Btrfs Scrub
You probably want to take advantage of the data integrity checking offered by Btrfs. Btrfs calculates checksums for all data written to disk. These checksum...
Posts by Category
Data Storage
Podman With Btrfs and ZFS
I now use the default overlay driver on Btrfs and ZFS filesystems as I’ve found it to just work. Unless you have specific reasons for using the...
Backup Snapper Snapshots With snap-sync
In Btrfs Snapshot Management With Snapper, the process is described for automating Btrfs snapshots with Snapper. Why stop there when you can use these snaps...
Automount an Encrypted System Volume
If you run an encrypted Linux system, it’s helpful to understand how the system handles mounting and decrypting filesystems. A Linux desktop user and ...
Install udisks2 From Source
I recently posted Adjust Mount Options which explains in detail how to configure mount options for udisks2. Unfortunately, the reference operating system, U...
Encrypt an External Disk on Linux
Encrypting your data is pretty much a must anyone who is privacy or security conscious. I find it quite handy for not only protecting my data in use, but al...
Adjust Mount Options
Mounting filesystems on Linux is simple, right? Just use mount(8), specify the recurring stuff in fstab(5), and everything’s peachy. For both better a...
Btrfs Snapshot Management With Snapper
Manually taking snapshots with Btrfs is easy. Managing said snapshots is not. This is why several tools exist for the task. The most prominent are Btrbk, Sn...
Btrfs Layout
One of the best features of Btrfs is the ability to produce snapshots of data instantaneously. Rollbacks take advantage of Btrfs to revert the system, or an...
Why Choose Btrfs
There are many compelling reasons to use a modern Copy-on-Write, CoW for short, filesystem. These include low-cost snapshots and incremental backups. If tha...
Btrfs Swapfile
Swap space is a standard component of most operating systems. It’s effectively reserved disk space for accommodating a system when it needs more RAM t...
Btrfs Mount Options
So, let’s say you’ve installed a fresh system on Btrfs. Now what? Well, Btrfs doesn’t ship with optimal default settings. Many popular Lin...
Create a Windows 10 USB on Ubuntu
I needed a to install Windows 10 from a USB recently. I’ve described my preferred method of accomplishing this in my recent post A Multi-Boot USB With...
A Multi-Boot USB With Ventoy
My daily driver predates Dell’s support for the Linux Vendor Firmware Service, usually abbreviated LVFS. The only way to update my motherboard’s...
Backup Git Repositories
If you have any source code repositories hosted online, you probably don’t want to lose those. Just yesterday I converted my professional resume from ...
Grow Disk Space on a CentOS 7 VM Using QEMU, LVM, and XFS
Sometimes you just need some more disk space. Expanding the size of a virtual disk, though, is not necessarily as easy as you’d hope. Having just done...
External Storage on the Pinebook Pro With ZFS
This tutorial is out-of-date and will be updated when I get ZFS working again on the Pinebook Pro.
Install ZFS on the Pinebook Pro
Recently, I obtained a 64-bit ARM, budget Linux laptop, the Pinebook Pro. It’s a wonderful, sleek little notebook, boasting great convenience and powe...
Automatically Detect and Report Hard Drive Failure
I recently fixed my mother-in-law’s laptop. Long story short, the hard disk was toast. When I repaired the computer, I decided it would be best to avo...
Virtualization
A Podman Pod as a systemd Service
Ever wanted to run a container, or pod, as a systemd service on Linux? This allows the container to be started automatically and even restarted on failure. ...
Automatically Update Podman Containers
Podman can automatically update your containers and hopefully make you’re life easier at the same time. Setting this up for Podman is actually pretty ...
Translate Docker Compose to Kubernetes With Podman
Podman ships with built-in support for Kubernetes configuration files but not for Docker Compose. As described in Podman Compose, the Podman Compose utility...
Podman Compose
Podman supports the Kubernetes YAML format for configuring pods. Unfortunately, I’m coming to the Podman scene from Docker where the Docker Compose fo...
GNOME Boxes on Btrfs
So, you’ve got libvirt installed on your Linux box and your looking for a simple application for running virtual machines. Look no further than Boxes,...
Install libvirt on elementary OS 5.1
If you want to run virtual machines on Linux, chances are you’re going to use libvirt. I make use of it all the time, especially for testing these blo...
Install Podman on Ubuntu
Podman is a daemonless container runtime for Linux compatible with Docker. It offers several advantages over using Docker to manage and run containers. Firs...
Easily Virtualize Ubuntu MATE on macOS With Multipass
It’s Always Greener on the MATE Side
Virtualize Ubuntu Desktop on macOS with QEMU
The Focal Fossa nestles in on Santa Catalina Island
Backup Docker Data
Backups are super helpful, especially when you like to blow everything away fairly often. Backing up the data from a Docker container can help you quickly g...
UniFi Controller
For wi-fi, I use use a UniFi AP. One slightly annoying aspect of this is the UniFi Controller. If you don’t have a smartphone or need to manage more t...
Networking
Generate an SSH Key
Entering passwords is a pain. I know you agree. Why not enter passwords less by using SSH? You’ll just need a key and a little know-how to get started.
X11 Forwarding
A Remote Instance of GNOME Terminal Viewed on macOS Catalina
My SSH Configuration
The OpenSSH client and server applications are ubiquitous. Like many a software dev, I’m `ssh’ing all over the place. And you know what? I’...
DNS Over TLS With Unbound
Recently, Firefox announced it’s roll-out of DNS over HTTPS (DoH). That made me think, "Encrypting DNS… Why don’t I do that for my ...
OpenSMTPD Relay on Ubuntu
It can be handy to have your system email you if it detects an issue or potential security risk. Unfortunately, this isn’t always straightforward, esp...
IPv6 on OpenBSD
Configuring IPv6 on my OpenBSD home router was a much more difficult task than I’d expected. While this was mostly due to the steep learning curve of ...
PF Badhost
Blocking connections to nefarious IP addresses in your firewall is usually a good idea. On OpenBSD, the pf-badhost script updates PF to block traffic to and...
Unbound Adblock
Ever want to get rid of all those annoying internet ads? Me too. I’d been planning on using something like Pi-hole, but recently stumbled upon unbound...
DNSSEC With Unbound
Ever want to enable DNSSEC on your Unbound OpenBSD 6.6 server? Me too! Using this article as a guide, I document the process.
PPPoE on OpenBSD
Some ISP’s establish connections with their customers' networks through PPPoE. I recently setup an OpenBSD 6.6 router which required PPPoE. This is my...
Command-Line
Fresh fish on CentOS 7
Are you desperate for the freshest fish? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Git Syntax Highlighting
If you like to use git from the command-line and enjoy syntax highlighting, you might be interested in delta, which adds this functionality and more to git.
Pagers and Syntax Highlighting
bat is a helpful alternative to cat when you want peruse files on the command-line with the improved readability that syntax highlighting has to offer. The ...
Solarized Vim
I enjoy the Solarized color scheme, so I figured out how to set it up in Vim. The Solarized color scheme provides a plugin for Vim, which makes this pretty ...
Switch to fish
I’ve finally made the switch from ZSH to the fish shell. Unlike ZSH, I don’t need to install and manage a whole host of plugins. Everything I wa...
“Too many open files” When Compiling on macOS
Occasionally things just go wrong during large builds. One such occurrence is on macOS when compiling a large C++ project.
Change your Shell
Sometimes, you just want to switch to a better shell for your terminal - like fish.
Configure ZSH
I’ve been using ZSH for years now as my shell. In that time, I’ve learned a few niceties to make the experience better. Namely, I’ve found...
One-Liner to Fetch the Latest Github Release
Sometimes, it would be awfully convenient to grab the installer for the latest release of your favorite Github project directly from the command-line. And i...
Admin
Unattended Upgrades
Suffering from obsessive updating syndrome? Are you making frequent trips to the App Center or terminal to apply updates? Do update notifications haunt you ...
Automate Flatpak Updates With systemd
elementary OS 5.1 doesn’t automatically update Flatpak applications. Given the arbitrary appearance of updates, it’s a bit bothersome to be nagg...
Power Management on Linux With TLP
TLP is a powerful power management utility for Linux. It helps conserve battery life on mobile Linux devices by taking advantage of various kernel features....
Automatically Update Antigen
There’s a catch when it comes to managing plugins with Antigen as done in Configure ZSH.
Password-Less Sudo
Typing a password to login is repetitive enough, isn’t it? Entering the password for Sudo on the command-line can be downright irritating. If you don&...
Update U-Boot on the PinePhone
As I big fan of GNOME, I really wanted a similar experience on the PinePhone. That’s why I opted for running Manjaro ARM's alpha for the PinePhone, wh...
Update U-Boot on the Pinebook Pro
The other day, Elementary announced elementaryOS 6 preview builds for the Pinebook Pro. I went ahead and flashed an SD card with a build image to try it out...
Development
GNOME Keyring in KDE Plasma
I love GNOME, but on my Pinebook Pro, I use the extremely well-supported Manjaro Pinebook Pro KDE Plasma edition. One of the biggest gripes I have with KDE ...
Snapping on the Pinebook Pro
Snaps are an incredible new packaging format for Linux from Canonical.[1] They offer application confinement and increased portability while also simplifyin...
Git and GPG
GPG keys can be used to cryptographically sign your work when using Git for version control. This ties your identity to your work, whether that’s a co...
Manage Python Dependencies
Making Python dependency management reproducible is complicated. Bringing Python dependency management to mere mortals who can’t remember where they p...
Install Git From Source on CentOS 7
To get the latest version of Git on CentOS 7, it is possible to compile it directly from source.
Build GCC From Source on CentOS 7
CentOS has a pretty old compiler. While the Software Collections repository contains newer versions, it still has a considerable lag-time. So, why not build...
Manage Runtimes With asdf
asdf is a language-agnostic tool for managing multiple runtimes of a specific tool for a particular user. While it is able to manage runtime versions for a ...
Security
Generate a GPG Key
GPG keys can be used to cryptographically sign Git commits, pushes, and tags. This associates your work with a particular identity. GPG is also used for enc...
Backup and Restore a GPG Key
Gnu Privacy Guard, also known as GnuPG and GPG, is a handy tool for managing OpenPGP keys. While don’t use PGP keys for email encryption as many peopl...