I need to transport multiple very large files over an unstable and untrusted network, and the file contents are outputted as a data stream. I wanted to use OpenSSL for streaming authenticated encryption, but they purposefully don't support that and are preachy about it.

Well, it turns out that XZ has checksumming built-in! It even has different algorithms (CRC32, CRC64, and SHA256). It's part of the same file, within/before the encryption, and automatically verified by the decompression tool. I'm already using XZ for compression before encryption, so this is just super convenient and useful. Also, it seems like XZ supports threaded decompression now, when it didn't before. Thanks XZ devs!

I'm not complaining, but I didn't realize how much work it was. It makes me really respect the people who do it on a regular basis.

For example:

• You know how to use your software, but other people don't. So you need to write documentation.
• You can just modify the source files, but it's impractical for everyone to do that. So you need to add a config file.
• You can just drag the output files into place, but that's impractical for everyone to do. So you need to package it.
• You trust yourself, but distro maintainers rightfully don't. So you need to package your source code and configure the package to compile it.
• You will abide by your idea of how the software should be used, but other people might not. So you need to pick a license.

Sometimes I think there must be an easier way, but I can't think of any. I guess it probably gets easier with experience.

My main server is named Postulate (an idea that you assume for the sake of argument), my desktop is named Axiom (a proved postulate), and my backup server is named Corollary (an idea that follows from an axiom).

What are your computers named, and why?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/1374138

I'm thinking about setting up my own (bare metal) Lemmy instance to play around with it, but it seems to require PostgreSQL. Everything else on my system uses MySQL, and I don't really want to run 2 separate database services. I guess I would also be fine with using an SQLite file, but that's not ideal.

Has anyone managed to set up a Lemmy instance with MySQL instead of PostgreSQL? Are you aware of any PostgreSQL to MySQL or SQLite compatibility layers?

I like to read/interact with posts directly from the homepage rather than opening all of them in new tabs, but they keep moving down the page as new posts pop up.

Is there a way to disable that behaviour?