Weeknotes 2025 W35: A microsite

Quick bits:

• The Arbeitslosengeld¹¹1 Unemployment benefit  got approved, and I got my first payout. That takes a weight off my shoulders.

• I started a new acting class. It’s a free-form bring-your-own-material setup, which I quite like.

I’ve moved my Homebrew tap to Codeberg.

In addition, I’ve converted its formulae to casks,²²2 I like Homebrew, but one thing that has always bothered me is the names it gives to its concepts. It has “taps” and “kegs” and “casks” and “formulas” and “bottles” and a “cellar,” and I never quite know what all that means.  and I think they should’ve been casks right from the beginning. Unfortunately, brew install now needs a --no-quarantine to get around the fact that the software in my tap is not signed (and I don’t feel like paying for an Apple Developer Program membership).

Out of necessity, ddenv now has the ability to specify a repository to tap. For example:

up:
  - homebrew_tap: ephread/ink
  - homebrew: inklecate

Or with a URL, more relevant for taps on Codeberg or elsewhere:

up:
  - homebrew_tap:
      name: "denisdefreyne/tap"
      url: "https://codeberg.org/denis_defreyne/homebrew-tap.git"
  - homebrew_cask: ddwww

That last line also shows using homebrew_cask to install casks rather than formulas.

At this point you might wonder why I don’t simply use the the brew bundle commands to manage my Homebrew dependencies. You’re probably right that this would be simpler, but I still like having all dependencies (not just Homebrew ones) and setup instructions in a single ddenv.yaml file. I will concede that ddenv could benefit from a homebrew_bundle goal, though:

up:
  - homebrew_bundle

It’d basically delegate to brew bundle check and brew bundle install. That would be trivial to implement. I’ll think about it.

I made a microsite for ddenv:

It has a responsive, mobile-friendly layout, of course, and dark mode support, too. It’s got the same minimalist, distraction-free feel as DenisDefreyne.com — I couldn’t help it!

I was thinking of having it be a simple single HTML page, but I turned it into a Nanoc site anyway. Nanoc is just so convenient.

Microsites are fun to build. I might create some more — I’ve got plenty of other products, after all.

I found myself agreeing to many points in Edward Loveall’s Let's Make Sure Github Doesn't Become the only Option article. That article is from 2023, but it is becoming ever more relevant — for instance, GitHub quite recently added Grok, a deeply problematic AI. My move to Codeberg feels more justified by the day.

But I want to zoom in on the use of pull requests. For most people, it is unthinkable to not use pull requests (PRs). The mere suggestion of branching and merging and committing without the use of PRs makes people borderline panic. (I’ve practically been declared a heretic.)

And yet: when I started my professional career as a software developer, the concept of “pull request” did not exist. GitHub was extremely new, and possibly did not exist yet at all. My pre-GitHub career has shown that it is perfectly possible to write high-quality software and perform code reviews without using PRs.

It’s fine to use PRs for public and open-source work — that is what they were created for — but I’ve always found that they create a large amount of friction when used within companies. And yet, most software engineers are unable to envision ways of working that do not involve PRs.

And if you’re now thinking “but what would we use instead?” then you’re proving my point, and beginning to understand the problem.

Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland has an algae bloom crisis, and on Google Maps it looks rather Lovecraftian — especially when you zoom in:

Entertainment:

• I picked up Martha Wells' Murderbot and More bundle on Humble Bundle and started reading the first entry of the Murderbot Diaries series. It’s well written!

Links:

• Star Trek Voyager But Everyone’s Had Enough: Perfect!

• The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel (Lindsay Ellis)

• I Am An AI Hater (Anthony Moser)

• Rationalising Colonialism - How the US Stole Indian Land / Jefferson & the Indians: The Complex Truth (Philosophy Tube)

• Call of Duty: Ghosts – Power, Paranoia, and Orbital Tungsten Rods (Folding Ideas)

Tech links:

• Big O (Sam Rose): Nothing new for me here, but it is a very nice and helpful illustration of Big O notation.

• An Open Letter to Everyone I've Butted Heads With (Andrew Kelley)