Top all-time · #3211
There and back again
Personal blog · preining.info/blogprogrammingsystems
There and back again is a personal blog at preining.info about programming and systems. Since 2015, 24 different Hacker News readers have linked it 27 times, most often “Microsoft’s failed attempt on Debian packaging”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-03-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (10) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for its Debian packaging notes, such as KDE Plasma and calibre updates, and for posts on Debian governance. Commenters mostly cite it as a source rather than praise it.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 10 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Microsoft’s failed attempt on Debian packaging4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-06-11
What Hacker News says?
tl;dr: Debian's work is very important here, but NixOS' reproducibility aims are more general than Debian's and began more than 8 years earlier Despite the fact that Debian (as a project) has shouldered far more of the work with upstream projects to make bit-identical reproducibility possible at build time, Debian (as a distro) doesn't have a design that makes this kind of reproducibility as feasible, practical, or…
Comment linking /blog/2014/06/debian-pristine-tar-packaging/
on “Nixos-unstable’s ISO_minimal.x86_64-Linux is 100% reproducible”Submitted Microsoft’s failed attempt on Debian packaging as a story · 123 points
HN discussionThis may be a bug in an older KDE version. I'm on debian testing with running the latest stuff from https://www.preining.info/blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-sta... . I'm no longer running into those HiDPI issues in gnome or kde apps (some wxwidgets stuff is still wonky). Nothing ends up the wrong scale when using Plasma Wayland, but there are still other issues that aren't worked out that keep it from being perfect…
Comment linking /blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-status-2020-12-02/
on “System76 – Pangolin”Submitted Future of Cinnamon in Debian as a story · 50 points
HN discussionI'm always uneasy when I install software in Windows because it means I have to trust another third-party. If I have 100 programs on my Windows PC, I've had to trust 100 third-party organisations with my computer and all the data on it. Not only that, but I've also had to trust my own judgement to find the correct website for all those programs, and not copycats that wrap the program in malware. Sometimes I check Wi…
Comment linking /blog/2018/06/microsofts-failed-attempt-on-debian-packaging/
on “Using Windows after 15 years on Linux”Submitted Microsoft’s failed attempt on Debian packaging as a story · 14 points
HN discussionI think you mean this package? https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/calibre-python3-git/ Judging from https://bugs.launchpad.net/calibre/+bug/1714107/comments/11 the Arch maintainer doesn't think highly of Debian as it has been buggy in the past. OTOH he's biased because he's on Arch. Here's a recent post from the Debian maintainer: https://www.preining.info/blog/2019/10/state-of-calibre-in-d... . The tl;dr is that mo…
Comment linking /blog/2019/10/state-of-calibre-in-debian/
on “Raising severity to serious for some Python 2 leaf packages with no Python 3”Submitted Looking at the facts: Sarah Sharp’s crusade as a story · 14 points
HN discussionOne theory I had was that blogrolls were common previously and allowed for cluster navigation. My friends and I certainly had these pointing to each other because why wouldn't you? The big bloggers on HN I see are tptacek, rachelbythebay, and simonwillison and none of them have a blogroll. General wisdom in website SEO etc. is to keep the user on your page and not send them elsewhere and I thought that perhaps many…
Comment linking /blog/
on “The effects of algorithms on the public discourse”Submitted Cinnamon for Debian – imminent removal from testing as a story · 12 points
HN discussion> It was rotated 90 degrees probably for no other reason than because it works well alongside vertical Chinese Chinese (and Japanese and Korean), when written vertically, the collums are written right to left. In the Mongolian script, the columns are left to right, so I don't know how well it works with Chinese. > Japanese is probably the most resistant and has its traditionalist holdouts in novels and some print ne…
Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/PW-GLO-Japanese.jpg
on “The Sovietisation of the Mongolian language and challenges of reversal (2020)”Submitted Microsoft's Failed Attempt on Debian Packaging as a story · 8 points
HN discussionNope. He cited several such cases. Usually it goes like this: Devs putting out some innocent statement, some aggressive culture warriors taking it out of context and interpreting it evil, shouting wolf, and the Debian managers reacting with an immediate ban. On the dev, not the aggressive culture warrior. This is usually matched with falsified arguments to support this ban. Devs also began reacting like in the stali…
Comment linking /blog/2018/11/on-lars-wirzenius-fun-and-debian/
on “Debian project has plenty of money but not enough developers”Submitted Foreigners in Japan are evil … at least what Tokyo Shinjuku ward belives as a story · 4 points
HN discussionmostly over this: https://www.preining.info/blog/2015/10/looking-at-the-facts-... eg he called SJW's at debian leadership "brainless feminists". you could have made much better and more grounded arguments.
Comment linking /blog/2015/10/looking-at-the-facts-sarah-sharps-crusade/
on “Debian developer demoted, quits after two decades with project”Submitted Getting the most out of your Yubikey NEO as a story · 4 points
HN discussionDebian packages: https://www.preining.info/blog/2021/06/kde-plasma-5-22-for-d...
Comment linking /blog/2021/06/kde-plasma-5-22-for-debian/
on “KDE Plasma 5.22”Submitted Preining: Future of “My” Packages in Debian as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe amount of unnecessary drama this has created is astonishing. Ian Jackson even deemed it necessary to start a public call for reports on Preining's "misbehaviours", even though nobody seems to have had anything other than pleasant experiences [1]. I have not much hope for Debian as a project anymore, lots of important people seem to be burnt out by crap like this and have decided it's not fun anymore. Also this w…
Comment linking /blog/2018/09/sharp-did-it-again/
on “Debian admins demote developer Norbert Preining for using wrong gender pronoun”Submitted RIP (For Now) Calibre in Debian as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Systemd again (or how to obliterate your system) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Looking at the facts: Sarah Sharp’s crusade as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Art project: Einstein and Freud’s letters on “Why War?” – 85th anniversary as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Looking at the facts: Sarah Sharp’s crusade as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted 2018 and CD burning still painful as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Inconsistent version numbers in subversion as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted An amusing lintian error – Lenna as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
Linked by the same people?
- H
Henrich plays with Debianhenrich-on-debian.blogspot.com - JJulian Andres Klodeblog.jak-linux.org
- WWEBlog -- Wouter's Eclectic Bloggrep.be
- J
Jonathan Carterjonathancarter.org - D
Daniel Pocockdanielpocock.com - SSteinar H. Gundersonblog.sesse.net
- Ppeople.skolelinux.orgpeople.skolelinux.org
- T
The Changelogchangelog.complete.org