Writing
Articles
121 articles, newest first.
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OpenPGP and Email: The Hype, the Truth, and the Falsehoods
Encrypted email never became a mainstream habit, and the usual explanation — bad tooling — is wrong. The problems are structural, better UX doesn't fix them, and the privacy win that actually landed needed nobody's…
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AI Is Not the Solution. It's the Tool.
The argument against AI is the argument I heard against Google in 1998, with the nouns swapped. It was a bet against literacy then, and it lost. The tool is neutral; the judgment has to stay yours.
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ihasmail Gained Nine Languages
Translations are the easiest thing in software to ship dishonestly. ihasmail gained nine, all of them machine-made and unreviewed — and the app says so, in the language you just chose. Plus swipe, hold and…
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LINUXexpert.org Is Retiring, and Everything Is Moving Home
After years of how-tos and study guides, LINUXexpert.org is winding down. The writing moves here to jcoffey.dev, the projects move to coffeylabs.org, and the tutorials go to the people who can keep them fresh.
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ihasmail Goes Immutable: No Volume, No Database, Nothing Left Behind
Most "stateless" software still hides a config directory somewhere. ihasmail's IMMUTABLE=1 mode runs read-only with no volume at all — here's the trade-off, and two commands to verify it yourself.
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Announcing ihasmail: a JMAP Webmail Built for Stalwart
Mail, calendar, contacts, files and a visual Sieve builder — one JMAP protocol, credentials never in the browser. GPLv3, runs in a container, ships with a mock server so you can try it without touching real mail..
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Announcing Cairn OBS: Kubernetes-Native Log Aggregation, AGPLv3, No Feature Gate
Cairn OBS is a Kubernetes-native log aggregation and observability platform — one query language over ClickHouse and Tantivy, dashboards, alerting, multi-tenant RBAC, AI-assisted queries. AGPLv3, whole thing, no paid…
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Google Borg
Before Kubernetes, Google ran everything on Borg — quietly, for over a decade. Here's how Docker forced its hand, and how it reshaped AWS, Azure, and VMware.
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A New Look for LINUXexpert.org
We just shipped a full redesign — a dark-first, terminal-inspired look built for how sysadmins actually read. Same content, same URLs, better filtering, and the password generator is back.
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Thirty-Three Years of Debian
Debian turns 33 this August. A look at why the free, stable, community-governed OS still anchors the Linux world — and how to give back on Debian Day.
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Why I’m Moving from My Home-Built 5800X3D Desktop to a System76 Pangolin Pro
I bought a System76 Pangolin Pro with my own money and am moving my RX 7800 to it as an OCuLink eGPU. Here’s why it makes sense for my Linux workflow.
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A Debian Veteran Tries CachyOS
After more than 20 years using Debian as a daily desktop, I tried CachyOS on a System76 Pangolin Pro. I expected Arch elitism. I found speed, polish, gaming performance, and a surprisingly practical Linux desktop.