Changing what commit a git submodule points to without initializing it

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Let’s say you have a submodule that you want to change, but the submodule itself is huge. You might not want another copy of it, so you’re holding off on running git submodule update --init. Internally in your repo, Git records the commit that the submodule points to. If you have the exact commit ID, you can run this command to adjust it points to in the index (substituting the hash for the commit ID you want to change it to, and of course, the path to the submodule):

git update-index --add --cacheinfo  160000,4435a55c4c352d5c703cab322c208ca4dce14ae8,submodule_name_here

This is added to the index, so you’ll have to commit your change as normal.

Capacitor sheared off on Multia systems

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I have a Multia (VX40) that developed intermittent failure to POST, and had a very hot 3.3V rail. It seems this is because a capacitor on the system gets sheared off the board by a metal locating peg when the board is slid out of the chassis. (This doesn’t seem to be related to the common failure of the 74F623 bus transceiver on Multia systems.) Said capacitor is at the front of the system, by the screw near the audio ports. When it gets sheared off, it seems to also possibly damage the traces.

The area where the capacitor should be.

It seems this is a tantalum poly electrolytic, 106 at 35V for 10µf. I have not yet ordered a specific replacement; when I get around to replacing it, I’ll update this post. Per someone I know who replaced the part on theirs, they recommend holding down the component in place with glue and opening the top case when sliding the board out to avoid future damage.

A Multia (not mine) with the repaired capacitor hot glued in place.

Installing SQL Server 2022 on newer Ubuntu 24.04

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I had a need to install SQL Server 2022 on Ubuntu 24.04. The instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 will work fine, until you start it. While it does install with the Ubuntu 22.04 packages, the dependencies are incorrectly marked*. When you try to set up the new SQL Server instance, it’ll make this error on startup:

Configuring SQL Server...

/opt/mssql/bin/sqlservr: error while loading shared libraries: liblber-2.4.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
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Project idea: pkg-config support in compilers

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I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head of things I’d like to see, but don’t have the time to see out myself. Perhaps this could be a series. However, unlike many “idea guys”, I’m aiming to explain how you could implement this. And please do – I’m sharing because I think it’d be beneficial, or at least interesting to think about.

Anyways, what I have wanted for a while is pkg-config support in compilers. Perhaps it could simplify smaller build systems for programs without needing to involve something like CMake. Or maybe it’s a bad idea, but we can at least learn along the way.

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Common issues with using GnuPG over SSH from a Mac

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Usually, I work directly on my Mac, but sometimes, I have to log into it from another system. By default (at least on MacPorts), the GnuPG agent will default to using the graphical pinentry. Normally, this is good, but if you need to enter your key passphrase, it’ll open on the desktop instead. Oops. To fix this part, add this line (adjusting path as needed) to ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf (maybe need to restart the agent too):

pinentry-program /opt/local/bin/pinentry-curses

Remove this line to go back to using graphical passphrase entry.

Sometimes with this, you might get an error like this with the curses version of pinetry:

gpg: signing failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

It seems GnuPG might not pick up the right TTY, so you may need to explicitly override it:

GPG_TTY=$(tty)
export GPG_TTY

Brief thoughts on Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

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I enjoy the immersive sim subgenre of video games, focused on player agency and interlocking systems. I’m also a fan of the games of Arkane, who have made many of those over the years. While Dishonored and Prey rightfully get a lot of love, I haven’t checked out their earlier titles. I decided to give one of their early games, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic a shot. Is it actually interesting? Let’s find out!

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Making mailing lists nicer: Writing a mail extension for macOS with MailKit

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As a developer, I need to work with mailing lists a lot. Developer-focused mailing lists tend to have certain conventions most usage of email has moved on from, as have the clients. While some people who trawl mailing lists configure some terminal email client, I tend to not like those. Most of the time, I use the stock Apple mail application (Mail.app). It otherwise works well and has platform integration.

However, I do want to avoid a lot of common mailing list faux pas, like top posting and not wrapping lines. Mail.app can write plain text emails, but it doesn’t push you in the right direction for mailing lists. However, Mail.app does provide an extension API. I figured I could write an extension to make my life on mailing lists easier. Turns out it’s possible!

The extension I wrote is called MailTools (tentative until a better name is found). Feel free to build or download it yourself; this article explains the challenges I faced.

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Accessing iPhone photos and media from Nautilus on Linux

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If you plug your iPhone (or other iOS device) into your Linux system, you might see in the sidebar the virtual filesystem for app document storage, but not photo/media storage. If you don’t see the photos virtual filesystem, go to the app document virtual filesystem first. Change the :3 at the end in the afc:// URL to :1. (You may need the proper GVFS plugins for AFC and gphoto2 first.)

Is Linux collapsing under its own weight? On Rust for Linux

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Recently, one of the developers of the Rust for Linux project, Wedson Almeida Filho, resigned from the project. In his parting message, he linked a video of a filesystem maintainer shouting at him. Afterward, Asahi Lina, developer of the Apple GPU drivers for Linux (which have not been upstreamed yet), posted a series of threads on Mastodon (first one), expressing sympathy for Wedson and her own frustrations with maintainers and Rust from the DRM perspective. While it’s tempting to look at this as just “Rust haters vs Rust pushers” drama, I think these signal deeper issues in Linux, both technical and cultural (which often feed into each other). In this article, I’ll summarize the issues for those unfamiliar and speculate where it could lead.

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Very brief thoughts on Being There

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America was in a bad way in the 1970’s, and political dramas from the time reflected the malaise. While Network gets a lot of attention (and rightfully so, as a great film) in the genre, an underappreciated classic from the same milieu is Hal Ashby’s 1979 film Being There. In contrast to Network, with its brash calls to action (“I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”), Being There has a subtlety to its observations, and dare I say, might have aged better. I think we’re too fragmented as a society to all shout out from our windows in unison, after all. Spoilers below the fold!

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