density

most ide’s are extremely fun to use as text editors

my kind of fun

kindred spirits

I think youtube-dl had a situation like that, now yt-dlp. (except I don't know if the original dev's status is confirmed?)

also exa, now forked to eza. My impression is for this case, the original dev is OK.

But honestly I have encountered lots of software packages which have been dropped and picked up in this way. Man pages can contain history like this, occasionally going back to the 80s or even 70s for the basics. The main problem is that the original software package is so well known and sometimes it's hard to find out about the newer iterations so they have a difficult time picking up steam. I used to have a bookmarklet that would show forks on github sorted by activity; occasionally this allowed finding the more recently-developed project. But more likely you have to wait to stumble on it in a forum.

I recall reading about a university ?compsci? lab where the professor who leads it assigns her students to examine priority dependency chains. They trace everything back and report on who is maintaining various upstream packages, and identify situations where it is like just one person or otherwise really vulnerable. Then they have some sort of institutional resources to offer that person support and add extra hands to the workflow. So it is more proactive than what you are describing in that they are going out and looking for things that could be problems, not just awaiting a disastrous exploit and patching it up after the fact.

But it's just some small group somewhere. On the main I think we agree on the deficit of support for FLOSS components and applications that functionally run the whole world. It's so crazy but invisible. I am not a developer, just a fan of developers and their work. Most people I know IRL are not developers. Everyone thinks the software on their phone works because Apple and Google pay engineers to build everything. They don't know about all the FLOSS components to the phone, the services it uses, the network etc, and how so many bits and pieces are maintained in part or in whole by volunteers on their free time.

Remember when the boat got stuck in the panama canal and everyone was suddenly interested in supply chains? I forsee/fear the event that prompts the whole world to learn about dependency chains.

Not sure what ASF is (something Software Foundation?) but sounds like they are a solution and not a problem

I love the way of describing Free Software. Paraphrasing and I don't recall the source: "Not free as in speech or free as in beer. Free as in puppies." You can get a puppy for free but then you have to take care of it all the time, and it incurs costs like vet visits. Free Software can be the same way.

Hope @hariette is doing OK and has support she needs. And will return when ready.

Lesson today is: Always FLOSS to avoid cavaties.

feudalism + capitalism

worst of both worlds

I agree it it very annoying. I feel it goes against the whole libre and neutrality aspect of why firefox is important. I want the full linux-type experience on every device. :D

As the other comment says, it is possible to get addons in mobile FF . Tbh I have never done it. But I probably will someday.

RIP Einar Egilsson

on android you can enable "share"/"open in external app" and send the link to piped or newpipe or whatever your preferred app is; that's how I do it

It is pretty good. It is not doing everything reddit was doing for me. But it took me years to find all the right communities on reddit. No reason to expect a drop in replacement. Overall I was pretty skeptical of threadiverse working out really at all. It could have just been a fad. On that count I am pleasantly surprised.

I have gotten much less stringent on boycotting reddit on search results. At first I was resolved to never go to reddit anymore. Now I prefer other sites if available but I am not going to punish myself by willfully avoiding useful content. I try to get in and get out asap. I am rarely using site:reddit.com/r/subreddit anymore. But once in a while I do.