Drew DeVault’s blog features sharp commentary on open source, software engineering, programming languages, ethics in tech, and the social impact of technology.
374 articles from this blog
Analyzes illegal commercial forks of FOSS projects like OBS Studio, exploring license violations and the clash between gaming industry IP views and free software values.
A developer's monthly update on progress in a new programming language, including cryptography, C library linking, SDL2 bindings, and work on SourceHut's GraphQL API.
A hands-on review comparing Linux Mint and elementary OS, focusing on user experience, installation, and daily usability for end-users.
A developer analyzes the barriers preventing Linux from mainstream desktop adoption, focusing on needed improvements in robustness, intuitiveness, and community.
Tips for new Linux users to improve their success rate, focusing on the OS's strengths for programmers and technical users.
postmarketOS offers a community-driven, open-source alternative to Android for smartphone hacking, using Alpine Linux for better transparency and collaboration.
A developer shares principles for using instant messaging (like IRC) productively in tech work, emphasizing its ephemeral nature and the need to shift important info to permanent mediums.
A critique of Python's chaotic packaging ecosystem and its negative impact on Linux distribution maintainers, calling for the PSF to address the issue.
Satirical proposal to pay developers to delete npm modules, highlighting security risks of excessive dependencies in the Node ecosystem.
A developer's monthly update on FOSS projects, including SourceHut's anniversary, a new programming language delay, and progress on various tools.
Analysis of Apollo Federation's license change from MIT to Elastic, arguing it's anti-FOSS and corporate gaslighting.
Critique of GitHub's 'stale' bot, arguing it harms community collaboration by automatically closing inactive issues.
A critical analysis of the 4privacy Kickstarter project, examining its privacy promises, technology, and potential economic and trust challenges.
A critique of modern software development's neglect of reliability and robustness, arguing that broken software has become the norm.
A developer's status update on FOSS projects: chat.sr.ht beta, a secret programming language, visurf browser, and antiweb CSS toolkit.
Explains how reflection is implemented in a new systems programming language, including type introspection and runtime type manipulation.
Explains how reflection works in the Hare systems programming language, including type introspection and runtime type manipulation.
Argues that developers should rely on third-party software distributions to package their software, rather than distributing it themselves.
Explores user-built alternatives like Nitter and Invidious that reclaim the web from corporate platforms by offering ad-free, privacy-focused interfaces.
Developer shares progress on FOSS projects: a vi-keybinding Wayland browser frontend, a programming language, and updates to SourceHut.
