Welcome to the 23rd issue of TMPDIR, a weekly newsletter covering Embedded Linux, IoT systems, and technology in general. Subscribe to future issues at https://tinyletter.com/tmpdir and pass it on to anyone else you think might be interested. Please send any tips or feedback to info@tmpdir.org.

Linux

The Yoe Distro CI node for Github actions died last week. We're working on reviving it but it's not yet available; therefore, the Yoe Distro 2022.01 release will be delayed.

There have been some regressions in btrfs with the 5.16 kernel.

A balanced view of NixOS -- covers the positives and negatives well.

IoT

Simple IoT release v0.0.42 includes backend changes to move more of the API to NATS and avoid directly accessing the DB store.

Other

Go binaries are getting faster and smaller -- great news for embedded/edge applications. Characteristics that are important for cloud servers (like efficiency, ease of deployment, portability, etc) often match up very well for what is needed at the edge. This is one reason why Linux and Go work so well for edge/embedded systems – they are highly optimized for servers where efficiency and portability matters. The middle ground of desktops is the realm of bloatware, and thus why very little of Microsoft’s technology has historically seen widespread use in servers or embedded systems.

Github now offers sponsor-only repos.

Things I believe -- a nice list of maxims about software development.

Quote for the week

... the point of tracking is just as much about cultivating self-awareness as it is about making progress. -- Ryder Carroll, The Bullet Journal Method

Join our Discourse forum to discuss these or new topics. Find past issues of TMPDIR here. Listen to previous podcasts at https://tmpdir.org/.

Thanks for reading!

Khem and Cliff