Top all-time · #8459
Bug Repellent
Personal blog · blog.safia.rocksprogrammingsystems
Bug Repellent is a personal blog at blog.safia.rocks about programming and systems. Since 2017, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 17 times, most often “How does `cd` work?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-01-14, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (1) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
The linked post takes apart the shell to explain how `cd` works. HN readers discuss it as a hands-on look at Unix internals, and one commenter argues the analysis misses the wider Unix design.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 1 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The blog of @captainsafia
Most-linked posts?
- How does `cd` work?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-02-26
- What I learned when I tried to hack my smart vibrator2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-12-11
What Hacker News says?
On the one hand, I admire the search for knowledge, taking things apart and seeing how they work. On the other hand, this seems a bit cargo-cultish. It's as if I took apart a record player, trying to see how it plays music, and I told you it works because the motor turns the the record. In this case, the author got tangled in the shell script and code, and totally missed the whole subtlety and complexity of the Unix…
Comment linking /post/171381157060/looking-into-ls
on “How does `cd` work?”Submitted Unraveling rm: what happens when you run it? as a story · 217 points
HN discussionSubmitted How does `cd` work? as a story · 152 points
HN discussionSubmitted What happens when you run `cp` on the command line? as a story · 35 points
HN discussionSubmitted What do `cp` and `mv` do under the hood? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted How does `cd` work? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted There's no escaping it: an exploration of ANSI codes as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted I finally figured out how Unix redirection works under the hood as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted What I learned when I tried to hack my smart vibrator as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted What happens when you run `sudo !!`? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Reveling in redirects: exploring Unix input/output redirection as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Peeking into `pwd` as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Getting into Git init as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Tips for reading new code bases as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Node module deep-dive: module as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted What I learned when I tried to hack my smart vibrator as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Node module deep-dive: querystring as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
