Kevin P. Fleming

https://mastodon.km6g.us/@kevin

Multi-decade open source project contributor, manager, and leader. Manager of Developer Experience Engineers at Fastly. Previously Principal Program Manager at Red Hat helping to deliver RHEL. Previously Head of Open Source Programs at Bloomberg

I write code, and publish code, and break code, and spend far too much time with Ansible and highly-overengineered home networking, and DNS, and GPS, and... it never ends.

Co-human to three cats along with my significant other.

Pronouns: he/him
Matrix: https://matrix.to/#/@kevin:km6g.us
Location: Madison, CT, USA
GitHub: https://github.com/kpfleming

Public Key

npub1cay7rqkh6kyjg9svtqx936phg7r3w0gtaaxxq7d25npnuae8uj6qj2209l

NIP-05 Address

kevin_at_mastodon.km6g.us@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvwj0psttatzfyzcx9srzcaqm50pch85977nrq0x42fse7wun7fdqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntcuezz0

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1cay7rqkh6kyjg9svtqx936phg7r3w0gtaaxxq7d25npnuae8uj6qj2209l

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Last Notes

2026-04-05 15:33:10 UTC

Linux sysadmin question (since it's no longer possible to find actual answers via search on the Internet):
How can I configure the PATH to *always* have a specific directory in it when a shell (Bash) is started, regardless of whether the shell is login/non-login, interactive/non-interactive, etc.?
The normal steps (adding a file in /etc/profile.d which adds to the path) work for login/interactive shells, but not for shells opened by sshd with a command to execute (no pty).
#Linux #SysAdmin #LinuxSysAdmin

2026-03-06 23:57:30 UTC

Is there anyone out there willing to accept payment for building a new feature in Mastodon?
In particular I want to enable server-side filtering of boosts where the boosted post is already available in the timeline (whether it has been viewed or not). From what I can guess, the feature just needs to check to see if the poster of the boosted post is being followed by the user and if so, suppress the boost.
If you're interested in creating a patch for this and preparing it for submission upstream (I'd handle pushing it forward but would apply it on my own server in the meantime), please get in touch.
#Mastodon #MastodonDevelopers #MastodonDevelopment

2025-12-13 12:06:57 UTC

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He had a 'concept of a plan' during his first term, which was stacks of binders full of blank pages of paper.

2025-09-07 17:14:31 UTC

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Reduce it by 10%? That seems a bit low.

2025-06-30 19:00:38 UTC

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It is "Android Device Policy".

2025-06-30 17:00:16 UTC

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Wow! OK then, I may have to give this a try 🙂

2025-06-30 15:02:49 UTC

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Unfortunately I overlooked another important requirement: mandatory MDM policy. From browsing the MDM-related threads on the GrapheneOS forum that seems to be a way off in the future still, which is understandable as it's pretty complex.
Unless I'm willing to go the two-device route, my choices will be quite limited.

2025-06-30 13:26:46 UTC

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The usual 'small tech company' suite: Google Workplace (mail/calendar), Slack, Zoom, etc. plus Duo for authentication.

2025-06-30 10:25:26 UTC

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I've considered that option too, but that would require me to carry two phones around in order to have one which can access apps/services from my employer... and I'm not thrilled about carrying around two phones.

2025-06-30 00:32:11 UTC

My OnePlus 9 Pro mobile phone is about 3.5 years old; the battery is showing its age, and will go from 35% to 1% in a few minutes.
I've spent some time shopping around this weekend, and wow... the mobile phone situation is pretty awful. It is no longer possible to purchase an Android phone (with an up to date version of Android) that isn't filled with AI features, including Google's Gemini AI which has access to private data even if you indicate that you don't want it to have access to that data.
I could make the gigantic shift to an iPhone, which at least has some better privacy management (although still loaded with AI crap I don't want).
There really aren't any other practical options, because there are various apps that I definitely need to use which are not going to be available (or operable) on a de-Googled version of Android like /e/OS, or an OS that isn't iOS or Android (postmarketOS or various others).
There was a time when I felt like using Android was providing some amount of support to the FOSS community since Android is based on Linux and relies on many FOSS projects, but even that is changing, as Google is reducing the amount of content they push into AOSP. Within a year or two it will effectively be another proprietary operating system.
#Android #iOS #MobilePhone

2025-05-24 18:17:43 UTC

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Nice! you'll have to be specific about which JST connector you are using since they have many varieties with different pin construction and sizes. The ones I have used would never accept a .025" square pin for example.
If you just need .025" square pins in a row, there are thousands of headers available.

2025-05-24 14:57:35 UTC

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JST doesn't appear to offer any board-to-board connectors, only wire-to-wire and wire-to-board. I suspect this is because they aren't designed to provide any mechanical strength.

2025-05-14 13:42:15 UTC

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This is the thought I have about cloud enabled ovens... you can start them from anywhere, but who is going to put the food into them?

2025-04-05 12:09:25 UTC

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Have you used it 'alternate event loops' that handle prompting and input? I'm not keen on using threads for the background work that is necessary.

2025-04-05 00:16:52 UTC

Python friends:
I have a desire to build a small program for testing a piece of hardware I am designing. This program will need to have a REPL so the user can invoke various configuration and test commands while connected to the device, but also asynchronously handle data arriving from that device and displaying it.
Can anyone suggest packages and/or a strategy for doing this?
#Python #Async

2025-03-10 20:25:17 UTC

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$250K PER DAY? That's insane.

2025-02-26 21:50:36 UTC

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it's not for me. Mozilla (the legal entities) is not involved in any way when I use Firefox (software running on my computer) to connect to a non-Mozilla-operated website and interact with it, including uploading and inputting information.
If their claim is that the license on the software itself grants them permission to use the information to help me 'navigate, experience, and interact' then the software is no longer FOSS.
Otherwise, I have no idea how they need a license to any content for Firefox to do what it has always done, unless the content is somehow going to pass through Mozilla's hands.

2025-02-16 14:40:15 UTC

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I'd love a feature to ignore boosts of posts that are already visible to you without being boosted.

2025-02-16 14:02:09 UTC

For those who want a local (non-cloud) tool for checking TLS certificate expiration as a result of Let's Encrypt dropping support for expiration notices via email, here's a small shell script which will do it. It needs the OpenSSL command-line tool and an email sender (I use msmtp):
#!/bin/bash
MINIMUM_EXPIRY_DAYS={{ minimum_expiry_days }}
MINIMUM_EXPIRY=$((${MINIMUM_EXPIRY_DAYS} * 86400))
for cert in /etc/letsencrypt/live/*/cert.pem
do
echo Checking ${cert}
if openssl x509 -noout -in ${cert} -checkend ${MINIMUM_EXPIRY} > /dev/null
then
:
else
msmtp --read-envelope-from --read-recipients <<EOF
From: (sender address here)
To: (recipient address here)
Subject: Certificate Expiration Alert
${cert} will expire in fewer than ${MINIMUM_EXPIRY_DAYS} days.
EOF
fi
done
CC @npub19zc…jfcm @npub1ras…fswq
#LetsEncrypt

2025-01-29 16:45:26 UTC

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Especially when the years-old release has tons of (well meaning) backported patches by a distribution package maintainer.

2025-01-20 19:11:47 UTC

My wife has just informed me that Facebook has decided she will be following the new president and vice president of the USA.

2025-01-18 13:13:45 UTC

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All of Howard's work is glorious.

2024-12-27 11:22:11 UTC

A - DNS record
AA - battery
AAA - battery
AAAA - DNS record
#DNS #Battery #Confusion

2024-12-12 11:57:32 UTC

Is there a mechanism available in Android to remove the 'control vibrator' permission for an application? I've got a few apps whose developers apparently think that haptic feedback when tapping some of their buttons is good, and I vehemently disagree. Since it's a specific permission, I suspect it can be removed, but I can't figure out how.
#Android #AndroidPermissions

2024-11-11 11:33:34 UTC

2024-11-10 19:16:58 UTC

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stereo?

2024-09-22 11:15:11 UTC

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I have now found the 'cause', if you want to call it that: IPv6.
If I disable IPv6 on my laptop, I can use these websites with no issues; when it is re-enabled, both sites give non-actionable error messages. I have been using the same /48 block for my home LAN for more than 14 years, and have never operated any systems on it which would cause it to have a 'bad reputation' (but it is an assignment from Hurricane Electric's Tunnelbroker service, so may have been aggregated with other blocks from that service). IPv6 to the remainder of the websites in question works just, only login is affected.
I can only assume that somehow the IPv6 address range I'm using has been 'blessed' by Google as unsafe or unsavory in some way.
#IPv6

2024-09-20 17:14:32 UTC

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I've at least ruled out DNS resolution... switching my laptop to use 8.8.8.8 instead of my local resolver did not make any difference.

2024-09-20 15:19:27 UTC

Last week I attempted to use a web form (Google Form) setup by a member of a local community group that I joined. The form asked for a few small bits of information, and had a submit button. There was a reCAPTCHA logo in the bottom right corner as well.
When I completed the form and clicked 'submit', I got an immediate response that the CAPTCHA check had failed and that I should try again. Trying again made no difference; trying in a private window, trying with Firefox 'enhanced tracking protection' disabled, trying in Chromium, trying on a different laptop, trying Firefox on Android, trying Chrome on Android... none of them made any difference. Always the same result.
As a random experiment, I disabled WiFi on my Android phone, and tried submitting the form with Firefox again. It worked, no CAPTCHA issue at all. Somehow, the CAPTCHA process doesn't appreciate connections from my home LAN.
Fast forward to today, where I attempted to log in to the Home Depot website using the account I've had there for years. Each login attempt resulted in "There was a temporary connection problem, try again later." Trying again later made no difference, and as it turns out, even using the Home Depot Android app didn't work. Once again, switching the phone off of WiFi allowed the app to log in, and then switching WiFi back on didn't cause any breakage, the app worked just fine. Only the login process is affected.
I can only assume that some sort of Google-operated protection mechanism is at work here, but there is literally zero information provided to me as the consumer which would be helpful in any way. I seriously doubt that contacting Home Depot's web team would be fruitful, and certainly contacting the creator of the Google form would be useless too as they have no control whatsoever over the operation of Google Forms.
I'm an experienced technologist with decades of Internet usage under my belt, and this is frustrating to me as there is no solution. I cannot imagine what it must be like for the 'regular consumer' who runs into this sort of issue and is effectively locked out of portions of the Internet without any explanation or recourse. This is related to what @npub1lq6…nf7e has been talking about for months, and it's just getting worse.

2024-09-15 00:02:34 UTC

TIL that keeping my emergency jump start kit in the trunk of our car is a terrible idea because if the battery is dead then the trunk door can't be opened.

2024-09-08 18:42:10 UTC

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Isn't this also true of Python, C++, and Go too?

2024-08-29 22:08:18 UTC

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You already had to sign a CLA, for a long time.

2024-08-06 23:10:40 UTC

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What if (and this is quite crazy), this was the plan all along?