Tinkering in Public

An open-source Java devlog with occasional humor and history

[computer-nerd-girl]

[frog707]

Paul

My friend Paul is an open-source developer, like me only different.

Paul does a public live stream---every week, pretty much---during which he works intensely on his big software project: a large-scale, multi-player, exploration game he's been developing for many years. Talk about "tinkering in public"!

I admire that. Streaming puts Paul on a schedule and keeps him very focused. It also encourages him to verbalize his thoughts as he codes, which might clarify his thinking. In contrast, my work schedule is haphazard, and I strive to work in silence, so as not to disturb my housemate.

Not sure I could do a livestream like Paul's. Doubt I’d enjoy it if I did. And I'm very sure nobody would watch me.

Don't get me wrong; I'm proud of what I do, but my creative process is very different from Paul's, because my goals are less clear and I can spend more time.

While working, I’m frequently distracted by social media and news stories. While I wait for a build to complete, I check my e-mail. I poke around on the web, hunting for new software releases. I perform repetitive tasks by hand. I stare silently at a piece of code or close my eyes to try and visualize what the software is doing.

There are also days when I’m 100% focused and code seems to flow from my fingers, but lately those days have been rare.

[halothermocline]

✨Python Affirmations✨

• your dataset is a reasonable size to expect your laptop to handle

• it definitely won’t crash your kernel

• the programming gods do not hate you personally

• this is a normal temperature for your laptop to be

• your laptop is supposed to sound like it has asthma

[qwantzfeed]

standing next to your own personal bespoke wario is cool because they honestly make you look GREAT

[frog707]

Trouble shot

How we found a bug in the hyper HTTP library

By rearchitecting the Images binding, we accidentally uncovered a bug that existed in the open-source hyper library across multiple major ve

I'm fascinated by troubleshooting narratives (what I call "war stories"). Race conditions (like the one described in the post linked above) are among the hardest bugs to solve, and I am frankly in awe of the people who cracked it. The solution being just 4 lines of Rust code is icing on the cake.

[frog707]

Ruin a coding tutorial by changing one letter

System.out.println("Hell World!");

[frog707]

Beginnings and commitment

Today (25 June 2026) marks the 2nd anniversary of my big open-source software project (Jolt JNI), which now has 4,207 commits and 93K lines of code. It got me thinking about how the project began and why I'm so obsessed with it.

In my experience, it's rare for a software project to be written completely from scratch. But at some point in time, there's a seminal idea, then a realization that "this should be a separate project," the selection of a name, a first commit to a repository, and a first release.

In the case of Jolt JNI, I clearly recall my thinking when I decided to start the project. I had private discussions at Discord on 21 June 2024. I made a public announcement on 23 June and published the first release on 3 July. (Things moved fast that summer!)

25 June is significant as the date of the first commit. As mountaineer W. H. Murray famously said, "the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance..."

Software development (as I practice it) isn't as dramatic as mountain climbing, but psychology plays a major role. I respect the importance of commitment.

They aren't called "commits" for nothing!

[frog707]

A very comprehensive and precise spec

What do you call a very comprehensive and precise software specification?

[frog707]

Anthropic’s astonishing commercial success makes it a target

The cultlike firm is battling with the government for control of superpowered AI

I've been following the Generative AI industry from a distance and have mostly avoided using their products. I'm sure it's very useful technology, but there's a moral taint to it, and the few times I knowingly used it, I was disappointed by the results. The 18 June Economist article above (free link should work for anyone) reports a new twist: an emerging conflict between parts of the US government that want to strictly regulate the industry and those that don't.

[frog707]

"Adjustments can be made"

Sonatype recently began pushing back against namespaces that consume large amounts of storage in the Maven Central repository:

Pushing back is a reasonable thing to do, if only to forestall a tragedy of the commons. However, Sonatype appears very motivated to convert commercial users into paying customers, and I think they set the limits a bit low. I've been more-or-less forced to request raised limits on my namespace (com.github.stephengold).

I sent an e-mail. The hard limits go into effect on 11 August. Seems like plenty of time, but I imagine a lot of namespaces impacted and insufficient resources for responding to requests.

Probably I'm overthinking this. We'll see what happens during the next 7 weeks.

[frog707]

This is the story of how I found 10,000 repositories on GitHub that distribute Trojan malware. They are all from different contributors, hav

[targetedknowledge]

[frog707]

note to future self

Secure Boot is disabled on my (your) laptop.

Yes, this is a security risk. However, it's disabled for a reason: when I enable Secure Boot, Linux Mint no longer recognizes my video monitors.

As a favor to you, future self, I enabled Secure Boot long enough to update its security certificates, which were about to expire:

Update Secure Boot Certificates for Windows Devices - Windows Client

Update your Windows devices to maintain Secure Boot protection with 2023 certificates before they expire in June 2026.

Because I disabled Secure Boot, the update does me no good. But maybe you can benefit.

I (you) should check periodically to see whether the bug is fixed. Hint: the fastest way to enable secure boot is going to BIOS via the boot menu.

You're welcome.

[frog707]

California Assembly Bill 2047

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2047

The proposed law (introduced earlier this week) would eventually require all 3-D printers sold in the state to include an algorithm that prevents printing of firearms. It would eventually become illegal to sell a non-approved 3-D printer or to circumvent the algorithm.

While "ghost guns" created using 3-D printers are a serious problem, I think this bill is a very bad solution. The people who drafted this bill seem to imagine any imaginable firearm part can easily be distinguished from all other hardware. I believe there are huge gray areas, and the law would wind up being applied selectively and arbitrarily. The likely end result would be that law-abiding Californians would lose access to 3-D printing technology.

[frog707]

I was glad to learn that the EFF is on the case---and also on the case of similar laws proposed in the states of New York and Washington.

Print Blocking is Anti-Consumer - Permission to Print Part 1

When legislators give companies an excuse to write untouchable code, it’s a disaster for everyone. This time, 3D printers are being targeted

[frog707]

Shit, now I've done it, gone and crossed the line into politics! Today I phoned the local office of my state assemblymember, spoke with a staffer, and followed up with e-mails explaining my opposition to both AB 1043 and AB 2047. Sure there are far more serious problems in the world today, but my state legislature seems like one place I might conceivably have some leverage. We'll see what happens, if anything.

[frog707]

Not sure whether my phone call and e-mail made any difference, but the California Assembly is working on AB 1856 to clarify that open-source operating systems are exempt from the age-gating requirements of AB 1043.

Bill Text (2026-06-03) Age verification signals: software applications and online services. [Referred to Com. on P., D.T., & C.P.]

There are unfortunately some flies in the ointment for anyone who cares about on-line privacy. As usual, the EFF is on the case:

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: CA's AB 1856 Exempts Open Source But Expands Age-Gating

After public outrage, California lawmakers are moving closer to exempting open-source operating systems from the sweeping age-bracketing reg

[frog707]

NB 30

Today binaries were finally published for version 30 of Apache's NetBeans integrated (software) development environment:

Apache NetBeans 30 Download

It seems like I've been awaiting NetBeans 30 for ages, but in fact it's only been 9 days since the release was tagged at GitHub. Downloading now!

[frog707]

his father's LinuxSaber

With apologies to George and Marcia Lucas.

[Luke is training with his father’s LinuxSaber ... and a temp file.]

Ben: Remember, Luke: a sysadmin can *feel* the Kernel *flowing* through him.

Luke: You mean, it prompts you for input?

Ben: Partly. But it also obeys your commands.

[Luke attempts to delete the file and a gets a “permission denied” error.]

Han: [amused] Hokey system calls and ancient command shells are no match for Windows Explorer on your desktop, kid.

Luke: You don't believe in the Kernel, do you?

Han: Kid, I've surfed from one end of the Web to the other. I've seen lots of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Kernel controlling everything. There are no drivers for *my* HDD. It's all a bunch of registry hacks and nonsense.

Ben: [opens a terminal window] I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go of your mouse and use the keyboard. [He maximizes the window.]

Luke: But with this window maximized, I can't even see the desktop! How am I supposed to delete the file?

Ben: Icons can deceive you. Don't trust them.

[frog707]

Mental model

Mental models are an aspect of human-computer interaction that doesn't get enough attention. Whether you're using existing software or writing something new, having a useful mental model of what the software does (or should do) makes all the difference. In other words, the software shouldn't be a "black box".

The "git" tool is a good example. New users can begin by memorizing the arguments for adding files, committing changes, and so on. But in order to use git effectively, one must distinguish between the database, the staging area, and the working files. One must conceptualize the database as a directed graph of snapshots connected by changes, with one snapshot labelled as the head. Without this mental model, git seems ridiculously cumbersome and difficult. Without this model, small mistakes seem like major disasters.

Similarly, if you begin coding a software project without a clear mental model of how it will work, you'll probably need at least one major rewrite to achieve an acceptable result.