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While many Western democracies seem to be in a state of decay and are no longer the safe, civilized and prosperous countries they once were, there are still some European countries that are governed well. One of those that stand out is Estonia. Estonia is probably most well known for multiple software companies that originated from there, such as Wise , Bolt , Pipedrive and Skype. The government…
The RISC-V CPU architecture has been gaining a lot of popularity since it launched in 2014, and now that the industry is standardizing on the RVA23 level that includes vector support as a mandatory extension, we are likely to see a lot more edge- and IoT devices with the ability to run local LLMs at reasonable speed, and most importantly at very compelling prices. SpacemiT is a Chinese RISC-V CPU…
Being persistent, sticking to a plan and showing up to work every day is generally valued highly across all cultures as virtuous behavior. It is obvious that anything of value and worth achieving is also not easy, but requires significant and recurring effort. Learning a new language, winning a sports competition or building a successful business are all typical scenarios where grit plays a…
I mentor several people in Debian, and have been repeatedly asked to offer an opportunity to ask questions on a live call. I have now started a recurring video call for exactly that, which I call Mentoring Mondays , and it is open for anyone aspiring to contribute to Debian, one of the oldest and most widely used Linux distributions. Mentoring Mondays have already been happening for the past few…
Linux kernel security modules provide a good additional layer of security around individual programs by restricting what they are allowed to do, and at best block and detect zero-day security vulnerabilities as soon as anyone tries to exploit them, long before they are widely known and reported. However, the challenge is how to create these security profiles without accidentally also blocking…
The AI hype is based on the assumption that the frontier AI labs are producing better and better foundational models at an accelerating pace . Is that really true, or are people just in sort of a mass psychosis because AI models have become so good at mimicking human behavior that we unconsciously attribute increasing intelligence to them? I decided to conduct a mini-benchmark of my own to find…
Ubuntu Pro is a subscription offering for Ubuntu users who want to pay for the assurance of getting quick and high-quality security updates for Ubuntu. I tested it out to see how it works in practice, and to evaluate how well it works as a commercial open source service model for Linux. Anyone running Ubuntu can subscribe to it at ubuntu.com/pro/subscribe by selecting the setup type…
If you care about supporting open source software, and still use MySQL in 2026, you should switch to MariaDB like so many others have already done. The number of git commits on github.com/mysql/mysql-server has been significantly declining in 2025. The screenshot below shows the state of git commits as of writing this in January 2026, and the picture should be alarming to anyone who cares about…
In January 2024 I wrote about the insanity of the Magnificent Seven dominating the MSCI World Index, and I wondered how long the number can continue to go up? It has continued to surge upward at an accelerating pace, which makes me worry that a crash is likely closer. As a software professional, I decided to analyze whether using stop-loss orders could reliably automate avoiding deep drawdowns .…
I am a huge fan of Git, as I have witnessed how it has made software development so much more productive compared to the pre-2010s era. I wish all Debian source code were in Git to reap the full benefits. Git is not perfect, as it requires significant effort to learn properly, and the ecosystem is complex with even more things to learn ranging from cryptographic signatures and commit hooks to…
The discovery of a backdoor in XZ Utils in the spring of 2024 shocked the open source community, raising critical questions about software supply chain security. This post explores whether better Debian packaging practices could have detected this threat, offering a guide to auditing packages and suggesting future improvements. The XZ backdoor in versions 5.6.0/5.6.1 made its way briefly into many…
Locking down database access is probably the single most important thing for a system administrator or software developer to prevent their application from leaking its data. As MariaDB 11.8 is the first long-term supported version with a few new key security features, let’s recap what the most important things are every DBA should know about MariaDB in 2025. Back in the old days, MySQL…
I’ve noticed that procrastination and inability to be consistently productive at work have become quite common in recent years. This is clearly visible in younger people who have grown up with an endless stream of entertainment literally at their fingertips, on their mobile phone. It is, however, a trap one can escape from with a little bit of help. Procrastination is natural — they say…
Historically the primary way to contribute to Debian has been to email the Debian bug tracker with a code patch. Now that 92% of all Debian source packages are hosted at salsa.debian.org — the GitLab instance of Debian — more and more developers are using Merge Requests, but not necessarily in the optimal way. In this post, I share what I’ve found the best practice to be, presented in the…
Debian packaging is notoriously hard. Far too many new contributors give up while trying, and many long-time contributors leave due to burnout from having to do too many thankless maintenance tasks. Some just skip testing their changes properly because it feels like too much toil. Debcraft is my attempt to solve this by automating all the boring stuff, making it easier to learn the correct…
This post is based on a presentation given at the Validos annual members’ meeting on June 25th, 2025. When I started getting into Linux and open source over 25 years ago, the majority of the software development in this area was done by academics and hobbyists. The number of companies participating in open source has since exploded in parallel with the growth of mobile and cloud software,…
In this post, I demonstrate the optimal workflow for creating new Debian packages in 2025, preserving the upstream Git history. The motivation for this is to lower the barrier for sharing improvements to and from upstream, and to improve software provenance and supply-chain security by making it easy to inspect every change at any level using standard Git tooling. Key elements of this workflow…
After careful consideration, I’ve decided to embark on a new chapter in my professional journey. I’ve left my position at AWS to dedicate at least the next six months to developing open source software and strengthening digital ecosystems. My focus will be on contributing to Linux distributions (primarily Debian) and other critical infrastructure components that our modern society…
Are you a student aspiring to participate in the Google Summer of Code 2025 ? Would you like to improve the continuous integration pipeline used at salsa.debian.org , the Debian GitLab instance, to help improve the quality of tens of thousands of software packages in Debian? This summer 2025, I and Emmanuel Arias will be participating as mentors in the GSoC program. We are available to mentor…
In today’s digital landscape, social media is more than just a communication tool — it is the primary medium for global discourse. Heads of state, corporate leaders and cultural influencers now broadcast their statements directly to the world, shaping public opinion in real time. However, the dominance of a few centralized platforms — X/Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — raises critical…
Becoming a Debian maintainer is a journey that combines technical expertise, community collaboration, and continuous learning. In this post, I’ll share 10 key habits that will both help you navigate the complexities of Debian packaging without getting lost and enable you to contribute more effectively to one of the world’s largest open source projects. 1. Read and re-read the Debian…
Most people with Linux experience have at some point installed .deb files on Debian or the more famous variant of it, Ubuntu. Programmers who have been involved with packaging and shipping software know that the code that generates those .deb packages is always in the debian/ subdirectory in a software project. However, anyone who has tried to do Debian packaging also knows that all the automation…
Considering LLMs are basically massively big statistical machines, a logical assumption would be that they should be well suited for predicting how the economy and the stock market develop. Let’s conduct a small test to see if that holds for the largest generic LLMs of today. Let’s ask multiple models this: The USD to CAD exchange ratio is as of now 1.3917. Considering everything you…
A large part of a manager’s role is to make decisions and be responsible for their outcomes. While there is ample advice on how to be successful in many other managerial core areas, such as growing your people, the domain of high-quality decision-making seems less crowded. In this post, I summarize what I have found during my 20+ years as a manager to be a simple and effective way to…
In software engineering, most ideas can be implemented without writing any design document at all. This is particularly prominent in open source communities. For example, the Linux kernel has 35 million lines of code that have been written and rewritten many times over alongside 30 years of mailing list discussions. Linux wasn’t created as a result of a grandiose design document by Linus…
The XZ Utils backdoor, discovered last week, and the Heartbleed security vulnerability ten years ago, share the same ultimate root cause. Both of them, and in fact all critical infrastructure open source projects, should be fixed with the same solution: ensure baseline funding for proper open source maintenance. Open source software is the foundation of much of our digital infrastructure. From web…
For a software engineering organization to be efficient, it is key that everyone is an efficient communicator . Everybody needs to be calibrated in what to communicate, to whom and how to ensure information spreads properly in the organization. Having smart people with a lot of knowledge results in progress only if information flows well in the veins of the organization. This does not mean that…
People usually associate advanced software engineering with gray-bearded experts with vast knowledge of how computers and things like compiler internals work. However, having technical knowledge is just the base requirement to work in the field. In my experience, the greatest minds in the field are not just experts in knowledge, but also extremely efficient communicators, particularly in writing .…
What is the single most common action you repeat over and over when using your computer? Let me guess – opening a new tab in the browser. Here are my tips for opening, switching and closing tabs everyone should know. Opening a tab This one most people know: press Ctrl+T to open a new tab. But did you know that you don’t always need to type a URL or start a web search? You can also jump…
Git is by far the most popular software version control system today, and every software developer surely knows the basics of how to make a Git commit . Given the popularity, it is surprising how many people don’t actually know the advanced commands. Mastering them might help you unlock a new level of productivity. Let’s dive in! Avoid excess downloads with selective and shallow Git…
When people learn programming they – for completely obvious and natural reasons – initially focus on learning the syntax of programming languages and libraries. However, these are just tools. The essence of software engineering is about automating thought, applying algorithmic thinking, and anticipating the known and unknown. The code might be succinct, but the reasoning behind it can be…
The stock market is a powerful globally distributed forecasting system. Last Friday it was forecasting a rosy future as the MSCI World index got to a new all-time high. But it does not make sense. There is no single entity controlling stock prices. They represent the collective best guess of the whole economic world on what the value of each company should be. Historically the market has been…
First we make our habits, and then they make us ― John Dryden, poet and literary critic Are you perhaps planning to make a new year’s resolution to run a marathon? Or are you committing to a new sales quota at work for the year 2024? If you haven’t achieved the goal by July 2024, will you be unhappy? Will you give yourself some slack and simply postpone the goal? And if you exceed it,…
In software development, the code review process stands as a crucial checkpoint for ensuring code quality, fostering collaboration, and promoting knowledge sharing among team members. Despite the importance, many engineers lack a clear mental map of how effective reviews work. This is my attempt to help code reviews and reviewers improve. First review question: What is the intention? Focus first…
While large organisations scale best by emphasizing asynchronous communications, in-person or video meetings also have their place. As a manager who is involved in a lot of planning and coordination work I’ve noticed that I’ve spent the majority of my working time in meetings in past years. These are my 5 tips to make meetings as efficient as possible. Have a written meeting agenda…
The key to being productive as a programmer is to have a great code editor. I have been an avid user of Atom since 2014, and its successor Pulsar since now in 2023. The best code editor came from GitHub Atom the code editor was created by Nathan Sobo, who joined GitHub in 2011 specifically to build the best possible code editor in the world. He also co-led the development of Teletype for Atom,…
In popularizing Linux containers, Docker brought about a new era of systems design based on these lightweight platforms, rather than heavy virtual machines. However, now that Docker is slowly declining, it’s time to learn about the next generation of Linux container tools. Docker When Docker officially launched in 2013, it was not the first containerization solution for Linux. For example,…
The perfect home office setup achieves two things: it helps you stay focused for extended periods, allowing you to be in “the flow” and it prioritizes ergonomic design to ensure that long hours at the computer don’t compromise your health . Optimal ergonomics I’ve spent a lot of time and thought creating my personal setup so that it optimizes home office efficiency and inspiration.…
As a software developer, your core skill is how to improve an existing code base to make the software better iteratively, patch by patch . To be a good software developer you need to: understand the concept of a code patch, know how to do code improvements in well sized and properly documented patches, and skillfully use git version control software to manage patches. What is a patch? A patch…
The MariaDB server has over 2 million lines of code. Downloading, compiling (and re-compiling), and running the test suite can potentially consume a lot of time away from actually making the code changes and being productive. Knowing a few simple shortcuts can help avoid wasting time. While the official build instructions on mariadb.org and mariadb.com/kb are useful to read, there are ways to make…
The main test system in the MariaDB open source database project is the mariadb-test-run script (inherited from mysql-test-run ). It is easy to run and does not require you to compile any source code. While writing MTR tests is relevant only for MariaDB developers, knowing how to run MTR is useful for any database administrator running MariaDB, as it is a quick way to validate that MariaDB can run…
What is the key to being an efficient programmer? Well, the answer is surprisingly simple. Having a setup where you can write and test your code over and over in an uninterrupted flow will dramatically increase your productivity. The cost of doing just one more tweak to make the code perfect should be as close to zero as possible. The developer should not feel any drain when doing just one more…
This is the biggest and most common mistake I see that prevents people from thinking clearly, and it is also the most difficult one to unlearn. Too often people rush to the first solution they see. It is just too easy. But the risk of the first solution not being the best one is way too high. If you want to think clearly, innovate and solve problems in engineering or just in life in general, learn…
Of all CI systems I’ve used during my software development career, both as developer and manager, GitLab CI has proven itself to be the overall best system out there. First of all, for a CI system to fulfill its purpose, it needs to test every git commit to validate that no code change breaks the test suite no matter how small the change is. Having code hosting and CI integrated in the same…
In over 22 years of working with Linux systems, I have often seen people use excessive force to kill various computer programs, causing unnecessary suffering. A typical example would be: shell Copy $ killall -9 mysqld $ killall -9 mysqld Please stop using this command. Both killall and the parameter -9 are harmful when dealing with programs that store data, like the MySQL or MariaDB database, and…
With so many options to choose from and with so many solutions offered by others, each screaming pick me! , people too often lose sight of the actual goal. In the most complex system of them all, life itself, I find it much easier to navigate when the priorities are clear. Money is not number one. It is just a means to an end. In my opinion, the best choice of priorities, in this order, are:…
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, aviator and author This is my favorite quote, and it applies particularly well to our contemporary world, where we have access to anything at any time. Any piece of information can be in front of us in an instant, and pretty much any physical object can reach our…
I am a results-driven technology executive with 25+ years of professional experience and a rich blend of strategic leadership, product development expertise, and deep-seated passion for open-source software. I am currently working as an independent consultant. I was previously a Software Development Manager for the core engine team delivering the Amazon RDS for MySQL and MariaDB database services.…
Why I do mentoring Debian is one of the oldest and largest Linux distributions, known for its technical quality and stability. If you are a software developer, but have never tried Debian, download Debian 13 live , make a bootable USB drive and take it for a test drive. Ubuntu , the world’s most popular Linux distribution, and many other popular contenders such as Linux Mint, MX, Pop!_OS and…