October 2026 - Lug-nuts

The day the lambda was born
by Brian E. Lavender 28 Oct '26

28 Oct '26

Quote from __Core Java, Volume II: Advanced Features, 13th Edition__ > Now let us turn from absolute time to human time. There are two kinds > of human time in the Java API, local date/time and zoned time. Local > date/time has a date and/or time of day, but no associated time zone > information. An example of a local date is June 14, 1903 (the day on > which Alonzo Church, inventor of the lambda calculus, was born). Since > that date has neither a time of day nor time zone information, it does > not correspond to a precise instant of time. In contrast, July 16, 1969, > 09:32:00 EDT (the launch of Apollo 11) is a zoned date/time, representing > a precise instant on the time line. I thought that was interesting. So, the Epoch perhaps ought to be June 14, 1903? Brian -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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The Medusa of xml python
by Brian E. Lavender 28 Oct '26

28 Oct '26

I was checking the lxml library for Python and I found this quote https://lxml.de/ > Most people who use lxml do so because they like using it. You can show > us that you like it by blogging about your experience with it and linking > to the project website. "and all your base are belong to us" once the next vulnerability arrives. So long and thanks for all the fish! Notice how I provided the link. ;-) Just don't look and you will be ok. :-P Brian -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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php vulnerability
by Brian E. Lavender 21 Oct '26

21 Oct '26

I guess big PHP vulnerability out. I just updated my Debian system. Good old PHP keeps on giving! -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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Thanks to everyone who came tonight
by Brian E. Lavender 20 Oct '26

20 Oct '26

We had a number of new attendees at the meeting tonight. I hang out at #saclug on libera chat. I use screen to connect. We had some interesting talk about guix and other topics. I forget the vi mode for the web browser. I bookmarked it on my phone. Please chime in if you recall. We also had a number of laptops with full free software from the bootloader up. Please correct me on the details. Brian -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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october meeting
by Brian E. Lavender 17 Oct '26

17 Oct '26

We will meet at Kupros this Tuesday. I will be camping and I hope to return in time for the social. See you there. https://www.saclug.org/articles/2026/october-2026.html Brian -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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free software maintainer complaints
by Brian E. Lavender 02 Oct '26

02 Oct '26

LibXml2 seems to be one of those un glorious packages to maintain. I saw the following posted by a project maintainer. https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/issues/913 His observations on disclosing security vulnerabilities seem to be interesting. Brian -- Brian Lavender https://www.brie.com/brian/ "There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." Professor C. A. R. Hoare The 1980 Turing award lecture

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Lug-nuts October 2026