This is a draft proposal for changes to the POSIX specification for environment variables (including both the various C library functions for access to environment variables, and the underlying data structure). The goal is to make it possible for multithreaded programs to modify the environment (the set of environment variables, with their values) safely.| Owl’s Portfolio
UTF-8 is decent and all but it contains some design errors, partly because its original designers just messed up, and partly because of ISO and Unicode Consortium internal politics. We’re probably going to be using it forever so it would be good to correct these design errors before they get any more entrenched than they already have. Corrected UTF-8 is almost the same as UTF-8. We make only three changes: overlength encodings become impossible instead of just forbidden; the C1 controls and...| Owl’s Portfolio
Originally drafted as a thread on hackers.town, after Abbie Normal asked me to expand on a side comment in a discussion of documentation. There’s a story old Unix beards tell about how they learned Unix. We just read all the manpages, they say, that’s how well written they are, you don’t need to read anything else or take any classes. Maybe also pick up a copy of K&R if you’re a little iffy on C. I consider myself an old Unix beard, even though I don’t have a beard and I only got in...| Owl’s Portfolio
I’m pleased to announce the open beta test of ICLab’s clearinghouse for data about censored websites. This site will aggregate manual and automated test reports, facilitate more efficient use of automated test resources, and help policy analysts draw conclusions about what gets censored in particular countries. [EDIT 19 Jan 2021:The clearinghouse had to be taken down almost immediately because no one had time to maintain it. Someday the project it is part of may be continued. Read on for ...| Owl’s Portfolio
In honor of the feast of All Souls, I thought I might put on a costume, as it were, and write a blog post as if I were an old English cunning man and you, my readers, came to me for advice on supernatural problems, rather than computational ones. So your house is haunted. You don’t know who the ghosts were in life, and you’re maybe a bit scared to find out, but you would like to gently encourage them to let go of their troubles and move on. I have for you a simple ritual involving a littl...| Owl’s Portfolio
For the past few months I’ve been working on a research study of| Owl’s Portfolio
Another bulletin funded by the I Just Blew An Entire Morning On This Foundation: Suppose you want to encrypt and sign files using gpg, but without giving it ownership or write access to its own keystore. For instance, this might be necessary if the gpg process is going to be run from a low-privilege CGI user and you don’t have root privileges on the webserver. This is relatively straightforward with the classic version 1, although there’s an error message that’s harmless but impossible ...| Owl’s Portfolio
Let’s talk about something more fun, shall we? These were my nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards. The final ballot will be announced on April 26. Hugo nominations, unlike final ballots, are not ranked. I’d be happy to see any of these things win their categories. I read a lot of good stuff at novel-length this year, but not enough shorter fiction to fill all five nomination slots per category. Something to work harder on next year, I suppose. (It didn’t help that I spent most of Januar...| Owl’s Portfolio
A depressing number of computer industry recruiters cannot be| www.owlfolio.org
I’ve been a contributor to GNU projects for many years, notably both| www.owlfolio.org