but make sure it is understandable (and often even standardized) by the others.

Your schematic is not your presentation

I've seen architects who are very satisfied with their architectural design: they want nothing more than to share this with their (non-architect) stakeholders in all its glory. And while I do agree that lead engineers, for instance, should be able to understand architecture drawings, the schematics themselves shouldn't be the presentation material.

And definitely not towards higher management.

When you want to bring a design to a broader community, or to stakeholders with different backgrounds or roles, it is important to tell your story in an easy-to-understand way. Just like building architects would create physical mock-ups at scale to give a better view of a building, IT architects should create representative material to expedite presentations and discussions.

Certainly, you will lose a lot of insight compared to the architectural drawings, but you'll get much better acceptance by the community.

What is the definition of “Open Source”?

There’s been no shortage of contention on what “Open Source software” means. Two instances that stand out to me personally are ElasticSearch’s “Doubling down on Open” and Scott Chacon’s “public on GitHub”.

I’ve been active in Open Source for 20 years and could use a refresher on its origins and officialisms. The plan was simple: write a blog post about why the OSI (Open Source Initiative) and its OSD (Open Source Definition) are authoritative, collect evidence in its support (confirmation that they invented the term, of widespread acceptance with little dissent, and of the OSD being a practical, well functioning tool). That’s what I keep hearing, I just wanted to back it up. Since contention always seems to be around commercial re-distribution restrictions (which are forbidden by the OSD), I wanted to particularly confirm that there hasn’t been all that many commercial vendors who’ve used, or wanted, to use the term “open source” to mean “you can view/modify/use the source, but you are limited in your ability to re-sell, or need to buy additional licenses for use in a business”

However, the further I looked, the more I found evidence of the opposite of all of the above. I’ve spent a few weeks now digging and some of my long standing beliefs are shattered. I can’t believe some of the things I found out. Clearly I was too emotionally invested, but after a few weeks of thinking, I think I can put things in perspective. So this will become not one, but multiple posts.

The goal for the series is look at the tensions in the community/industry (in particular those directed towards the OSD), and figure out how to resolve, or at least reduce them.

Without further ado, let’s get into the beginnings of Open Source.

The “official” OSI story.

Let’s first get the official story out the way, the one you see repeated over and over on websites, on Wikipedia and probably in most computing history books.

Back in 1998, there was a small group of folks who felt that the verbiage at the time (Free Software) had become too politicized. (note: the Free Software Foundation was founded 13 years prior, in 1985, and informal use of “free software” had around since the 1970’s). They felt they needed a new word “to market the free software concept to people who wore ties”. (source) (somewhat ironic since today many of us like to say “Open Source is not a business model”)

Bruce Perens - an early Debian project leader and hacker on free software projects such as busybox - had authored the first Debian Free Software Guidelines in 1997 which was turned into the first Open Source Definition when he founded the OSI (Open Source Initiative) with Eric Raymond in 1998. As you continue reading, keep in mind that from the get-go, OSI’s mission was supporting the industry. Not the community of hobbyists.

Eric Raymond is of course known for his seminal 1999 essay on development models “The cathedral and the bazaar”, but he also worked on fetchmail among others.

According to Bruce Perens, there was some criticism at the time, but only to the term “Open” in general and to “Open Source” only in a completely different industry.

At the time of its conception there was much criticism for the Open Source campaign, even among the Linux contingent who had already bought-in to the free software concept. Many pointed to the existing use of the term “Open Source” in the political intelligence industry. Others felt the term “Open” was already overused. Many simply preferred the established name Free Software. I contended that the overuse of “Open” could never be as bad as the dual meaning of “Free” in the English language–either liberty or price, with price being the most oft-used meaning in the commercial world of computers and software

From Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution: The Open Source Definition

Furthermore, from Bruce Perens’ own account:

I wrote an announcement of Open Source which was published on February 9 [1998], and that’s when the world first heard about Open Source.

source: On Usage of The Phrase “Open Source”

Occasionally it comes up that it may have been Christine Peterson who coined the term earlier that week in February but didn’t give it a precise meaning. That was a task for Eric and Bruce in followup meetings over the next few days.

Even when you’re the first to use or define a term, you can’t legally control how others use it, until you obtain a Trademark. Luckily for OSI, US trademark law recognizes the first user when you file an application, so they filed for a trademark right away. But what happened? It was rejected! The OSI’s official explanation reads:

We have discovered that there is virtually no chance that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would register the mark “open source”; the mark is too descriptive. Ironically, we were partly a victim of our own success in bringing the “open source” concept into the mainstream

This is our first 🚩 red flag and it lies at the basis of some of the conflicts which we will explore in this, and future posts. (tip: I found this handy Trademark search website in the process)

Regardless, since 1998, the OSI has vastly grown its scope of influence (more on that in future posts), with the Open Source Definition mostly unaltered for 25 years, and having been widely used in the industry.

Prior uses of the term “Open Source”

Many publications simply repeat the idea that OSI came up with the term, has the authority (if not legal, at least in practice) and call it a day. I, however, had nothing better to do, so I decided to spend a few days (which turned into a few weeks 😬) and see if I could dig up any references to “Open Source” predating OSI’s definition in 1998, especially ones with different meanings or definitions.

Of course, it’s totally possible that multiple people come up with the same term independently and I don’t actually care so much about “who was first”, I’m more interested in figuring out what different meanings have been assigned to the term and how widespread those are.

In particular, because most contention is around commercial limitations (non-competes) where receivers of the code are forbidden to resell it, this clause of the OSD stands out:

Free Redistribution: The license shall not restrict any party from selling (…)

Turns out, the “Open Source” was already in use for more than a decade, prior to the OSI founding.

OpenSource.com

In 1998, a business in Texas called “OpenSource, Inc” launched their website. They were a “Systems Consulting and Integration Services company providing high quality, value-added IT professional services”. Sometime during the year 2000, the website became a RedHat property. Enter the domain name on Icann and it reveals the domain name was registered Jan 8, 1998. A month before the term was “invented” by Christine/Richard/Bruce. What a coincidence. We are just warming up…

Caldera announces Open Source OpenDOS

In 1996, a company called Caldera had “open sourced” a DOS operating system called OpenDos. Their announcement (accessible on google groups and a mailing list archive) reads:

Caldera Announces Open Source for DOS.
(…)
Caldera plans to openly distribute the source code for all of the DOS technologies it acquired from Novell., Inc
(…)
Caldera believes an open source code model benefits the industry in many ways.
(…)
Individuals can use OpenDOS source for personal use at no cost.
Individuals and organizations desiring to commercially redistribute
Caldera OpenDOS must acquire a license with an associated small fee.

Today we would refer to it as dual-licensing, using Source Available due to the non-compete clause. But in 1996, actual practitioners referred to it as “Open Source” and OSI couldn’t contest it because it didn’t exist!

You can download the OpenDos package from ArchiveOS and have a look at the license file, which includes even more restrictions such as “single computer”. (like I said, I had nothing better to do).

Investigations by Martin Espinoza re: Caldera

On his blog, Martin has an article making a similar observation about Caldera’s prior use of “open source”, following up with another article which includes a response from Lyle Ball, who headed the PR department of Caldera

Quoting Martin:

As a member of the OSI, he [Bruce] frequently championed that organization’s prerogative to define what “Open Source” means, on the basis that they invented the term. But I [Martin] knew from personal experience that they did not. I was personally using the term with people I knew before then, and it had a meaning — you can get the source code. It didn’t imply anything at all about redistribution.

The response from Caldera includes such gems as:

I joined Caldera in November of 1995, and we certainly used “open source” broadly at that time. We were building software. I can’t imagine a world where we did not use the specific phrase “open source software”. And we were not alone. The term “Open Source” was used broadly by Linus Torvalds (who at the time was a student (…), John “Mad Dog” Hall who was a major voice in the community (he worked at COMPAQ at the time), and many, many others.

Our mission was first to promote “open source”, Linus Torvalds, Linux, and the open source community at large. (…) we flew around the world to promote open source, Linus and the Linux community….we specifically taught the analysts houses (i.e. Gartner, Forrester) and media outlets (in all major markets and languages in North America, Europe and Asia.) (…) My team and I also created the first unified gatherings of vendors attempting to monetize open source

So according to Caldera, “open source” was a phenomenon in the industry already and Linus himself had used the term. He mentions plenty of avenues for further research, I pursued one of them below.

Linux Kernel discussions

Mr. Ball’s mentions of Linus and Linux piqued my interest, so I started digging.

I couldn’t find a mention of “open source” in the Linux Kernel Mailing List archives prior to the OSD day (Feb 1998), though the archives only start as of March 1996. I asked ChatGPT where people used to discuss Linux kernel development prior to that, and it suggested 5 Usenet groups, which google still lets you search through:

• alt.os.linux (no hits)
• comp.os.minix (no hits)
• comp.os.linux (one hit!)
• comp.os.linux.development (no hits)
• comp.os.linux.announce (two hits!)

What were the hits? Glad you asked!

comp.os.linux: a 1993 discussion about supporting binary-only software on Linux

This conversation predates the OSI by five whole years and leaves very little to the imagination:

The GPL and the open source code have made Linux the success that it is. Cygnus and other commercial interests are quite comfortable with this open paradigm, and in fact prosper. One need only pull the source code to GCC and read the list of many commercial contributors to realize this.

comp.os.linux.announce: 1996 announcement of Caldera’s open-source environment

In November 1996 Caldera shows up again, this time with a Linux based “open-source” environment:

Channel Partners can utilize Caldera’s Linux-based, open-source environment to remotely manage Windows 3.1 applications at home, in the office or on the road. By using Caldera’s OpenLinux (COL) and Wabi solution, resellers can increase sales and service revenues by leveraging the rapidly expanding telecommuter/home office market. Channel Partners who create customized turn-key solutions based on environments like SCO OpenServer 5 or Windows NT,

comp.os.linux.announce: 1996 announcement of a trade show

On 17 Oct 1996 we find this announcement

There will be a Open Systems World/FedUnix conference/trade show in Washington DC on November 4-8. It is a traditional event devoted to open computing (read: Unix), attended mostly by government and commercial Information Systems types.

In particular, this talk stands out to me:

** Schedule of Linux talks, OSW/FedUnix'96, Thursday, November 7, 1996 ***
(…)
11:45 Alexander O. Yuriev, “Security in an open source system: Linux study”

The context here seems to be open standards, and maybe also the open source development model.

1990: Tony Patti on “software developed from open source material”

in 1990, a magazine editor by name of Tony Patti not only refers to Open Source software but mentions that NSA in 1987 referred to “software was developed from open source material”

1995: open-source changes emails on OpenBSD-misc email list

I could find one mention of “Open-source” on an OpenBSD email list, seems there was a directory “open-source-changes” which had incoming patches, distributed over email. (source). Though perhaps the way to interpret is, to say it concerns “source-changes” to OpenBSD, paraphrased to “open”, so let’s not count this one.

(I did not look at other BSD’s)

Bryan Lunduke’s research

Bryan Lunduke has done similar research and found several more USENET posts about “open source”, clearly in the context of of source software, predating OSI by many years. He breaks it down on his substack. Some interesting examples he found:

19 August, 1993 post to comp.os.ms-windows

Anyone else into “Source Code for NT”? The tools and stuff I’m writing for NT will be released with source. If there are “proprietary” tricks that MS wants to hide, the only way to subvert their hoarding is to post source that illuminates (and I don’t mean disclosing stuff obtained by a non-disclosure agreement).

(source)

Then he writes:

Open Source is best for everyone in the long run.

Written as a matter-of-fact generalization to the whole community, implying the term is well understood.

December 4, 1990

BSD’s open source policy meant that user developed software could be ported among platforms, which meant their customers saw a much more cost effective, leading edge capability combined hardware and software platform.

source

1985: The “the computer chronicles documentary” about UNIX.

The Computer Chronicles was a TV documentary series talking about computer technology, it started as a local broadcast, but in 1983 became a national series. On February 1985, they broadcasted an episode about UNIX. You can watch the entire 28 min episode on archive.org, and it’s an interesting snapshot in time, when UNIX was coming out of its shell and competing with MS-DOS with its multi-user and concurrent multi-tasking features. It contains a segment in which Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems is being interviewed about Berkley Unix 4.2. Sun had more than 1000 staff members. And now its CTO was on national TV in the United States. This was a big deal, with a big audience. At 13:50 min, the interviewer quotes Bill:

“He [Bill Joy] says its open source code, versatility and ability to work on a variety of machines means it will be popular with scientists and engineers for some time”

“Open Source” on national TV. 13 years before the founding of OSI.

Uses of the word “open”

We’re specifically talking about “open source” in this article. But we should probably also consider how the term “open” was used in software, as they are related, and that may have played a role in the rejection of the trademark.

Well, the Open Software Foundation launched in 1988. (10 years before the OSI). Their goal was to make an open standard for UNIX. The word “open” is also used in software, e.g. Common Open Software Environment in 1993 (standardized software for UNIX), OpenVMS in 1992 (renaming of VAX/VMS as an indication of its support of open systems industry standards such as POSIX and Unix compatibility), OpenStep in 1994 and of course in 1996, the OpenBSD project started. They have this to say about their name: (while OpenBSD started in 1996, this quote is from 2006):

The word “open” in the name OpenBSD refers to the availability of the operating system source code on the Internet, although the word “open” in the name OpenSSH means “OpenBSD”. It also refers to the wide range of hardware platforms the system supports.

Does it run DOOM?

The proof of any hardware platform is always whether it can run Doom. Since the DOOM source code was published in December 1997, I thought it would be fun if ID Software would happen to use the term “Open Source” at that time. There are some FTP mirrors where you can still see the files with the original December 1997 timestamps (e.g. this one). However, after sifting through the README and other documentation files, I only found references to the “Doom source code”. No mention of Open Source.

The origins of the famous “Open Source” trademark application: SPI, not OSI

This is not directly relevant, but may provide useful context: In June 1997 the SPI (“Software In the Public Interest”) organization was born to support the Debian project, funded by its community, although it grew in scope to help many more free software / open source projects. It looks like Bruce, as as representative of SPI, started the “Open Source” trademark proceedings. (and may have paid for it himself). But then something happened, 3/4 of the SPI board (including Bruce) left and founded the OSI, which Bruce announced along with a note that the trademark would move from SPI to OSI as well. Ian Jackson - Debian Project Leader and SPI president - expressed his “grave doubts” and lack of trust. SPI later confirmed they owned the trademark (application) and would not let any OSI members take it. The perspective of Debian developer Ean Schuessler provides more context.

A few years later, it seems wounds were healing, with Bruce re-applying to SPI, Ean making amends, and Bruce taking the blame.

All the bickering over the Trademark was ultimately pointless, since it didn’t go through.

Searching for SPI on the OSI website reveals no acknowledgment of SPI’s role in the story. You only find mentions in board meeting notes (ironically, they’re all requests to SPI to hand over domains or to share some software).

By the way, in November 1998, this is what SPI’s open source web page had to say:

Open Source software is software whose source code is freely available

A Trademark that was never meant to be.

Lawyer Kyle E. Mitchell knows how to write engaging blog posts. Here is one where he digs further into the topic of trademarking and why “open source” is one of the worst possible terms to try to trademark (in comparison to, say, Apple computers).

He writes:

At the bottom of the hierarchy, we have “descriptive” marks. These amount to little more than commonly understood statements about goods or services. As a general rule, trademark law does not enable private interests to seize bits of the English language, weaponize them as exclusive property, and sue others who quite naturally use the same words in the same way to describe their own products and services.
(…)
Christine Peterson, who suggested “open source” (…) ran the idea past a friend in marketing, who warned her that “open” was already vague, overused, and cliche.
(…)
The phrase “open source” is woefully descriptive for software whose source is open, for common meanings of “open” and “source”, blurry as common meanings may be and often are.
(…)
no person and no organization owns the phrase “open source” as we know it. No such legal shadow hangs over its use. It remains a meme, and maybe a movement, or many movements. Our right to speak the term freely, and to argue for our own meanings, understandings, and aspirations, isn’t impinged by anyone’s private property.

So, we have here a great example of the Trademark system working exactly as intended, doing the right thing in the service of the people: not giving away unique rights to common words, rights that were demonstrably never OSI’s to have.

I can’t decide which is more wild: OSI’s audacious outcries for the whole world to forget about the trademark failure and trust their “pinky promise” right to authority over a common term, or the fact that so much of the global community actually fell for it and repeated a misguided narrative without much further thought. (myself included)

I think many of us, through our desire to be part of a movement with a positive, fulfilling mission, were too easily swept away by OSI’s origin tale.

Co-opting a term

OSI was never relevant as an organization and hijacked a movement that was well underway without them.

(source: a harsh but astute Slashdot comment)

We have plentiful evidence that “Open Source” was used for at least a decade prior to OSI existing, in the industry, in the community, and possibly in government. You saw it at trade shows, in various newsgroups around Linux and Windows programming, and on national TV in the United States. The word was often uttered without any further explanation, implying it was a known term. For a movement that happened largely offline in the eighties and nineties, it seems likely there were many more examples that we can’t access today.

“Who was first?” is interesting, but more relevant is “what did it mean?”. Many of these uses were fairly informal and/or didn’t consider re-distribution. We saw these meanings:

• a collaborative development model
• portability across hardware platforms, open standards
• disclosing (making available) of source code, sometimes with commercial limitations (e.g. per-seat licensing) or restrictions (e.g. non-compete)
• possibly a buzz-word in the TV documentary

Then came the OSD which gave the term a very different, and much more strict meaning, than what was already in use for 15 years. However, the OSD was refined, “legal-aware” and the starting point for an attempt at global consensus and wider industry adoption, so we are far from finished with our analysis.

(ironically, it never quite matched with free software either - see this e-mail or this article)

Legend has it…

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth

Yet, the OSI still promotes their story around being first to use the term “Open Source”. RedHat’s article still claims the same. I could not find evidence of resolution. I hope I just missed it (please let me know!). What I did find, is one request for clarification remaining unaddressed and another handled in a questionable way, to put it lightly. Expand all the comments in the thread and see for yourself For an organization all about “open”, this seems especially strange. Seems we have veered far away from the “We will not hide problems” motto in the Debian Social Contract.

Real achievements are much more relevant than “who was first”. Here are some suggestions for actually relevant ways the OSI could introduce itself and its mission:

• “We were successful open source practitioners and industry thought leaders”
• “In our desire to assist the burgeoning open source movement, we aimed to give it direction and create alignment around useful terminology”.
• “We launched a campaign to positively transform the industry by defining the term - which had thus far only been used loosely - precisely and popularizing it”

I think any of these would land well in the community. Instead, they are strangely obsessed with “we coined the term, therefore we decide its meaning. and anything else is “flagrant abuse”.

Is this still relevant? What comes next?

Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair

I’m quite an agreeable person, and until recently happily defended the Open Source Definition. Now, my trust has been tainted, but at the same time, there is beauty in knowing that healthy debate has existed since the day OSI was announced. It’s just a matter of making sense of it all, and finding healthy ways forward.

Most of the events covered here are from 25 years ago, so let’s not linger too much on it. There is still a lot to be said about adoption of Open Source in the industry (and the community), tension (and agreements!) over the definition, OSI’s campaigns around awareness and standardization and its track record of license approvals and disapprovals, challenges that have arisen (e.g. ethics, hyper clouds, and many more), some of which have resulted in alternative efforts and terms. I have some ideas for productive ways forward.

Stay tuned for more, sign up for the RSS feed and let me know what you think!
Comment below, on X or on HackerNews

In his latest Lex Fridman appearance, Elon Musk makes some excellent points about the importance of simplification.

Follow these steps:

1. Simplify the requirements
2. For each step, try to delete it altogether
3. Implement well

1. Simplify the Requirements

Even the smartest people come up with requirements that are, in part, dumb. Start by asking yourself how they can be simplified.

There is no point in finding the perfect answer to the wrong question. Try to make the question as least wrong as possible.

I think this is so important that it is included in my first item of advice for junior developers.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

2. Delete the Step

For each step, consider if you need it at all, and if not, delete it. Certainty is not required. Indeed, if you only delete what you are 100% certain about, you will leave in junk. If you never put things back in, it is a sign you are being too conservative with deletions.

The best part is no part.

Some further commentary by me:

This applies both to the product and technical implementation levels. It’s related to YAGNI, Agile, and Lean, also mentioned in the first section of advice for junior developers.

It’s crucial to consider probabilities and compare the expected cost/value of different approaches. Don’t spend 10 EUR each day to avoid a 1% chance of needing to pay 100 EUR. Consistent Bayesian reasoning will reduce making such mistakes, though Elon’s “if you do not put anything back in, you are not removing enough” heuristic is easier to understand and implement.

3. Implement Well

Here, Elon talks about optimization and automation, which are specific to his problem domain of building a supercomputer. More generally, this can be summarized as good implementation, which I advocate for in my second section of advice for junior developers.

The relevant segment begins at 43:48.

The post Simplify and Delete appeared first on Entropy Wins.

I just reviewed the performance of a customer’s WordPress site. Things got a lot worse he wrote and he assumed Autoptimize (he was a AOPro user) wasn’t working any more and asked me to guide him to fix the issue. Instead it turns out he installed CookieYes, which adds tons of JS (part of which is render-blocking), taking 3.5s of main thread work and (fasten your seat-belts) which somehow seems…

Source

Setting up a new computer can be a lot of work, but I've made it much simpler with Homebrew, a popular package manager.

Creating a list of installed software

As a general rule, I prefer to install all software on my Mac using Homebrew. I always try Homebrew first and only resort to downloading software directly from websites if it is not available through Homebrew.

Homebrew manages both formulae and casks. Casks are typically GUI applications, while formulae are command-line tools or libraries. To keep these two types of packages organized and avoid potential conflicts, I save them in separate lists.

First, I generate a list of all manually installed formulae on my old computer:

$ brew leaves > brews.txt

The brew leaves command displays only the formulae you installed directly using Homebrew. It excludes any formulae that were installed automatically as dependencies. To view all installed formulae, including dependencies, you can use the brew list command.

Next, I generate a separate list for installed casks:

$ brew list –cask > casks.txt

This keeps the formulae (brews.txt) and casks (casks.txt) in distinct files, avoiding any ambiguity.

Reviewing your packages

It is a good idea to check if you still need all packages on your new computer. I review my formulae and casks as follows:

For formulae:

$ cat brews.txt | xargs brew desc –formula –eval-all

For casks:

$ cat casks.txt | xargs brew desc –cask –eval-all

These commands provide a short description for each package in your lists.

Installing your packages on a new machine

Transfer your brews.txt and casks.txt files to the new computer, install Homebrew, and run:

To install formulae:

$ xargs brew install –formula  brews.txt

To install casks:

$ xargs brew install –cask  casks.txt

Building businesses based on an Open Source project is like balancing a solar system. Like the sun is the center of our own little universe, powering life on the planets which revolve around it in a brittle, yet tremendously powerful astrophysical equilibrium; so is the relationship between a thriving open source project, with a community, one or more vendors and their commercially supported customers revolving around it, driven by astronomical aspirations.

Source-available & Non-Compete licensing have existed in various forms, and have been tweaked and refined for decades, in an attempt to combine just enough proprietary conditions with just enough of Open Source flavor, to find that perfect trade-off. Fair Source is the latest refinement for software projects driven by a single vendor wanting to combine monetization, a high rate of contributions to the project (supported by said monetization), community collaboration and direct association with said software project.

Succinctly, Fair Source licenses provide much of the same benefits to users as Open Source licenses, although outsiders are not allowed to build their own competing service based on the software; however after 2 years the software automatically becomes MIT or Apache2 licensed, and at that point you can pretty much do whatever you want with the older code.

To avoid confusion, this project is different from:

• a previous “Fair Source” initiative that worked quite differently and has been abandoned.
• other modern Source-Available projects such as Fair Code and Commons Clause which also use non-compete clauses but don’t use the delayed open source publication.

It seems we have reached an important milestone in 2024: on the surface, “Fair Source” is yet another new initiative that positions itself as a more business friendly alternative to “Open Source”, but the delayed open source publication (DSOP) model has been refined to the point where the licenses are succinct, clear, easy to work with and should hold up well in court. Several technology companies are choosing this software licensing strategy (Sentry being the most famous one, you can see the others on their website).

My 2 predictions:

• we will see 50-100 more companies in the next couple of years.
• a governance legal entity will appear soon, and a trademark will follow after.

In this article, I’d like to share my perspective and address some - what I believe to be - misunderstandings in current discourse.

The licenses

At this time, the Fair Source ideology is implemented by the following licenses:

• FSL
• FCL
• BSL/BUSL

BSL/BUSL are more tricky to understand can have different implementations. FCL and FSL are nearly identical. They are clearly and concisely written and embody the Fair Source spirit in the most pure form.

Seriously, try running the following in your terminal. Sometimes as an engineer you have to appreciate legal text when it’s this concise, easy to understand, and diff-able!

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keygen-sh/fcl.dev/master/FCL-1.0-MIT.md
wget https://fsl.software/FSL-1.1-MIT.template.md
diff FSL-1.1-MIT.template.md FCL-1.0-MIT.md

I will focus on FSL and FCL and FSL, the Fair Source “flagship licenses”.

Is it “open source, fixed”, or an alternative to open source? Neither.

First, we’ll need to agree on what the term “Open Source” means. This itself has been a battle for decades, with non-competes (commercial restrictions) being especially contentious and in use even before OSI came along, so I’m working on an article which challenges OSI’s Open Source Definition which I will publish soon. However, the OSD is probably the most common understanding in the industry today - so we’ll use that here - and it seems that folks behind FSL/Fair Source made the wise decision to distance themselves from these contentious debates: after some initial conversations about FSL using the “Open Source” term, they’ve adopted the less common term of “Fair Source” and I’ve seen a lot of meticulous work (e.g. fsl#2 and fsl#10 on how they articulate what they stand for. (the Open Source Definition debate is why I hope the Fair Source folks will file a trademark if this projects gains more traction.

Importantly, OSI’s definition of “Open Source” includes non-discrimination and free redistribution.

When you check out code that is FSL licensed, and the code was authored:

1. less than 2 years ago: it’s available to you under terms similar to MIT, except you cannot compete with the author by making a similar service using the same software
2. more than 2 years ago: it is now MIT licensed. (or Apache2, when applicable)

While after 2 years, it is clearly open source, the non-compete clause in option 1 is not compatible with the set of terms set forth by the OSI Open Source Definition. (or freedom 0 from the 4 freedoms of Free Software). Such a license is often referred to as “Source Available”.

So, Fair Source is a system to combine 2 licenses (an Open Source one and a Source Available one with proprietary conditions) in one. I think this is very clever approach, but I think it’s not all that useful to compare this to Open Source. Rather, it has a certain symmetry to Open Core:

• In an Open Core product, you have a “scoped core”: a core built from open source code which is surrounded by specifically scoped pieces from proprietary code, for a indeterminate, but usually many-year or perpetual timeframe
• With Fair Source, you have a “timed core”: the open source core is all the code that’s more than 2 years old, and the proprietary bits are the most recent developments (regardless which scope they belong to).

Open Core and Fair Source both try to balance open source with business interests: both have an open source component to attract a community, and a proprietary shell to make a business more viable. Fair Source is a licensing choice that’s only relevant to business, not individuals. How many business monetize pure Open Source software? I can count them on one hand. The vast majority go for something like Open Core. This is why the comparison with Open Core makes much more sense.

A lot of the criticisms of Fair Source suddenly become a lot more palatable when you consider it an alternative to Open Core.

As a customer, which is more tolerable? proprietary features or a proprietary 2-years worth of product developments? I don’t think it matters nearly as much as some of the advantages Fair Source has over Open Core:

• Users can view, modify and distribute (but not commercialize) the proprietary code. (with Open Core, you only get the binaries)
• It follows then, that the project can use a single repository and single license (with Open Core, there are multiple repositories and licenses involved)

Technically, Open Core is more of a business architecture, where you still have to figure out which licenses you want to use for the core and shell, whereas Fair Source is more of a prepackaged solution which defines the business architecture as well as the 2 licenses to use.

Note that you can also devise hybrid approaches. Here are some ideas:

• a Fair Source core and Closed Source shell. (more defensive than Open Core or Fair Source separately). (e.g. PowerSync does this)
• an Open Source core, with Fair Source shell. (more open than Open Core or Fair Source separately).
• Open Source Core, with Source Available shell (users can view, modify and distribute the code but not commercialize it, and without the delayed open source publication). This would be the “true” symmetrical counterpart to Fair Source. It is essentially Open Core where the community also has access to the proprietary features (but can’t commercialize those). It would also allow to put all code in the same repository. (although this benefit works better with Fair Source because any contributed code will definitely become open source, thus incentivizing the community more). I find this a very interesting option that I hope Open Core vendors will start considering. (although it has little to do with Fair Source).
• etc.

Non-Competition

The FSL introduction post states:

In plain language, you can do anything with FSL software except economically undermine its producer through harmful free-riding

The issue of large cloud vendors selling your software as a service, making money, and contributing little to nothing back to the project, has been widely discussed under a variety of names. This can indeed severely undermine a project’s health, or kill it.

(Personally, I find discussions around whether this is “fair” not very useful. Businesses will act in their best interest, you can’t change the rules of the game, you only have control over how you play the game, i.o.w. your own licensing and strategy)

Here, we’ll just use the same terminology that the FSL does, the “harmful free-rider” problem

However, the statement above is incorrect. Something like this would be more correct:

In plain language, you can do anything with FSL software except offer a similar paid service based on the software when it’s less than 2 years old.

What’s the difference? There are different forms of competition that are not harmful free-riding.

Multiple companies can offer a similar service/product which they base on the same project, which they all contribute to. They can synergize and grow the market together. (aka “non-zero-sum” if you want to sound smart). I think there are many good examples of this, e.g. Hadoop, Linux, Node.js, OpenStack, Opentelemetry, Prometheus, etc.

When the FSL website makes statements such as “You can do anything with FSL software except undermine its producer”, it seems to forget some of the best and most ubiquitous software in the world is the result of synergies between multiple companies collaborating.

Furthermore, when the company who owns the copyright on the project turns their back on their community/customers wouldn’t the community “deserve” a new player who offers a similar service, but on friendly terms? The new player may even contribute more to the project. Are they a harmful free-rider? Who gets to be judge of that?

Let’s be clear, FSL allows no competition whatsoever, at least not during the first 2 years. What about after 2 years?

Zeke Gabrielse, one of the shepherds of Fair Source, said it well here:

Being 2 years old also puts any SaaS competition far enough back to not be a concern

Therefore, you may as well say no competition is allowed. Although, in Zeke’s post, I presume he was writing from the position of an actively developing software project. If it becomes abandoned, the 2 years countdown is an obstacle, an overcomeable one, that eventually does let you compete, but in this case, the copyright holder probably went bust, so you aren’t really competing with them either. The 2 year window is not designed to enable competition, instead it is a contingency plan for when the company goes bankrupt. The wait can be needlessly painful for the community in such a situation. If a company is about to go bust, they could immediately release their Fair Source code as Open Source, but I wonder if this can be automated via the actual license text.

(I had found some ambiguous use of the term “direct” competition which I’ve reported and has since been resolved)

Perverse incentives

Humans are notoriously bad about predicting 2nd order effects. So I like to try to. What could be some second order effects of Fair Source projects? And how do they compare to Open Core?

• can companies first grow on top of their Fair Source codebase, take community contributions, and then switch to more restrictive, or completely closed licensing, shutting out the community? Yes if a CLA is in place (or using the 2 year old code). (this isn’t any different from any other CLA using Open Source or Open Core project. Though with Open Core, you can’t take in external contributions on proprietary parts to begin with)
• if you enjoy a privileged position where others can’t meaningfully compete with you based on the same source code, that can affect how the company treats its community and its customers. It can push through undesirable changes, it can price more aggressively, etc. (these issues are the same with Open Core)
• With Open Source & Open Core, the company is incentivized to make the code well understood by the community. Under Fair Source it would still be sensible (in order to get free contributions), but at the same time, by hiding design documents, subtly obfuscating the code and withholding information it can also give itself the edge for when the code does become Open Source, although as we’ve seen, the 2 year delay makes competition unrealistic anyway.

All in all, nothing particularly worse than Open Core, here.

Developer sustainability

The FSL introduction post says:

We value user freedom and developer sustainability. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) values user freedom exclusively. That is the source of its success, and the source of the free-rider problem that occasionally boils over into a full-blown tragedy of the commons, such as Heartbleed and Log4Shell.

F/OSS indeed doesn’t involve itself with sustainability, because of the simple fact that Open Source has nothing to do business models and monetization. As stated above, it makes more sense to compare to Open Core.

It’s like saying asphalt paving machinery doesn’t care about funding and is therefore to blame when roads don’t get built. Therefore we need tolls. But it would be more useful to compare tolls to road taxes and vignettes.

Of course it happens that people dedicate themselves to writing open source projects, usually driven by their interests, don’t get paid, get volumes of support requests (incl. from commercial entities), which can become suffering, and can also lead to codebases becoming critically important, yet critically misunderstood and fragile. This is clearly a situation to avoid, and there are many ways to solve the problem ranging from sponsorships (e.g. GitHub, tidelift), bounty programs (e.g. Algora), direct funding (e.g. Sentry’s 500k donation) and many more initiatives that have launched in the last few years. Certainly a positive development. Sometimes formally abandoning a project is also a clear sign that puts the burden of responsibility onto whoever consumes it and can be a relief to the original author. If anything, it can trigger alarm bells within corporations and be a fast path to properly engaging and compensating the author. There is no way around the fact that developers (and people in general) are generally responsible for their own well being and sometimes need to put their foot down, or put on their business hat (which many developers don’t like to do) if their decision to open source project is resulting in problems. No amount of licensing can change this hard truth.

Furthermore, you can make money via Open Core around OSI approved open source projects (e.g. Grafana), consulting/support, and many companies that pay developers to work on (pure) Open Source code (Meta, Microsft, Google, etc are the most famous ones, but there are many smaller ones). Companies that try to achieve sustainability (and even thriving) on pure open source software for which they are the main/single driving force, are extremely rare. (Chef tried, and now System Initiative is trying to do it better. I remain skeptical but am hopeful and am rooting for them to prove the model)

Doesn’t it sound a bit ironic that the path to getting developers paid is releasing your software via a non-compete license?

Do we reach developer sustainability by preventing developers from making money on top of projects they want to - or already have - contribute(d) to?

Important caveats:

• Fair Source does allow to make money via consulting and auxiliary services related to the software.
• Open Core shuts out people similarly, but many of the business models above, don’t.

CLA needed?

When a project uses an Open Source license with some restrictions (e.g. GPL with its copyleft) it is common to use a CLA such that the company backing it can use more restrictive or commercial licenses (either as a license change later on, or as dual licensing). With Fair Source (and indeed all Source Available licenses), this is also the the case.

However, unlike Open Source licenses, with Fair Source / Source Available licenses, a CLA becomes much more of a necessity, because such a license without CLA isn’t compatible with anything else, and the commercial FSL restriction may not always apply to outside contributions (it depends on e.g. whether it can be offered stand-alone). I’m not a lawyer, for more clarity you should consult with one. I think the Fair Source website, at least their adoption guide should mention something about CLA’s, because it’s an important step beyond simply choosing a license and publishing, so I’ve raised this with them.

AGPL

The FSL website states:

AGPLv3 is not permissive enough. As a highly viral copyleft license, it exposes users to serious risk of having to divulge their proprietary source code.

This looks like fear mongering.

• AGPL is not categorically less permissive than FSL. It is less permissive when the code is 2 years old or older (and the FSL has turned into MIT/Apache2). For current and recent code, AGPL permits competition; FSL does not.
• The world “viral” is more divisive than accurate. In my mind, complying with AGPL is rather easy, my rule of thumb is to say you trigger copyleft when you “ship”. Most engineers have an intuitive understanding of what it means to “ship” a feature, whether that’s on cloud, or on-prem. In my experience, people struggle more with patent clauses or even the relation between trademarks and software licensing than they do with copyleft. There’s still some level of uncertainty and caution around AGPL, mainly due to its complexity. (side note: Google and CNCF doesn’t allow copyleft licenses, and their portfolio doesn’t have a whole lot of commercial success to show for it, I see mainly projects that can easily be picked up by Google)

Heather Meeker, the lawyer consulted to draft up the FSL has spoken out against the virality discourse and tempering the FUD around AGPL

Conclusion

I think Fair Source, the FSL and FCL have a lot to offer. Throughout my analysis I may have raised some criticisms, but if anything, it reminds me of how much Open Core can suck (though it depends on the relative size of core vs shell). So I find it a very compelling alternative to Open Core. Despite some poor choices of wording, I find it well executed: It ties up a lot of loose ends from previous initiatives (Source Available, BSL and other custom licenses) into a neat package. Despite the need for a CLA it’s still quite easy to implement and is arguably more viable than Open Core is, in its current state today. When comparing to Open Source, the main question is: which is worse, the “harmful free-rider problem”, or the non-compete? (Anecdotally, my gut feeling says the former, but I’m on the look out for data driven evidence). When comparing to Open Core, the main question is: is a business more viable keeping proprietary features closed, or making them source-available (non-compete)?.

As mentioned, there are many more hybrid approaches possible. For a business thinking about their licensing strategy, it may make sense to think of these questions separately:

• should our proprietary shell be time based or feature scoped? Does it matter?
• should our proprietary shell be closed, or source-available?

I certainly would prefer to see companies and projects appear:

• as Fair Source, rather than not at all
• as Open Core, rather than not at all
• as Fair Source, rather than Open Core (depending on “shell thickness”).
• with more commercial restrictions from the get-go, instead of starting more permissively and re-licensing later. Just kidding, but that’s a topic for another day.

For vendors, I think there are some options left to explore, such as the Open Core with an source available (instead of closed) shell. Something to consider for any company doing Open Core today. For end-users / customers, “Open Source” vendors are not the only ones to be taken with a grain of salt, it’s the same with Fair Source, since they may have a more complicated arrangement rather than just using a Fair Source license.

Thanks to Heather Meeker and Joseph Jacks for providing input, although this article reflects only my personal views.

I made some time to give some love to my own projects and spent some time rewriting the Ansible role stafwag.ntpd and cleaning up some other Ansible roles.

There is some work ongoing for some other Ansible roles/projects, but this might be a topic for some other blog post(s) ;-)

stafwag.ntpd

An ansible role to configure ntpd/chrony/systemd-timesyncd.

This might be controversial, but I decided to add support for chrony and systemd-timesyncd. Ntpd is still supported and the default on the BSDs ( FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD).

It’s possible to switch from the ntp implementation by using the ntpd.provider directive.

The Ansible role stafwag.ntpd v2.0.0 is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-ntpd
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/ntpd/

Release notes

V2.0.0

• Added support for chrony and systemd-timesyncd on GNU/Linux
  • systemd-timesynced is the default on Debian GNU/Linux 12+ and Archlinux
  • ntpd is the default on all operating systems (BSDs, Solaris) and Debian GNU/Linux 10 and 11
  • chrony is the default on all other GNU/Linux distributes
  • For ntpd hash as the input for the role.
  • Updated README
  • CleanUp

stafwag.ntpdate

An ansible role to activate the ntpdate service on FreeBSD and NetBSD.

The ntpdate service is used on FreeBSD and NetBSD to sync the time during the system boot-up. On most Linux distributions this is handled by chronyd or systemd-timesyncd now. The OpenBSD ntpd implementation OpenNTPD also has support to sync the time during the system boot-up.

The role is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-ntpdate
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/ntpdate/

Release notes

V1.0.0

• Initial release on Ansible Galaxy
  • Added support for NetBSD

stafwag.libvirt

An ansible role to install libvirt/KVM packages and enable the libvirtd service.

The role is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-libvirt
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/libvirt/

Release notes

V1.1.3

• Force bash for shell execution on Ubuntu.
  • Force bash for shell execution on Ubuntu. As the default dash shell doesn’t support pipefail.

V1.1.2

• CleanUp
  • Corrected ansible-lint errors
  • Removed install task “install/.yml’”;
    • This was introduced to support Kali Linux, Kali Linux is reported as “Debian” now.
    • It isn’t used in this role
  • Removed invalid CentOS-8.yml softlink
    • Removed invalid soft link, Centos 8 should be catched by
    • RedHat-yum.yml

stafwag.cloud_localds

An ansible role to create cloud-init config disk images. This role is a wrapper around the cloud-localds command.

It’s still planned to add support for distributions that don’t have cloud-localds as part of their official package repositories like RedHat 8+.

See the GitHub issue: https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-cloud_localds/issues/7

The role is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-cloud_localds/
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/cloud_localds/

Release notes

V2.1.3

• CleanUp
  • Switched to vars and package to install the required packages
  • Corrected ansible-lint errors
  • Added more examples

stafwag.qemu_img

An ansible role to create QEMU disk images.

The role is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-qemu_img
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/qemu_img/

Release notes

V2.3.0

• CleanUp Release
  • Added doc/examples
  • Updated meta data
  • Switched to vars and package to install the required packages
  • Corrected ansible-lint errors

stafwag.virt_install_import

An ansible role to import virtual machine with the virt-install import command

The role is available at:

• https://github.com/stafwag/ansible-role-virt_install_import
• https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/standalone/roles/stafwag/virt_install_import/

Release notes

• Use var and package to install pkgs
  • v1.2.1 wasn’t merged correctly. The release should fix it…
  • Switched to var and package to install the required packages
  • Updated meta data
  • Updated documentation and include examples
  • Corrected ansible-lint errors

Have fun!

Here’s a neat little trick for those of you using Home Assistant while also driving a Volvo.

To get your Volvo driving data (fuel level, battery state, …) into Home Assistant, there’s the excellent volvo2mqtt addon.

One little annoyance is that every time it starts up, you will receive an e-mail from Volvo with a two-factor authentication code, which you then have to enter in Home Assistant.

Fortunately, there’s a solution for that, you can automate this using the built-in imap support of Home Assistant, with an automation such as this one:

alias: Volvo OTP
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: imap_content
    event_data:
      initial: true
      sender: no-reply@volvocars.com
      subject: Your Volvo ID Verification code
condition: []
action:
  - service: mqtt.publish
    metadata: {}
    data:
      topic: volvoAAOS2mqtt/otp_code
      payload: >-
        {{ trigger.event.data['text'] | regex_findall_index(find='Your Volvo ID verification code is:\s+(\d+)', index=0) }}
  - service: imap.delete
    data:
      entry: "{{ trigger.event.data['entry_id'] }}"
      uid: "{{ trigger.event.data['uid'] }}"
mode: single

This will post the OTP code to the right location and then delete the message from your inbox (if you’re using Google Mail, that means archiving it).

Comments | More on rocketeer.be | @rubenv on Twitter

Updated @ Mon Sep 2 07:55:20 PM CEST 2024: Added devfs section
Updated @ Wed Sep 4 07:48:56 PM CEST 2024 : Corrected gpg-agent.conf

I use FreeBSD and GNU/Linux.

In a previous blog post, we set up GnuPG with smartcard support on Debian GNU/Linux.

In this blog post, we’ll install and configure GnuPG with smartcard support on FreeBSD.

The GNU/Linux blog post provides more details about GnuPG, so it might be useful for the FreeBSD users to read it first.

Likewise, Linux users are welcome to read this blog post if they’re interested in how it’s done on FreeBSD ;-)

Install the required packages

To begin, we need to install the required packages on FreeBSD.

Update the package database

Execute pkg update to update the package database.

Thunderbird

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo pkg install -y thunderbird
Password:
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
[staf@monty ~]$ 

lsusb

You can verify the USB devices on FreeBSD using the usbconfig command or lsusb which is also available on FreeBSD as part of the usbutils package.

[staf@monty ~/git/stafnet/blog]$ sudo pkg install usbutils
Password:
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 3 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
	usbhid-dump: 1.4
	usbids: 20240318
	usbutils: 0.91

Number of packages to be installed: 3

301 KiB to be downloaded.

Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y
[1/3] Fetching usbutils-0.91.pkg: 100%   54 KiB  55.2kB/s    00:01    
[2/3] Fetching usbhid-dump-1.4.pkg: 100%   32 KiB  32.5kB/s    00:01    
[3/3] Fetching usbids-20240318.pkg: 100%  215 KiB 220.5kB/s    00:01    
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
[1/3] Installing usbhid-dump-1.4...
[1/3] Extracting usbhid-dump-1.4: 100%
[2/3] Installing usbids-20240318...
[2/3] Extracting usbids-20240318: 100%
[3/3] Installing usbutils-0.91...
[3/3] Extracting usbutils-0.91: 100%
[staf@monty ~/git/stafnet/blog]$

GnuPG

We’ll need GnuPG ( of course ), so ensure that it is installed.

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo pkg install gnupg
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Smartcard packages

To enable smartcard support on FreeBSD, we’ll need to install the smartcard packages. The same software as on GNU/Linux - opensc - is available on FreeBSD.

pkg provides

It’s handy to be able to check which packages provide certain files. On FreeBSD this is provided by the provides plugin. This plugin is not enabled by default in the pkg command.

To install in the provides plugin install the pkg-provides package.

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo pkg install pkg-provides
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
        pkg-provides: 0.7.3_3

Number of packages to be installed: 1

12 KiB to be downloaded.

Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y
[1/1] Fetching pkg-provides-0.7.3_3.pkg: 100%   12 KiB  12.5kB/s    00:01    
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
[1/1] Installing pkg-provides-0.7.3_3...
[1/1] Extracting pkg-provides-0.7.3_3: 100%
=====
Message from pkg-provides-0.7.3_3:

--
In order to use the pkg-provides plugin you need to enable plugins in pkg.
To do this, uncomment the following lines in /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf file
and add pkg-provides to the supported plugin list:

PKG_PLUGINS_DIR = "/usr/local/lib/pkg/";
PKG_ENABLE_PLUGINS = true;
PLUGINS [ provides ];

After that run `pkg plugins' to see the plugins handled by pkg.
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Edit the pkg configuration to enable the provides plug-in.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo vi /usr/local/etc/pkg.conf

PKG_PLUGINS_DIR = "/usr/local/lib/pkg/";
PKG_ENABLE_PLUGINS = true;
PLUGINS [ provides ];

Verify that the plugin is enabled.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo pkg plugins
NAME       DESC                                          VERSION   
provides   A plugin for querying which package provides a particular file 0.7.3     
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

Update the pkg-provides database.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo pkg provides -u
Fetching provides database: 100%   18 MiB   9.6MB/s    00:02    
Extracting database....success
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $

Install the required packages

Let’s check which packages provide the tools to set up the smartcard reader on FreeBSD. And install the required packages.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ pkg provides "pkcs15-tool"
Name    : opensc-0.25.1
Comment : Libraries and utilities to access smart cards
Repo    : FreeBSD
Filename: usr/local/share/man/man1/pkcs15-tool.1.gz
          usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/pkcs15-tool
          usr/local/bin/pkcs15-tool
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ pkg provides "bin/pcsc"
Name    : pcsc-lite-2.2.2,2
Comment : Middleware library to access a smart card using SCard API (PC/SC)
Repo    : FreeBSD
Filename: usr/local/sbin/pcscd
          usr/local/bin/pcsc-spy
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo pkg install opensc pcsc-lite
Password:
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
[staf@monty ~]$ 

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo pkg install -y pcsc-tools
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo pkg install -y ccid
Password:
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

USB

To use the smartcard reader we will need access to the USB devices as the user we use for our desktop environment. (No, this shouldn’t be the root user :-) )

permissions

verify

Execute the usbconfig command to verify that you can access the USB devices.

[staf@snuffel ~]$ usbconfig
No device match or lack of permissions.
[staf@snuffel ~]$ 

If you don’t have access, verify the permissions of the USB devices.

[staf@snuffel ~]$ ls -l /dev/usbctl
crw-r--r--  1 root operator 0x5b Sep  2 19:17 /dev/usbctl

[staf@snuffel ~]$  ls -l /dev/usb/
total 0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x34 Sep  2 19:17 0.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x4f Sep  2 19:17 0.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x36 Sep  2 19:17 1.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x53 Sep  2 19:17 1.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x7e Sep  2 19:17 1.2.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x82 Sep  2 19:17 1.2.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x83 Sep  2 19:17 1.2.2
crw-------  1 root operator 0x76 Sep  2 19:17 1.3.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x8a Sep  2 19:17 1.3.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x8b Sep  2 19:17 1.3.2
crw-------  1 root operator 0x8c Sep  2 19:17 1.3.3
crw-------  1 root operator 0x8d Sep  2 19:17 1.3.4
crw-------  1 root operator 0x38 Sep  2 19:17 2.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x56 Sep  2 19:17 2.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x3a Sep  2 19:17 3.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x51 Sep  2 19:17 3.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x3c Sep  2 19:17 4.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x55 Sep  2 19:17 4.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x3e Sep  2 19:17 5.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x54 Sep  2 19:17 5.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x80 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x85 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x86 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.2
crw-------  1 root operator 0x87 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.3
crw-------  1 root operator 0x40 Sep  2 19:17 6.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x52 Sep  2 19:17 6.1.1
crw-------  1 root operator 0x42 Sep  2 19:17 7.1.0
crw-------  1 root operator 0x50 Sep  2 19:17 7.1.1

devfs

When the /dev/usb* are only accessible by the root user. You probably want to create devfs.rules that to grant permissions to the operator or another group.

See https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?devfs.rules for more details.

/etc/rc.conf

Update the /etc/rc.conf to apply custom devfs permissions.

[staf@snuffel /etc]$ sudo vi rc.conf

devfs_system_ruleset="localrules"

/etc/devfs.rules

Create or update the /dev/devfs.rules with the update permissions to grant read/write access to the operator group.

[staf@snuffel /etc]$ sudo vi devfs.rules

[localrules=10]
add path 'usbctl*' mode 0660 group operator
add path 'usb/*' mode 0660 group operator

Restart the devfs service to apply the custom devfs ruleset.

[staf@snuffel /etc]$ sudo -i
root@snuffel:~ #

root@snuffel:~ # service devfs restart

The operator group should have read/write permissions now.

root@snuffel:~ # ls -l /dev/usb/
total 0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x34 Sep  2 19:17 0.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x4f Sep  2 19:17 0.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x36 Sep  2 19:17 1.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x53 Sep  2 19:17 1.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x7e Sep  2 19:17 1.2.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x82 Sep  2 19:17 1.2.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x83 Sep  2 19:17 1.2.2
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x76 Sep  2 19:17 1.3.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x8a Sep  2 19:17 1.3.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x8b Sep  2 19:17 1.3.2
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x8c Sep  2 19:17 1.3.3
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x8d Sep  2 19:17 1.3.4
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x38 Sep  2 19:17 2.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x56 Sep  2 19:17 2.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x3a Sep  2 19:17 3.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x51 Sep  2 19:17 3.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x3c Sep  2 19:17 4.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x55 Sep  2 19:17 4.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x3e Sep  2 19:17 5.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x54 Sep  2 19:17 5.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x80 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x85 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x86 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.2
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x87 Sep  2 19:17 5.2.3
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x40 Sep  2 19:17 6.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x52 Sep  2 19:17 6.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x42 Sep  2 19:17 7.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x50 Sep  2 19:17 7.1.1
root@snuffel:~ # 

Make sure that you’re part of the operator group

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ ls -l /dev/usbctl 
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x5a Jul 13 17:32 /dev/usbctl
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ ls -l /dev/usb/
total 0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x31 Jul 13 17:32 0.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x53 Jul 13 17:32 0.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x33 Jul 13 17:32 1.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x51 Jul 13 17:32 1.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x35 Jul 13 17:32 2.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x52 Jul 13 17:32 2.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x37 Jul 13 17:32 3.1.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x54 Jul 13 17:32 3.1.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x73 Jul 13 17:32 3.2.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x75 Jul 13 17:32 3.2.1
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x76 Jul 13 17:32 3.3.0
crw-rw----  1 root operator 0x78 Jul 13 17:32 3.3.1
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

You’ll need to be part of the operator group to access the USB devices.

Execute the vigr command and add the user to the operator group.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ sudo vigr

operator:*:5:root,staf

Relogin and check that you are in the operator group.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ id
uid=1001(staf) gid=1001(staf) groups=1001(staf),0(wheel),5(operator)
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

The usbconfig command should work now.

staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ usbconfig
ugen1.1: <Intel UHCI root HUB> at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen2.1: <Intel UHCI root HUB> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen0.1: <Intel UHCI root HUB> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen3.1: <Intel EHCI root HUB> at usbus3, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen3.2: <QEMU Tablet Adomax Technology Co., Ltd> at usbus3, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (100mA)
ugen3.3: <QEMU Tablet Adomax Technology Co., Ltd> at usbus3, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (100mA)
staf@freebsd-gpg:~ $ 

SmartCard configuration

Verify the USB connection

The first step is to ensure your smartcard reader is detected on a USB level. Execute usbconfig and lsusb and make sure your smartcard reader is listed.

usbconfig

List the USB devices.

[staf@monty ~/git]$ usbconfig
ugen1.1: <Intel EHCI root HUB> at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen0.1: <Intel XHCI root HUB> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=SUPER (5.0Gbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen2.1: <Intel EHCI root HUB> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen2.2: <Integrated Rate Matching Hub Intel Corp.> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen1.2: <Integrated Rate Matching Hub Intel Corp.> at usbus1, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=SAVE (0mA)
ugen0.2: <AU9540 Smartcard Reader Alcor Micro Corp.> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON (50mA)
ugen0.3: <VFS 5011 fingerprint sensor Validity Sensors, Inc.> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON (100mA)
ugen0.4: <Centrino Bluetooth Wireless Transceiver Intel Corp.> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON (0mA)
ugen0.5: <SunplusIT INC. Integrated Camera> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON (500mA)
ugen0.6: <X-Rite Pantone Color Sensor X-Rite, Inc.> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=LOW (1.5Mbps) pwr=ON (100mA)
ugen0.7: <GemPC Key SmartCard Reader Gemalto (was Gemplus)> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON (50mA)
[staf@monty ~/git]$ 

lsusb

[staf@monty ~/git/stafnet/blog]$ lsusb
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.7: ID 08e6:3438 Gemalto (was Gemplus) GemPC Key SmartCard Reader
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.6: ID 0765:5010 X-Rite, Inc. X-Rite Pantone Color Sensor
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.5: ID 04f2:b39a Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.4: ID 8087:07da Intel Corp. Centrino Bluetooth Wireless Transceiver
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.3: ID 138a:0017 Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS 5011 fingerprint sensor
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.2: ID 058f:9540 Alcor Micro Corp. AU9540 Smartcard Reader
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen1.2: ID 8087:8008 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen2.2: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen2.1: ID 0000:0000  
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen0.1: ID 0000:0000  
Bus /dev/usb Device /dev/ugen1.1: ID 0000:0000  
[staf@monty ~/git/stafnet/blog]$ 

Check the GnuPG smartcard status

Let’s check if we get access to our smart card with gpg.

This might work if you have a native-supported GnuPG smartcard.

[staf@monty ~]$ gpg --card-status
gpg: selecting card failed: Operation not supported by device
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: Operation not supported by device
[staf@monty ~]$ 

In my case, it doesn’t work. I prefer the OpenSC interface, this might be useful if you want to use your smartcard for other usages.

opensc

Enable pcscd

FreeBSD has a handy tool sysrc to manage rc.conf

Enable the pcscd service.

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo sysrc pcscd_enable=YES
Password:
pcscd_enable: NO -> YES
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Start the pcscd service.

[staf@monty ~]$ sudo /usr/local/etc/rc.d/pcscd start
Password:
Starting pcscd.
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Verify smartcard access

pcsc_scan

The opensc-tools package provides a tool - pcsc_scan to verify the smartcard readers.

Execute pcsc_scan to verify that your smartcard is detected.

[staf@monty ~]$ pcsc_scan 
PC/SC device scanner
V 1.7.1 (c) 2001-2022, Ludovic Rousseau <ludovic.rousseau@free.fr>
Using reader plug'n play mechanism
Scanning present readers...
0: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 00 00
1: Alcor Micro AU9540 01 00
 
Thu Jul 25 18:42:34 2024
 Reader 0: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (<snip>) 00 00
  Event number: 0
  Card state: Card inserted, 
  ATR: <snip>

ATR: <snip>
+ TS = 3B --> Direct Convention
+ T0 = DA, Y(1): 1101, K: 10 (historical bytes)
  TA(1) = 18 --> Fi=372, Di=12, 31 cycles/ETU
    129032 bits/s at 4 MHz, fMax for Fi = 5 MHz => 161290 bits/s
  TC(1) = FF --> Extra guard time: 255 (special value)
  TD(1) = 81 --> Y(i+1) = 1000, Protocol T = 1 
-----
  TD(2) = B1 --> Y(i+1) = 1011, Protocol T = 1 
-----
  TA(3) = FE --> IFSC: 254
  TB(3) = 75 --> Block Waiting Integer: 7 - Character Waiting Integer: 5
  TD(3) = 1F --> Y(i+1) = 0001, Protocol T = 15 - Global interface bytes following 
-----
  TA(4) = 03 --> Clock stop: not supported - Class accepted by the card: (3G) A 5V B 3V 
+ Historical bytes: 00 31 C5 73 C0 01 40 00 90 00
  Category indicator byte: 00 (compact TLV data object)
    Tag: 3, len: 1 (card service data byte)
      Card service data byte: C5
        - Application selection: by full DF name
        - Application selection: by partial DF name
        - EF.DIR and EF.ATR access services: by GET DATA command
        - Card without MF
    Tag: 7, len: 3 (card capabilities)
      Selection methods: C0
        - DF selection by full DF name
        - DF selection by partial DF name
      Data coding byte: 01
        - Behaviour of write functions: one-time write
        - Value 'FF' for the first byte of BER-TLV tag fields: invalid
        - Data unit in quartets: 2
      Command chaining, length fields and logical channels: 40
        - Extended Lc and Le fields
        - Logical channel number assignment: No logical channel
        - Maximum number of logical channels: 1
    Mandatory status indicator (3 last bytes)
      LCS (life card cycle): 00 (No information given)
      SW: 9000 (Normal processing.)
+ TCK = 0C (correct checksum)

Possibly identified card (using /usr/local/share/pcsc/smartcard_list.txt):
<snip>
        OpenPGP Card V2

 Reader 1: Alcor Micro AU9540 01 00
  Event number: 0
  Card state

pkcs15

pkcs15 is the application interface for hardware tokens while pkcs11 is the low-level interface.

You can use pkcs15-tool -D to verify that your smartcard is detected.

staf@monty ~]$ pkcs15-tool -D
Using reader with a card: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (<snip>) 00 00
PKCS#15 Card [OpenPGP card]:
        Version        : 0
        Serial number  : <snip>
        Manufacturer ID: ZeitControl
        Language       : nl
        Flags          : PRN generation, EID compliant


PIN [User PIN]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        Auth ID        : 03
        ID             : 02
        Flags          : [0x13], case-sensitive, local, initialized
        Length         : min_len:6, max_len:32, stored_len:32
        Pad char       : 0x00
        Reference      : 2 (0x02)
        Type           : UTF-8
        Path           : 3f00
        Tries left     : 3

PIN [User PIN (sig)]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        Auth ID        : 03
        ID             : 01
        Flags          : [0x13], case-sensitive, local, initialized
        Length         : min_len:6, max_len:32, stored_len:32
        Pad char       : 0x00
        Reference      : 1 (0x01)
        Type           : UTF-8
        Path           : 3f00
        Tries left     : 0

PIN [Admin PIN]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        ID             : 03
        Flags          : [0x9B], case-sensitive, local, unblock-disabled, initialized, soPin
        Length         : min_len:8, max_len:32, stored_len:32
        Pad char       : 0x00
        Reference      : 3 (0x03)
        Type           : UTF-8
        Path           : 3f00
        Tries left     : 0

Private RSA Key [Signature key]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        Usage          : [0x20C], sign, signRecover, nonRepudiation
        Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
        Algo_refs      : 0
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
        Native         : yes
        Auth ID        : 01
        ID             : 01
        MD:guid        : <snip>

Private RSA Key [Encryption key]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        Usage          : [0x22], decrypt, unwrap
        Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
        Algo_refs      : 0
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 1 (0x01)
        Native         : yes
        Auth ID        : 02
        ID             : 02
        MD:guid        : <snip>

Private RSA Key [Authentication key]
        Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
        Usage          : [0x200], nonRepudiation
        Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
        Algo_refs      : 0
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 2 (0x02)
        Native         : yes
        Auth ID        : 02
        ID             : 03
        MD:guid        : <snip>

Public RSA Key [Signature key]
        Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
        Usage          : [0xC0], verify, verifyRecover
        Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
        Native         : no
        Path           : b601
        ID             : 01

Public RSA Key [Encryption key]
        Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
        Usage          : [0x11], encrypt, wrap
        Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
        Native         : no
        Path           : b801
        ID             : 02

Public RSA Key [Authentication key]
        Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
        Usage          : [0x40], verify
        Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
        ModLength      : 3072
        Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
        Native         : no
        Path           : a401
        ID             : 03

[staf@monty ~]$ 

GnuPG configuration

First test

Stop (kill) the scdaemon, to ensure that the scdaemon tries to use the opensc interface.

[staf@monty ~]$ gpgconf --kill scdaemon
[staf@monty ~]$ 

[staf@monty ~]$ ps aux | grep -i scdaemon
staf  9236  0.0  0.0   12808   2496  3  S+   20:42   0:00.00 grep -i scdaemon
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Try to read the card status again.

[staf@monty ~]$ gpg --card-status
gpg: selecting card failed: Operation not supported by device
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: Operation not supported by device
[staf@monty ~]$ 

Reconfigure GnuPG

Go to the .gnupg directory in your $HOME directory.

[staf@monty ~]$ cd .gnupg/
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

scdaemon

Reconfigure scdaemon to disable the internal ccid and enable logging - always useful to verify why something isn’t working…

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ vi scdaemon.conf

disable-ccid

verbose
debug-level expert
debug-all
log-file    /home/staf/logs/scdaemon.log

gpg-agent

Enable debug logging for the gpg-agent.

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ vi gpg-agent.conf

debug-level expert
verbose
verbose
log-file /home/staf/logs/gpg-agent.log

Verify

Stop the scdaemon.

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ gpgconf --kill scdaemon
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

If everything goes well gpg will detect the smartcard.

If not, you have some logging to do some debugging ;-)

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ gpg --card-status
Reader ...........: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (<snip>) 00 00
Application ID ...: <snip>
Application type .: OpenPGP
Version ..........: 2.1
Manufacturer .....: ZeitControl
Serial number ....: 000046F1
Name of cardholder: <snip>
Language prefs ...: nl
Salutation .......: Mr.
URL of public key : <snip>
Login data .......: [not set]
Signature PIN ....: forced
Key attributes ...: xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx
Max. PIN lengths .: 32 32 32
PIN retry counter : 3 0 3
Signature counter : 80
Signature key ....: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
Encryption key....: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
Authentication key: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
General key info..: [none]
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

Test

shadow private keys

After you executed gpg --card-status, GnuPG created “shadow private keys”. These keys just contain references on which hardware tokens the private keys are stored.

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ ls -l private-keys-v1.d/
total 14
-rw-------  1 staf staf 976 Mar 24 11:35 <snip>.key
-rw-------  1 staf staf 976 Mar 24 11:35 <snip>.key
-rw-------  1 staf staf 976 Mar 24 11:35 <snip>.key
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

You can list the (shadow) private keys with the gpg --list-secret-keys command.

Pinentry

To be able to type in your PIN code, you’ll need a pinentry application unless your smartcard reader has a pinpad.

You can use pkg provides to verify which pinentry applications are available.

For the integration with Thunderbird, you probably want to have a graphical-enabled version. But this is the topic for a next blog post ;-)

We’ll stick with the (n)curses version for now.

Install a pinentry program.

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ pkg provides pinentry | grep -i curses
Name    : pinentry-curses-1.3.1
Comment : Curses version of the GnuPG password dialog
Filename: usr/local/bin/pinentry-curses
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ sudo pkg install pinentry-curses
Password:
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
The most recent versions of packages are already installed
[staf@monty ~/.gnupg]$ 

A soft link is created for the pinentry binary. On FreeBSD, the pinentry soft link is managed by the pinentry package.

You can verify this with the pkg which command.

[staf@monty ~]$ pkg which /usr/local/bin/pinentry
/usr/local/bin/pinentry was installed by package pinentry-1.3.1
[staf@monty ~]$ 

The curses version is the default.

If you want to use another pinentry version in the gpg-agent configuration ( $HOME/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf).

pinentry-program <PATH>

Import your public key

Import your public key.

[staf@monty /tmp]$ gpg --import <snip>.asc
gpg: key <snip>: public key "<snip>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1
[staf@monty /tmp]$ 

List the public keys.

[staf@monty /tmp]$ gpg --list-keys
/home/staf/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
-----------------------------
pub   XXXXXXX XXXX-XX-XX [SC]
      <snip>
uid           [ unknown] <snip>
sub   XXXXXXX XXXX-XX-XX [A]
sub   XXXXXXX XXXX-XX-XX [E]

[staf@monty /tmp]$ 

As a test, we try to sign something with the private key on our GnuPG smartcard.

Create a test file.

[staf@monty /tmp]$ echo "foobar" > foobar
[staf@monty /tmp]$ 

[staf@monty /tmp]$ gpg --sign foobar

If your smartcard isn’t inserted GnuPG will ask to insert it.

GnuPG asks for the smartcard with the serial in the shadow private key.

                ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                │ Please insert the card with serial number: │
                │                                            │
                │ XXXX XXXXXXXX                              │
                │                                            │
                │                                            │
                │      <OK>                      <Cancel>    │
                └────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Type in your PIN code.

               ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
               │ Please unlock the card                       │
               │                                              │
               │ Number: XXXX XXXXXXXX                        │
               │ Holder: XXXX XXXXXXXXXX                      │
               │ Counter: XX                                  │
               │                                              │
               │ PIN ________________________________________ │
               │                                              │
               │      <OK>                        <Cancel>    │
               └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[staf@monty /tmp]$ ls -l foobar*
-rw-r-----  1 staf wheel   7 Jul 27 11:11 foobar
-rw-r-----  1 staf wheel 481 Jul 27 11:17 foobar.gpg
[staf@monty /tmp]$ 

In a next blog post in this series, we’ll configure Thunderbird to use the smartcard for OpenPG email encryption.

Have fun!

Links

• https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2019/01/17/less-known-pkg8-features/
• https://www.floss-shop.de/en/security-privacy/smartcards/13/openpgp-smart-card-v3.4?c=11
• https://www.gnupg.org/howtos/card-howto/en/smartcard-howto-single.html
• https://support.nitrokey.com/t/nk3-mini-gpg-selecting-card-failed-no-such-device-gpg-card-setup/5057/7
• https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/233916/gnupg-connecting-to-specific-card-reader-when-multiple-reader-available#233918
• https://www.fsij.org/doc-gnuk/stop-scdaemon.html
• https://wiki.debian.org/Smartcards
• https://github.com/OpenSC/OpenSC/wiki/Overview/c70c57c1811f54fe3b3989d01708b45b86fafe11
• https://superuser.com/questions/1693289/gpg-warning-not-using-as-default-key-no-secret-key
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46689885/how-to-get-public-key-from-an-openpgp-smart-card-without-using-key-servers

I was annoyed in the first half by his incessant use of anecdotes to prove that ADD is not genetic. It felt like he had to convince himself, and it read as an excuse for his actions as a father.

He uses clear and obvious examples of how not to raise a child (often with himself as the child or the father) to play on the readers emotion. Most of these examples are not even related to ADD.

But in the end, definitely the second half, it is a good book. Most people will recognize several situations and often it does make one think about life choices and interpretation of actions and emotions.

So for those getting past the disorganization (yes there are parts and chapters in this book, but most of it feels randomly disorganized), the second half of the book is a worthy thought provoking read.

When I mindlessly unplugged a USB audio card from my laptop while viewing its mixer settings in AlsaMixer, I was surprised by the following poetic error message: [1]

These lines are actually the final verse of Lewis Carroll's whimsical poem The Hunting of the Snark:

In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
  In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away—
  For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.

-- Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark"

Initially, I didn't even notice the bright red error message The sound device was unplugged. Press F6 to select another sound card. The poetic lines were enough to convey what had happened and they put a smile on my face.

Please, developers, keep putting a smile on my face when something unexpected happens.

Fun fact: the copyright header of AlsaMixer's source code includes: Copyright (c) 1874 Lewis Carroll.

https://www.wagemakers.be

I’ve finally found the time to give my homepage a complete makeover. Yes, HTTPS is enabled now ;-)

The content has been migrated from WebGUI to Hugo.

It still contains the same old content, but I’ll update it in the coming weeks or when some of the projects are updated.

I started my company last year and recently had the time to create my company’s website.

https://mask27.dev

Feel free to check it out.

Beste andere Belgen

Venera en ik hebben een bébé gemaakt. Hij is Troi en naar het schijnt lijkt hij erg op mij.

Hier is een fotooke van hem en zijn mama. Troi is uiteraard heel erg schattig:

Last week my new book has been published, Building Wireless Sensor Networks with OpenThread: Developing CoAP Applications for Thread Networks with Zephyr.

Thread is a protocol for building efficient, secure and scalable wireless mesh networks for the Internet of Things (IoT), based on IPv6. OpenThread is an open-source implementation of the Thread protocol, originally developed by Google. It offers a comprehensive Application Programming Interface (API) that is both operating system and platform agnostic. OpenThread is the industry’s reference implementation and the go-to platform for professional Thread application developers.

Source code

All code examples from this book are published on GitHub. The repository also lists errors that may have been found in this book since its publication, as well as information about changes that impact the examples.

This book uses OpenThread in conjunction with Zephyr, an open-source real-time operating system designed for use with resource-constrained devices. This allows you to develop Thread applications that work on various hardware platforms, without the need to delve into low-level details or to learn another API when switching hardware platforms.

With its practical approach, this book not only explains theoretical concepts, but also demonstrates Thread’s network features with the use of practical examples. It explains the code used for a variety of basic Thread applications based on Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). This includes advanced topics such as service discovery and security. As you work through this book, you’ll build on both your knowledge and skills. By the time you finish the final chapter, you’ll have the confidence to effectively implement Thread-based wireless networks for your own IoT projects.

Thread’s architecture

Thread employs a mesh networking architecture that allows devices to communicate directly with each other, eliminating the need for a central hub or gateway. This architecture offers inherent redundancy, as devices can relay data using multiple paths, ensuring increased reliability in case of any single node failure.

The Thread protocol stack is built upon the widely used IPv6 protocol, which simplifies the integration of Thread networks into existing IP infrastructures. Thread is designed to be lightweight, streamlined and efficient, making it an excellent protocol for IoT devices running in resource-constrained environments.

Before discussing Thread, it’s essential to understand its place in the network protocol environment. Most modern networks are based on the Internet Protocol suite, which uses a four-layer architecture. The layers of the Internet Protocol suite are, from bottom to top:

Link layer

Defines the device’s connection with a local network. Protocols like Ethernet and Wi-Fi operate within this layer. In the more complex Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, this layer includes the physical and data link layers.

Network layer

Enables communication across network boundaries, known as routing. The Internet Protocol (IP) operates within this layer and defines IP addresses.

Transport layer

Enables communication between two devices, either on the same network or on different networks with routers in between. The transport layer also defines the concept of a port. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) operate within this layer.

Application layer

Facilitates communication between applications on the same device or different devices. Protocols like HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Domain Name System (DNS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) operate within this layer.

When data is transmitted across the network, the data of each layer is embedded in the layer below it, as shown in this diagram:

Network data is encapsulated in the four layers of the Internet Protocol suite (based on: Colin Burnett, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Thread operates in the network and transport layers. However, it’s important to know what’s going on in all layers.

Link layer: IEEE 802.15.4

For its link layer, Thread builds upon the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, a specification by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This is the same link layer that Zigbee uses. It focuses on low power consumption, allowing devices to communicate for months or even years on a single battery charge. The direct communication range is approximately 10 meters under normal conditions.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a radio standard operating in the license-free 2.4 GHz frequency band with data rates up to 250 kbit/s. It has 16 channels (channels 11 to 26), ranging from 2405 to 2530 MHz with 5 MHz channel spacing. This is the same 2.4 GHz frequency band used by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Note

In Europe and North America, IEEE 802.15.4 also supports channels at frequencies of 868 MHz and 920 MHz, respectively. Channel 0 (with a data rate of 20 kbit/s) is for 868.3 MHz, and channels 1 to 10 (with a data rate of 40 kbit/s) are for 906 to 924 MHz with 2 MHz channel spacing.

An IEEE 802.15.4 network includes two types of devices:

Full Function Device (FFD)

A device that implements the complete feature set of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. It can communicate with all other IEEE 802.15.4 devices within its immediate radio range.

Reduced Function Device (RFD)

A device that implements only a subset of features of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to conserve device resources. It can only communicate with the FFD through which it joined the network.

An IEEE 802.15.4 network is known as a Personal Area Network (PAN). Each PAN is identified by a unique PAN ID that no other PAN in range is allowed to have. Within each PAN, one FFD is the PAN coordinator. This device initiates and manages the PAN, enabling other devices to join the network.

IEEE 802.15.4 includes built-in encryption and authentication, using AES-128 (128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard) in CCM* mode, a variation of CCM mode (counter with cipher block chaining message authentication code). This mode provides authenticated encryption by combining encryption in CTR (counter) mode with authentication using CBC-MAC (cipher block chaining message authentication code). The original message is transmitted alongside a MIC (Message Integrity Check) so the recipient can validate that the message has not been tampered with.

Devices can only communicate with each other in an IEEE 802.15.4 network if they use the same 128-bit AES key. The IEEE 802.15.4 standard doesn’t, however, define the key exchange process. The key must therefore either be stored in each device during manufacture, entered manually by the user, or by a key exchange protocol in the layers above the link layer.

IEEE 802.15.4 data packets can transmit data from 0 to 127 bytes long. Each IEEE 802.15.4 device has an EUI-64 (Extended Unique Identifier) address set by the manufacturer, which is used as a MAC address. When a device joins a PAN, it’s also assigned a 16-bit short address. This allows the transmitted packets to be shorter because they only need to use two instead of eight bytes to define source and target addresses. Some special short addresses exist, such as 0xffff as a broadcast address to send packets to all devices, and 0xfffe as an unassigned address, used by devices while joining a network.

Network layer: 6LoWPAN and IPv6

Thread’s network layer consists of IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Access Networks (6LoWPAN). This is an IETF specification described in RFC 4944, "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over IEEE 802.15.4 Networks", with an update for the compression mechanism in RFC 6282, "Compression Format for IPv6 Datagrams over IEEE 802.15.4-Based Networks". 6LoWPAN’s purpose is to allow even the smallest devices with limited processing power and low energy requirements to be part of the Internet of Things.

6LoWPAN essentially enables you to run an IPv6 network over the IEEE 802.15.4 link layer. It acts as an ‘adaptation layer’ between IPv6 and IEEE 802.15.4 and is therefore sometimes considered part of the link layer. This adaptation poses some challenges. For example, IPv6 mandates that all links can handle datagram sizes of at least 1280 bytes, but IEEE 802.15.4, as explained in the previous subsection, limits a frame to 127 bytes. 6LoWPAN solves this by excluding information in the 6LoWPAN header that can already be derived from IEEE 802.15.4 frames and by using local, shortened addresses. If the payload is still too large, it’s divided into fragments.

The link-local IPv6 addresses of 6LoWPAN devices are derived from the IEEE 802.15.4 EUI-64 addresses and their shortened 16-bit addresses. The devices in a 6LoWPAN network can communicate directly with ‘normal’ IPv6 devices in a network if connected via an edge router. This means there is no need for translation via a gateway, in contrast to non-IP networks such as Zigbee or Z-Wave. Communication with non-6LoWPAN networks purely involves forwarding data packets at the network layer.

In this layer, Thread builds upon IEEE 802.15.4 to create an IPv6-based mesh network. In IEEE 802.15.4 only communication between devices that are in immediate radio range is possible, whereas routing allows devices that aren’t in immediate range to communicate.

If you want to delve into more details of Thread’s network layer, consult the Thread Group’s white paper Thread Usage of 6LoWPAN.

Transport layer: UDP

On top of 6LoWPAN and IPv6, Thread’s transport layer employs the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which is the lesser known alternative to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

UDP has the following properties:

Connectionless

Unlike TCP, UDP doesn’t require establishing a connection before transferring data. It sends datagrams (packets) directly without any prior setup.

No error checking and recovery

UDP doesn’t provide built-in error checking, nor does it ensure the delivery of packets. If data is lost or corrupted during transmission, UDP doesn’t attempt to recover or resend it.

Speed

UDP is faster than TCP, as it doesn’t involve the overhead of establishing and maintaining a connection, error checking, or guaranteeing packet delivery.

UDP is ideal for use by Thread for several reasons:

Resource constraints

Thread devices often have limited processing power, memory, and energy. The simplicity and low overhead of UDP make it a better fitting choice for such resource-constrained devices compared to TCP.

Lower latency

UDP’s connectionless and lightweight nature guarantees data transmission with low latency, making it appropriate for wireless sensors.

Thread lacks an application layer

Unlike home automation protocols such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Matter, the Thread standard doesn’t define an application layer. A Thread network merely offers network infrastructure that applications can use to communicate. Just as your web browser and email client use TCP/IP over Ethernet or Wi-Fi, home automation devices can use Thread over IEEE 802.15.4 as their network infrastructure.

Several application layers exist that can make use of Thread:

Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)

A simpler version of HTTP, designed for resource-constrained devices and using UDP instead of TCP.

MQTT for Sensor Networks (MQTT-SN)

A variant of MQTT designed to be used over UDP.

Apple HomeKit

Apple’s application protocol for home automation devices.

Matter

A new home automation standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA).

Note

Matter was developed by the Zigbee Alliance, the original developers of the Zigbee standard for home automation. Following the introduction of Matter, the Zigbee Alliance rebranded to the Connectivity Standards Alliance. Matter’s application layer is heavily influenced by Zigbee. It not only runs on top of Thread, but can also be used over Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

Like your home network which simultaneously hosts a lot of application protocols including HTTP, DNS, and SMTP, a Thread network can also run all these application protocols concurrently.

The Thread network stack supports multiple application protocols simultaneously.

Throughout this book, I will be using CoAP as an application protocol in a Thread network. Once you have a Thread network set up, you can also use it for Apple HomeKit and Matter devices.

Platforms used in this book

In this book I focus on building wireless sensor networks using the Thread protocol together with the following hardware and software environments:

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 SoC

A powerful yet energy-efficient and low cost hardware solution for Thread-based IoT devices

OpenThread

An open-source implementation of the Thread protocol, originally developed by Google, making it easy to incorporate Thread into your IoT projects

Zephyr

An open-source real-time operating system designed for resource-constrained devices

Armed with these tools and by using practical examples I will go on to guide you step-by-step through the details of the hardware and software required to build Thread networks and OpenThread-based applications.

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 SoC

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 is a SoC built around the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M4 CPU running at 64 MHz. This chip supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Bluetooth Mesh, Thread, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, ANT and 2.4 GHz proprietary stacks. With its 1 MB flash storage and 256 KB RAM, it offers ample resources for advanced Thread applications.

This SoC is available for developers in the form of Nordic Semiconductor’s user-friendly nRF52840 Dongle. You can power and program this small, low-cost USB dongle via a computer USB port. The documentation lists comprehensive information about the dongle.

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 Dongle is a low-cost USB dongle ideal for experimenting with Thread. (image source: Nordic Semiconductor)

OpenThread

Thread is basically a networking protocol; in order to work with it you need an implementation of the Thread networking protocol. The industry’s reference implementation, used even by professional Thread device developers, is OpenThread. It’s a BSD-licensed implementation, with development ongoing via its GitHub repository. The license for this software allows for its use in both open-source and proprietary applications.

OpenThread provides an Application Programming Interface (API) that’s operating system and platform agnostic. It has a narrow platform abstraction layer to achieve this, and has a small memory footprint, making it highly portable. In this book, I will be using OpenThread in conjunction with Zephyr, but the same API can be used in other combinations, such as ESP-IDF for Espressif’s Thread SoCs.

The BSD-licensed OpenThread project is the industry’s standard implementation of the Thread protocol.

Zephyr

Zephyr is an open-source real-time operating system (RTOS) designed for resource-constrained devices. It incorporates OpenThread as a module, simplifying the process of creating Thread applications based on Zephyr and OpenThread. Because of Zephyr’s hardware abstraction layer, these applications will run on all SoCs supported by Zephyr that have an IEEE 802.15.4 radio facility.

Zephyr is an open-source real-time operating system (RTOS) with excellent support for OpenThread.

Recommended hardware

For the hardware, I recommend a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 Dongle, but you can use any microcontroller board with Thread radio supported by Zephyr. There are variants of the dongle by other manufacturers, such as the April USB Dongle 52840 (with an external antenna) or the nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle from makerdiary (with a case).

From left to right: April Brother’s April USB Dongle 52840, Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 Dongle, and makerdiary’s nRF52840 MDK USB Dongle.

The more devices you have in a Thread network, the better it works, because Routers can relay messages via other devices. Having more devices also aids in understanding how Thread operates: you can turn devices on and off, run commands on them through Zephyr’s shell, and observe how the network reacts. So, if possible, I recommend purchasing a handful of nRF52840 Dongles or other IEEE 802.15.4 devices supported by Zephyr. A USB hub with several Thread devices plugged in makes an excellent test setup, as shown in this example:

A USB hub with some Thread dongles plugged in is a great test setup to get to know Thread networking.

If you’re serious about Thread development with Zephyr, I also recommend Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 Development Kit. This is the bigger (and slightly less affordable) brother of the nRF52840 Dongle, offering more capabilities to debug code easily. With one of these, you can carry out initial development and debugging then flash the code to the nRF52840 Dongle once all the bugs have been ironed out.

Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52840 Development Kit has some powerful debugging capabilities. (image source: Nordic Semiconductor)

I use a Free Software Foundation Europe fellowship GPG smartcard for my email encryption and package signing. While FSFE doesn’t provide the smartcard anymore it’s still available at www.floss-shop.de.

I moved to a Thinkpad w541 with coreboot running Debian GNU/Linux and FreeBSD so I needed to set up my email encryption on Thunderbird again.

It took me more time to reconfigure it again - as usual - so I decided to take notes this time and create a blog post about it. As this might be useful for somebody else … or me in the future :-)

The setup is executed on Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) with the FSFE fellowship GPG smartcard, but the setup for other Linux distributes, FreeBSD or other smartcards is very similar.

umask

When you’re working on privacy-related tasks - like email encryption - it’s recommended to set the umask to a more private setting to only allow the user to read the generated files.

This is also recommended in most security benchmarks for “interactive users”.

umask 27 is a good default as it allows only users that are in the same group to read the generated files. Only the user that generated the file can modify it. This should be the default IMHO, but for historical reasons, umask 022 is the default on most Un!x or alike systems.

On most modern Un!x systems the default group for the user is the same as the user name. If you really want to be sure that only the user can read the generated files you can also use umask 077.

Set the umask to something more secure as the default. You probably want to configure it in your ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc ( if you’re using bash) or configure this on the system level for the UID range that is assigned to “interactive users”.

$ umask 27

Verify.

$ umask
0027
$

Install GnuPG

Smartcards are supported by GnuPG by scdaemon, it should be possible to use the native GnuPG CCID(Chip Card Interface) driver with more recent versions of GnuPG or the OpenSC PC/SC interface.

For the native GnuPG CCID interface you’ll need a supported smartcard reader. I continue to use the OpenSC PC/SC method, which implements the PKCS11 interface - the defacto standard interface for smartcards or HSMs - Hardware Security modules - and supports more smartcard readers.

The PKCS11 interface also allows you to reuse your PGP keypair for other things like SSH authentication through the PKCS11 interface ( SSH support is also possible with the gpg-agent ) or other applications like web browsers.

On Debian GNU/Linux, scdaemon is a separate package.

Make sure that the gpg and scdaemon are installed.

$ sudo apt install gpg scdaemon

GPG components

GnuPG has a few components, to list the components you can execute the gpgconf --list-components command.

$ gpgconf --list-component
gpg:OpenPGP:/usr/bin/gpg
gpgsm:S/MIME:/usr/bin/gpgsm
gpg-agent:Private Keys:/usr/bin/gpg-agent
scdaemon:Smartcards:/usr/lib/gnupg/scdaemon
dirmngr:Network:/usr/bin/dirmngr
pinentry:Passphrase Entry:/usr/bin/pinentry

If you want to know in more detail what the function is for a certain component you can check the manpages for each component.

We use in the:

• scdaemon: Smartcard daemon for the GnuPG system
• gpg-agent: Secret key management for GnuPG

components in this blog post as they are involved in OpenPGP encryption.

To reload the configuration of all components you execute the gpgconf --reload command. To reload you can execute gpgconf --reload <component>.

e.g.

$ gpgconf --reload scdaemon

Will reload the configuration of the scdaemon.

When you want or need to stop a gpg process you can use the gpgconf --kill <component> command.

e.g.

$ gpgconf --kill scdaemon

Will kill the scdaemon process.

(Try to) Find your smartcard device

Make sure that the reader is connected to your system.

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 08e6:3438 Gemalto (was Gemplus) GemPC Key SmartCard Reader
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0627:0001 Adomax Technology Co., Ltd QEMU Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
$ 

Without config

Let’s see if gpg can detect the smartcard.

Execute gpg --card-status.

$ gpg --card-status
gpg: selecting card failed: No such device
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: No such device
$ 

gpg doesn’t detect the smartcard…

When you execute the gpg command the gpg-agent is started.

$ ps aux | grep -i gpg
avahi        540  0.0  0.0   8288  3976 ?        Ss   Apr05   0:00 avahi-daemon: running [debian-gpg.local]
staf         869  0.0  0.0  81256  3648 ?        SLs  Apr05   0:00 /usr/bin/gpg-agent --supervised
staf        5143  0.0  0.0   6332  2076 pts/1    S+   12:48   0:00 grep -i gpg
$ 

The gpg-agent also starts the scdaemon process.

$ ps aux | grep -i scdaemon
staf        5150  0.0  0.1  90116  5932 ?        SLl  12:49   0:00 scdaemon --multi-server
staf        5158  0.0  0.0   6332  2056 pts/1    S+   12:49   0:00 grep -i scdaemon
$ 

When it’s the first time that you started gpg it’ll create a ~/.gnupg directory.

staf@debian-gpg:~/.gnupg$ ls
private-keys-v1.d  pubring.kbx
staf@debian-gpg:~/.gnupg$ 

Add debug info

scdaemon

To debug why GPG doesn’t detect the smartcard, we’ll enable debug logging in the scdeamon.

Create a directory for the logging.

$ mkdir ~/logs
$ chmod 700 ~/logs

Edit ~/gnugpg/scdaemon.conf to reconfigure the scdaemon to create logging.

staf@debian-gpg:~/.gnupg$ cat scdaemon.conf
verbose
debug-level expert
debug-all
log-file    /home/staf/logs/scdaemon.log
staf@debian-gpg:~/.gnupg$ 

Stop the sdaemon process.

staf@debian-gpg:~/logs$ gpgconf --reload scdaemon
staf@debian-gpg:~/logs$ 

Verify.

$ ps aux | grep -i scdaemon
staf        5169  0.0  0.0   6332  2224 pts/1    S+   12:51   0:00 grep -i scdaemon
$ 

The next time you execute a gpg command, the scdaemon is restarted.

$ gpg --card-status
gpg: selecting card failed: No such device
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: No such device
$ 

With the new config, the scdaemon creates a log file with debug info.

]$ ls -l ~/logs
total 8
-rw-r--r-- 1 staf staf 1425 Apr 15 19:45 scdaemon.log
$ 

gpg-agent

We’ll configure the gpg-agent to generate a debug log as this might help to debug if something goes wrong.

Open the gpg-agent.conf configuration file with your favourite editor.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ vi gpg-agent.conf

And set the debug-level and the log output file.

debug-level expert
verbose
verbose 
log-file /home/staf/logs/gpg-agent.log

Reload the gpg-agent configuration.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ gpgconf --reload gpg-agent
staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ 

Verify that a log-file is created.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ ls ~/logs/
gpg-agent.log  scdaemon.log
staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ 

The main components are configured to generate debug info now. We’ll continue with the gpg configuration.

Setup opensc

We will use opensc to configure the smartcard interface.

Install apt-file

To find the required files/libraries, it can be handy to have apt-file on our system.

Install apt-file.

$ sudo apt install apt-file

Update the apt-file database.

$ sudo apt-file update

Search for the tools that will be required.

$ apt-file search pcsc_scan 
pcsc-tools: /usr/bin/pcsc_scan            
pcsc-tools: /usr/share/man/man1/pcsc_scan.1.gz
$ 

$ apt-file search pkcs15-tool
opensc: /usr/bin/pkcs15-tool              
opensc: /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/pkcs15-tool
opensc: /usr/share/man/man1/pkcs15-tool.1.gz
$ 

Install smartcard packages

Install the required packages.

$ sudo apt install opensc pcsc-tools

Start the pcscd.service

On Debian GNU/Linux the services are normally automatically enabled/started when a package is installed.

But the pcscd service wasn’t enabled on my system.

Let’s enable it.

$ sudo systemctl enable pcscd.service 
Synchronizing state of pcscd.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable pcscd
$ 

Start it.

$ sudo systemctl start pcscd.service 

And verify that it’s running.

$ sudo systemctl status pcscd.service 
● pcscd.service - PC/SC Smart Card Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/pcscd.service; indirect; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2024-04-16 07:47:50 CEST; 16min ago
TriggeredBy: ● pcscd.socket
       Docs: man:pcscd(8)
   Main PID: 8321 (pcscd)
      Tasks: 7 (limit: 19026)
     Memory: 1.5M
        CPU: 125ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/pcscd.service
             └─8321 /usr/sbin/pcscd --foreground --auto-exit

Apr 16 07:47:50 bunny systemd[1]: Started pcscd.service - PC/SC Smart Card Daemon.

Verify connection

Execute the pcsc_scan command and insert your smartcard.

$ pcsc_scan
PC/SC device scanner
V 1.6.2 (c) 2001-2022, Ludovic Rousseau <ludovic.rousseau@free.fr>
Using reader plug'n play mechanism
Scanning present readers...
0: Alcor Micro AU9540 00 00
 
Tue Apr 16 08:05:26 2024
 Reader 0: Alcor Micro AU9540 00 00
  Event number: 0
  Card state: Card removed, 
 Scanning present readers...
0: Alcor Micro AU9540 00 00
1: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 01 00
 
Tue Apr 16 08:05:50 2024
 Reader 0: Alcor Micro AU9540 00 00
  Event number: 0
  Card state: Card removed, 
 Reader 1: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 01 00
  Event number: 0
  Card state: Card inserted, 
  ATR: <snip>

ATR: <snip>
+ TS = 3B --> Direct Convention
+ T0 = DA, Y(1): 1101, K: 10 (historical bytes)
<snip>
+ TCK = 0C (correct checksum)
<snip>

Possibly identified card (using /usr/share/pcsc/smartcard_list.txt):
<snip>
	OpenPGP Card V2
$ 

Execute pkcs15-tool -D to ensure that the pkcs11/pkcs15 interface is working.

$ pkcs15-tool -D
Using reader with a card: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 00 00
PKCS#15 Card [OpenPGP card]:
	Version        : 0
	Serial number  : <snip>
	Manufacturer ID: ZeitControl
	Language       : nl
	Flags          : PRN generation, EID compliant


PIN [User PIN]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	Auth ID        : 03
	ID             : 02
	Flags          : [0x13], case-sensitive, local, initialized
	Length         : min_len:6, max_len:32, stored_len:32
	Pad char       : 0x00
	Reference      : 2 (0x02)
	Type           : UTF-8
	Path           : 3f00
	Tries left     : 3

PIN [User PIN (sig)]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	Auth ID        : 03
	ID             : 01
	Flags          : [0x13], case-sensitive, local, initialized
	Length         : min_len:6, max_len:32, stored_len:32
	Pad char       : 0x00
	Reference      : 1 (0x01)
	Type           : UTF-8
	Path           : 3f00
	Tries left     : 3

PIN [Admin PIN]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	ID             : 03
	Flags          : [0x9B], case-sensitive, local, unblock-disabled, initialized, soPin
	Length         : min_len:8, max_len:32, stored_len:32
	Pad char       : 0x00
	Reference      : 3 (0x03)
	Type           : UTF-8
	Path           : 3f00
	Tries left     : 3

Private RSA Key [Signature key]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	Usage          : [0x20C], sign, signRecover, nonRepudiation
	Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
	Algo_refs      : 0
	ModLength      : 3072
	Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
	Native         : yes
	Auth ID        : 01
	ID             : 01
	MD:guid        : <snip>

Private RSA Key [Encryption key]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	Usage          : [0x22], decrypt, unwrap
	Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
	Algo_refs      : 0
	ModLength      : 3072
	Key ref        : 1 (0x01)
	Native         : yes
	Auth ID        : 02
	ID             : 02
	MD:guid        : <snip>

Private RSA Key [Authentication key]
	Object Flags   : [0x03], private, modifiable
	Usage          : [0x222], decrypt, unwrap, nonRepudiation
	Access Flags   : [0x1D], sensitive, alwaysSensitive, neverExtract, local
	Algo_refs      : 0
	ModLength      : 3072
	Key ref        : 2 (0x02)
	Native         : yes
	Auth ID        : 02
	ID             : 03
	MD:guid        : <snip>

Public RSA Key [Signature key]
	Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
	Usage          : [0xC0], verify, verifyRecover
	Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
	ModLength      : <snip>
	Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
	Native         : no
	Path           : b601
	ID             : 01

Public RSA Key [Encryption key]
	Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
	Usage          : [0x11], encrypt, wrap
	Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
	ModLength      : <snip>
	Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
	Native         : no
	Path           : b801
	ID             : 02

Public RSA Key [Authentication key]
	Object Flags   : [0x02], modifiable
	Usage          : [0x51], encrypt, wrap, verify
	Access Flags   : [0x02], extract
	ModLength      : <snip>
	Key ref        : 0 (0x00)
	Native         : no
	Path           : a401
	ID             : 03

$ 

You might want to reinsert your smartcard after you execute pkcs15-tool or pkcs11-tool commands, as still this might lock the smartcard that generates a sharing violation (0x8010000b) error (see below).

GnuPG configuration

scdaemon

The first step is to get the smartcard detected by gpg (scdaemon).

Test

Execute gpg --card-status to verify that your smartcard is detected by gpg. This might work as gpg will try to use the internal CCID if this fails it will try to use the opensc interface.

$ gpg --card-status
gpg: selecting card failed: No such device
gpg: OpenPGP card not available: No such device
$ 

When the smartcard doesn’t get detected, have a look at the ~/logs/scdaemon.log log file.

Disable the internal ccid

When you use a smartcard reader that isn’t supported by GnuPG or you want to force GnuPG to use the opensc interface it’s a good idea to disable the internal ccid.

Edit scdaemon.conf.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ vi scdaemon.conf
staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$

and add disable-ccid.

card-timeout 5
disable-ccid

verbose
debug-level expert
debug-all
log-file    /home/staf/logs/scdaemon.log

Reload the scdaemon.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ gpgconf --reload scdaemon
staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ 

gpg will try to use the opensc as a failback by default, so disabling the internal CCI interface will probably not fix the issue when your smartcard isn’t detected.

multiple smartcard readers

When you have multiple smartcard readers on your system. e.g. an internal and other one connected over USB. gpg might only use the first smartcard reader.

Check the scdaemon.log to get the reader port for your smartcard reader.

staf@bunny:~/logs$ tail -f scdaemon.log 
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 -> D 2.2.40
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 -> OK
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 <- SERIALNO
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] detected reader 'Alcor Micro AU9540 00 00'
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] detected reader 'Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 01 00'
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] reader slot 0: not connected
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] reader slot 0: not connected
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 -> ERR 100696144 No such device <SCD>
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 <- RESTART
2024-04-14 11:39:35 scdaemon[471388] DBG: chan_7 -> OK

To force gpg to use a smartcard reader you can set the reader-port directive in the scdaemon.conf configuration file.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg$ vi scdaemon.conf

card-timeout 5
disable-ccid

reader-port 'Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 01 00'

verbose
debug-level expert
debug-all
log-file    /home/staf/logs/scdaemon.log

staf@bunny:~$ gpgconf --reload scdaemon
staf@bunny:~$

sharing violation (0x8010000b)

Applications will try to lock your opensc smartcard, if your smartcard is already in use by another application you might get a sharing violation (0x8010000b).

This is fixed by reinserting your smartcard. If this doesn’t help it might be a good idea to restart the pcscd service as this disconnects all the applications that might lock the opensc interface.

$ sudo systemctl restart pcscd

When everything goes well your smartcard should be detected now. If not, take a look at the scdaemon.log .

staf@bunny:~$ gpg --card-status
Reader ...........: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 00 00
Application ID ...: <snip>
Application type .: OpenPGP
Version ..........: 2.1
Manufacturer .....: ZeitControl
Serial number ....: 000046F1
Name of cardholder: <snip>
Language prefs ...: <snip>
Salutation .......: <snip>
URL of public key : <snip>
Login data .......: [not set]
Signature PIN ....: <snip>
Key attributes ...: <snip>
Max. PIN lengths .: <snip>
PIN retry counter : <snip>
Signature counter : <snip>
Signature key ....: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
Encryption key....: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
Authentication key: <snip>
      created ....: <snip>
General key info..: [none]
staf@bunny:~$ 

Note that gpg will lock the smartcard, if you try to use your smartcard for another application you’ll get a “Reader in use by another application” error.

staf@bunny:~$ pkcs15-tool -D
Using reader with a card: Gemalto USB Shell Token V2 (284C3E93) 00 00
Failed to connect to card: Reader in use by another application
staf@bunny:~$ 

Private key references

When you execute gpg --card-status successfully. gpg creates references (shadowed-private-keys) to the private key(s) on your smartcard. These references are text files created in ~/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d.

staf@bunny:~/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d$ ls
<snip>.key
<snip>.key
<snip>.key
staf@bunny:~/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d$ 

These references also include the smartcard serial number, this way gpg knows on which hardware token the private key is located and will ask you to insert the correct hardware token (smartcard).

Pinentry

pinentry allows you to type in a passphrase (pin code) to unlock the encryption if you don’t have a smartcard reader with a PIN-pad.

Lets’s look for the packages that provides a pinentry binary.

$ sudo apt-file search "bin/pinentry"
kwalletcli: /usr/bin/pinentry-kwallet     
pinentry-curses: /usr/bin/pinentry-curses
pinentry-fltk: /usr/bin/pinentry-fltk
pinentry-gnome3: /usr/bin/pinentry-gnome3
pinentry-gtk2: /usr/bin/pinentry-gtk-2
pinentry-qt: /usr/bin/pinentry-qt
pinentry-tty: /usr/bin/pinentry-tty
pinentry-x2go: /usr/bin/pinentry-x2go
$ 

Install the packages.

$ sudo apt install pinentry-curses pinentry-gtk2 pinentry-gnome3 pinentry-qt

/bin/pinetry is a soft link to the pinentry binary.

$ which pinentry
/usr/bin/pinentry
staf@debian-gpg:/tmp$ ls -l /usr/bin/pinentry
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Oct 18  2022 /usr/bin/pinentry -> /etc/alternatives/pinentry
staf@debian-gpg:/tmp$ ls -l /etc/alternatives/pinentry
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Mar 23 11:29 /etc/alternatives/pinentry -> /usr/bin/pinentry-gnome3
$ 

If you want to use another pinentry provider you can update it with update-alternatives --config pinentry.

sudo update-alternatives --config pinentry

Import public key

The last step is to import our public key.

$ gpg --import <snip>.asc
gpg: key <snip>: "Fname Sname <email>" not changed
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:              unchanged: 1
$

Test

Check if our public and private keys are known by GnuPG.

List public keys.

$ gpg --list-keys
/home/staf/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
-----------------------------
pub   rsa<snip> <snip> [SC]
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
uid           [ unknown] fname sname <email>
sub   rsa<snip> <snip> [A]
sub   rsa<snip> <snip> [E]

$ 

List our private keys.

$ gpg --list-secret-keys 
/home/staf/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
-----------------------------
sec>  rsa<size> <date> [SC]
      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
      Card serial no. = XXXX YYYYYYYY
uid           [ unknown] Fname Sname <email>
ssb>  rsa<size> <date> [A]
ssb>  rsa<size> <date> [E]

$ 

Test if we sign something with our GnuPG smartcard.

Create a test file.

$ echo "I'm boe." > /tmp/boe
$ 

Sign it.

$ gpg --sign /tmp/boe
$ 

Type your PIN code.

                ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                │ Please unlock the card                       │
                │                                              │
                │ Number: XXXX YYYYYYYY                        │
                │ Holder: first list                           │
                │ Counter: <number>                            │
                │                                              │
                │ PIN ________________________________________ │
                │                                              │
                │      <OK>                        <Cancel>    │
                └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

In a next blog post will set up Thunderbird to use the smartcard for OpenPGP email encryption.

Have fun!

Links

• https://wiki.debian.org/Smartcards/OpenPGP
• https://www.floss-shop.de/en/security-privacy/smartcards/13/openpgp-smart-card-v3.4?c=11
• https://www.gnupg.org/howtos/card-howto/en/smartcard-howto-single.html
• https://support.nitrokey.com/t/nk3-mini-gpg-selecting-card-failed-no-such-device-gpg-card-setup/5057/7
• https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/233916/gnupg-connecting-to-specific-card-reader-when-multiple-reader-available#233918
• https://www.fsij.org/doc-gnuk/stop-scdaemon.html
• https://wiki.debian.org/Smartcards
• https://github.com/OpenSC/OpenSC/wiki/Overview/c70c57c1811f54fe3b3989d01708b45b86fafe11
• https://superuser.com/questions/1693289/gpg-warning-not-using-as-default-key-no-secret-key
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46689885/how-to-get-public-key-from-an-openpgp-smart-card-without-using-key-servers

Getting the Belgian eID to work on Linux systems should be fairly easy, although some people do struggle with it.

For that reason, there is a lot of third-party documentation out there in the form of blog posts, wiki pages, and other kinds of things. Unfortunately, some of this documentation is simply wrong. Written by people who played around with things until it kind of worked, sometimes you get a situation where something that used to work in the past (but wasn't really necessary) now stopped working, but it's still added to a number of locations as though it were the gospel.

And then people follow these instructions and now things don't work anymore.

One of these revolves around OpenSC.

OpenSC is an open source smartcard library that has support for a pretty large number of smartcards, amongst which the Belgian eID. It provides a PKCS#11 module as well as a number of supporting tools.

For those not in the know, PKCS#11 is a standardized C API for offloading cryptographic operations. It is an API that can be used when talking to a hardware cryptographic module, in order to make that module perform some actions, and it is especially popular in the open source world, with support in NSS, amongst others. This library is written and maintained by mozilla, and is a low-level cryptographic library that is used by Firefox (on all platforms it supports) as well as by Google Chrome and other browsers based on that (but only on Linux, and as I understand it, only for linking with smartcards; their BoringSSL library is used for other things).

The official eID software that we ship through eid.belgium.be, also known as "BeID", provides a PKCS#11 module for the Belgian eID, as well as a number of support tools to make interacting with the card easier, such as the "eID viewer", which provides the ability to read data from the card, and validate their signatures. While the very first public version of this eID PKCS#11 module was originally based on OpenSC, it has since been reimplemented as a PKCS#11 module in its own right, with no lineage to OpenSC whatsoever anymore.

About five years ago, the Belgian eID card was renewed. At the time, a new physical appearance was the most obvious difference with the old card, but there were also some technical, on-chip, differences that are not so apparent. The most important one here, although it is not the only one, is the fact that newer eID cards now use a NIST P-384 elliptic curve-based private keys, rather than the RSA-based ones that were used in the past. This change required some changes to any PKCS#11 module that supports the eID; both the BeID one, as well as the OpenSC card-belpic driver that is written in support of the Belgian eID.

Obviously, the required changes were implemented for the BeID module; however, the OpenSC card-belpic driver was not updated. While I did do some preliminary work on the required changes, I was unable to get it to work, and eventually other things took up my time so I never finished the implementation. If someone would like to finish the work that I started, the preliminal patch that I wrote could be a good start -- but like I said, it doesn't yet work. Also, you'll probably be interested in the official documentation of the eID card.

Unfortunately, in the mean time someone added the Applet 1.8 ATR to the card-belpic.c file, without also implementing the required changes to the driver so that the PKCS#11 driver actually supports the eID card. The result of this is that if you have OpenSC installed in NSS for either Firefox or any Chromium-based browser, and it gets picked up before the BeID PKCS#11 module, then NSS will stop looking and pass all crypto operations to the OpenSC PKCS#11 module rather than to the official eID PKCS#11 module, and things will not work at all, causing a lot of confusion.

I have therefore taken the following two steps:

1. The official eID packages now conflict with the OpenSC PKCS#11 module. Specifically only the PKCS#11 module, not the rest of OpenSC, so you can theoretically still use its tools. This means that once we release this new version of the eID software, when you do an upgrade and you have OpenSC installed, it will remove the PKCS#11 module and anything that depends on it. This is normal and expected.
2. I have filed a pull request against OpenSC that removes the Applet 1.8 ATR from the driver, so that OpenSC will stop claiming that it supports the 1.8 applet.

When the pull request is accepted, we will update the official eID software to make the conflict versioned, so that as soon as it works again you will again be able to install the OpenSC and BeID packages at the same time.

In the mean time, if you have the OpenSC PKCS#11 module installed on your system, and your eID authentication does not work, try removing it.