---
date: '2019-09-27'
subtitle: Alpine Linux shenaningans and more
template: text.html
title: 'Weekly status update, 09/17--09/27'
---

It's a lazy Friday afternoon here; yet another off day this week thanks
to my uni's fest. My last "weekly" update was 10 days ago, and a lot has
happened since then. Let's get right into it!

My switch to Alpine
-------------------

Previously, I ran Debian with Buster/Sid repos, and ever since this
happened

``` {.shell}
$ dpkg --list | wc -l
3817

# or something in that ballpark
```

I've been wanting to reduce my system's package count.

Thus, I began my search for a smaller, simpler and lighter distro with a
fairly sane package manager. I did come across Dylan Araps' [KISS
Linux](https://getkiss.org) project, but it seemed a little too hands-on
for me (and still relatively new). I finally settled on [Alpine
Linux](https://alpinelinux.org). According to their website:

> Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution
> based on musl libc and busybox.

The installation was a breeze, and I was quite surprised to see WiFi
working OOTB. In the past week of my using this distro, the only major
hassle I faced was getting my Minecraft launcher to run. The JRE isn't
fully ported to `musl` yet.[^1] The solution to that is fairly trivial
and I plan to write about it soon. (hint: it involves chroots)

![rice](/static/img/rice-2019-09-27.png)

Packaging for Alpine
--------------------

On a related note, I've been busy packaging some of the stuff I use for
Alpine -- you can see my personal
[aports](https://github.com/icyphox/aports) repository if you're
interested. I'm currently working on packaging Nim too, so keep an eye
out for that in the coming week.

Talk selection at PyCon India!
------------------------------

Yes! My buddy Raghav ([@_vologue](https://twitter.com/\_vologue)) and I
are going to be speaking at PyCon India about our recent smart lock
security research. The conference is happening in Chennai, much to our
convenience. If you're attending too, hit me up on Twitter and we can
hang!

Other
-----

That essentially sums up the *technical* stuff that I did. My Russian is
going strong, my reading however, hasn't. I have *yet* to finish those
books! This week, for sure.

Musically, I've been experimenting. I tried a bit of hip-hop and
chilltrap, and I think I like it? I still find myself coming back to
metalcore/deathcore. Here's a list of artists I discovered (and liked)
recently:

-   [Before I Turn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3uKGwcwGWA)
-   生 Conform 死 (couldn't find any official YouTube video, check
    Spotify)
-   [Treehouse Burning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66eFK1ttdC4)
-   [Lee McKinney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-w3XM2PwOY)
-   [Berried Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUibXK7F3PM)
    (rediscovered)

That's it for now, I'll see you next week!

[^1]: The [Portola Project](https://aboullaite.me/protola-alpine-java/)