Why did you start blogging in the first place?

Part of me wants to just record my thought-process and solidify my thinking.

Another part like sharing things I learn in case they help others.

And sometimes I just want to rant.

What platform are you using to manage your blog, and why do you use it

In the late 90s, I wrote raw HTML files and just posted them on the RedHat web-server that my college CS department offered. Good ol' table-based layout and all that.

Once I got my own domain, I looked around at Static Site Generators (SSGs) and Nikola, topped my list. I wanted an SSG that

• could ingest pure HTML fragments (which I prefer) rather than forcing me to use something like Markdown or AsciiDoc. I don't mind using them for casual prose (like this) but for technical work, I prefer the markup-control that I get from raw HTML

• was written in Python (which I use as part of $DAYJOB, so I felt more comfortable poking under the hood)

• ran on all the platforms I used (Linux at the time, now FreeBSD, and OpenBSD

• had metadata features that fit my requirements

• had a built-in web-server for viewing the site locally

• was easy to create an rsync deploy hook to send my files up to my web-server

However, Nikola has a lot of churn, meaning I frequently have to revisit my configuration files or regularly suffer the wrath of warnings and errors at every upgrade. It also processes my HTML source through lxml which in turn mangles certain cromulent markup, meaning my input doesn't show up in output. And system upgrades of Python seem to throw my virtual-env into a bit of a frenzy.

So I've started a Makefile-based SSG that largely sticks to BSD make and POSIX awk. Stay tuned when that comes to fruition.

How do you write your posts?

A plain ol' text editor.

Sometimes vi/vim, sometimes ed(1).

Do you normally publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit?

Most posts take me a while to compose, so those get set to Draft status, and the publishing process uploads the static files but doesn't include them in indexing or the RSS feed. This allows me to read them on my site (optionally sharing the pre-release URL with others) and revise them accordingly. However, once I feel it's done, I go ahead and remove the Draft status to publish it.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

If you count "microblogging", then I've blogged on Twitter/X and have largely moved my microblogging participation to Mastodon.

However, for the most part, it's just been my own site/blog.

When do you feel most inspired to write?

A couple triggers:

• I'm working through something complex and want to document it for myself

• I've found a fun little shell trick and want to share it

• I've experienced some frustration and just need to rant

What’s your favorite post on your blog?

Probably my post on using remind. However, it's starting to show its age, so I should revisit the article and update it.

Any future plans for the blog?

Keep on emitting a steady trickle of whatever interests me.