Why PHP is great (and all other languages suck)
Several years ago I wrote a lightning talk entitled Why PHP is great (and all other languages suck) for the UKUUG Spring conference. It was intended as a tongue-in-check tour …
Pensions for the self-employed
Disclaimer: This post is intended to give you information about the pensions options for the self-employed. It is not advice on whether you should save into a pension, and if …
Freelance resolutions for 2018
One of my fellow freelancers, Katy at The Wheel Exists, has posted a freelance manifesto for 2018, and I thought I would do the same. Expansion plans Unlike Katy, I …
Checking SPF on incoming mail with Postfix
Something I’ve been wanting to add to my mail server for a while is Sender Policy Framework (SPF) checking on incoming mail. For anyone who isn’t familiar with SPF, it …
Taking over maintenance of canidepend.com
I’ve recently taken over the maintenance of canidepend.com following a request from the previous maintainer. The site lists the current, next and two previous versions of popular packages such as …
Copying a file from another branch in Git
Copying a file from another branch into my current branch is something I do every so often in Git, e.g. when I want to reset a file in staging to …
Wrapper scripts for backup systems
As part of my exploration of Linux backup options, I’ve written some wrapper scripts around various backup systems, which can be found on GitHub under the unimaginatively named backup-scripts repository. …
From Debian to Ubuntu on servers
Over the past few months, all the new servers I’ve set up have been running Ubuntu, rather than Debian. The three killer reasons for me are: Package versions: Debian is …
Linux backup options
Until recently I’ve been happily using Obnam for all my backup needs, both on local machines and servers. However, the main developer has decided to step down, and the community, …
Moving to nginx
Several years ago I tried an introduction to nginx, to see whether this alternative to Apache offered any advantages. At the time I wasn’t convinced, particularly as nginx had some …