Twitter has a new “social platforms” policy… is it maddening? Hilarious? Ridiculous? All of the above? I laughed, but to be clear, I don’t think ‘funny’ is a good way to describe it.

@prologic@twtxt.net, search for “quark” and you will get quack, quart, quirk, and all possible iterations. Not too helpful.

@prologic@twtxt.net Error handling especially in Go is very tricky I think. Even though the idea is simple, it’s fairly hard to actually implement and use in a meaningful way in my opinion. All this error wrapping or the lack of it and checking whether some specific error occurred is a mess. errors.As(…) just doesn’t feel natural. errors.Is(…) only just. I mainly avoided it. Yesterday evening I actually researched a bit about that and found this article on errors with Go 1.13. It shed a little bit of light, but I still have a long way to go, I reckon.

We tried several things but haven’t found the holy grail. Currently, we have a mix of different styles, but nothing feels really right. And having plenty of different approaches also doesn’t help, that’s right. I agree, error messages often end up getting wrapped way too much with useless information. We haven’t found a solution yet. We just noticed that it kind of depends on the exact circumstances, sometimes the caller should add more information, sometimes it’s better if the callee already includes what it was supposed to do.

To experiment and get a feel for yesterday’s research results I tried myself on the combined log parser and how to signal three different errors. I’m not happy with it. Any feedback is highly appreciated. The idea is to let the caller check (not implemented yet) whether a specific error occurred. That means I have to define some dedicated errors upfront (ErrInvalidFormat, ErrInvalidStatusCode, ErrInvalidSentBytes) that can be used in the err == ErrInvalidFormat or probably more correct errors.Is(err, ErrInvalidFormat) check at the caller.

All three errors define separate error categories and are created using errors.New(…). But for the invalid status code and invalid sent bytes cases I want to include more detail, the actual invalid number that is. Since these errors are already predefined, I cannot add this dynamic information to them. So I would need to wrap them à la fmt.Errorf("invalid sent bytes '%s': %w", sentBytes, ErrInvalidSentBytes"). Yet, the ErrInvalidSentBytes is wrapped and can be asserted later on using errors.Is(err, ErrInvalidSentBytes), but the big problem is that the message is repeated. I don’t want that!

Having a Python and Java background, exception hierarchies are a well understood concept I’m trying to use here. While typing this long message it occurs to me that this is probably the issue here. Anyways, I thought, I just create a ParseError type, that can hold a custom message and some causing error (one of the three ErrInvalid* above). The custom message is then returned at Error() and the wrapped cause will be matched in Is(…). I then just return a ParseError{fmt.Sprintf("invalid sent bytes '%s'", sentBytes), ErrInvalidSentBytes}, but that looks super weird.

I probably need to scrap the “parent error” ParseError and make all three “suberrors” three dedicated error types implementing Error() string methods where I create a useful error messages. Then the caller probably could just errors.Is(err, InvalidSentBytesError{}). But creating an instance of the InvalidSentBytesError type only to check for such an error category just does feel wrong to me. However, it might be the way to do this. I don’t know. To be tried. Opinions, anyone? Implementing a whole new type is some effort, that I want to avoid.

Alternatively just one ParseError containing an error kind enumeration for InvalidFormat and friends could be used. Also seen that pattern before. But that would then require the much more verbose var parseError ParseError; if errors.As(err, &parseError) && parseError.Kind == InvalidSentBytes { … } or something like that. Far from elegant in my eyes.

Health Data
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started adding follows, decided to keep my list in the header here, hope it helps with discoverability and making new connections :)) #twtxt #community

Alright, check this out. I just kinda completed today’s project of converting a jeans into a saw bag. It’s not fully done, the side seams on the flap need some more hand sewing, that’s for sure. No, I don’t have a sewing machine. Yet?

At first I wanted to put in the saw on the short side, but that would have made for more sewing work and increased material consumption. As a Swabian my genes force me to be very thrifty. Slipping in on the long side had the benefit of using the bottom trouser leg without any modification at all. The leg tapers slightly and gets wider and wider the more up you go. At the bottom it’s not as extreme as at the top.

The bag is made of two layers of cloth for extra durability. The double layers help to hide the inner two metal snap fastener counter parts, so the saw blade doesn’t get scratched. Not a big concern, but why not doing it, literally no added efforts were needed. Also I reckon it cuts off the metal on metal clinking sounds.

The only downside I noticed right after I pressed in the receiving ends of the snap fasteners is that the flap overhangs the bag by quite a lot. I fear that’s not really user-friendly. Oh well. Maybe I will fold it shorter and sew it on. Let’s see. The main purpose is to keep the folding saw closed, it only locks in two open positions.

Two buttons would have done the trick, with three I went a bit overkill. In fact the one in the middle is nearly sufficient. Not quite, but very close. But overkill is a bit my motto. The sides making up the bag are sewed together with like five stitch rows. As said in the introduction, the flap on the hand needs some more love.

Oh, and if I had made it in a vertical orientation I would have had the bonus of adding a belt loop and carrying it right along me. In the horizontal layout that’s not possible at all. The jeans cloth is too flimsy, the saw will immediately fall out if I open the middle button. It’s not ridgid enough. Anyways, I call it a success in my books so far. Definitely had some fun.

@prologic@twtxt.net

#!/bin/sh

# Validate environment
if ! command -v msgbus > /dev/null; then
    printf "missing msgbus command. Use:  go install git.mills.io/prologic/msgbus/cmd/msgbus@latest"
    exit 1
fi

if ! command -v salty > /dev/null; then
    printf "missing salty command. Use:  go install go.mills.io/salty/cmd/salty@latest"
    exit 1
fi

if ! command -v salty-keygen > /dev/null; then
    printf "missing salty-keygen command. Use:  go install go.mills.io/salty/cmd/salty-keygen@latest"
    exit 1
fi

if [ -z "$SALTY_IDENTITY" ]; then
    export SALTY_IDENTITY="$HOME/.config/salty/$USER.key"
fi

get_user () {
    user=$(grep user: "$SALTY_IDENTITY" | awk '{print $3}')
    if [ -z "$user" ]; then
        user="$USER"
    fi
    echo "$user"
}

stream () {
    if [ -z "$SALTY_IDENTITY" ]; then
        echo "SALTY_IDENTITY not set"
        exit 2
    fi

    jq -r '.payload' | base64 -d | salty -i "$SALTY_IDENTITY" -d
}

lookup () {
    if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
    printf "Usage: %s nick@domain\n" "$(basename "$0")"
    exit 1
    fi

    user="$1"
    nick="$(echo "$user" | awk -F@ '{ print $1 }')"
    domain="$(echo "$user" | awk -F@ '{ print $2 }')"

    curl -qsSL "https://$domain/.well-known/salty/${nick}.json"
}

readmsgs () {
    topic="$1"

    if [ -z "$topic" ]; then
        topic=$(get_user)
    fi

    export SALTY_IDENTITY="$HOME/.config/salty/$topic.key"
    if [ ! -f "$SALTY_IDENTITY" ]; then
        echo "identity file missing for user $topic" >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    msgbus sub "$topic" "$0"
}

sendmsg () {
    if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
        printf "Usage: %s nick@domain.tld <message>\n" "$(basename "$0")"
        exit 0
    fi

    if [ -z "$SALTY_IDENTITY" ]; then
        echo "SALTY_IDENTITY not set"
        exit 2
    fi

    user="$1"
    message="$2"

    salty_json="$(mktemp /tmp/salty.XXXXXX)"

    lookup "$user" > "$salty_json"

    endpoint="$(jq -r '.endpoint' < "$salty_json")"
    topic="$(jq -r '.topic' < "$salty_json")"
    key="$(jq -r '.key' < "$salty_json")"

    rm "$salty_json"

    message="[$(date +%FT%TZ)] <$(get_user)> $message"

    echo "$message" \
        | salty -i "$SALTY_IDENTITY" -r "$key" \
        | msgbus -u "$endpoint" pub "$topic"
}

make_user () {
    mkdir -p "$HOME/.config/salty"

    if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
        user=$USER
    else
        user=$1
    fi

    identity_file="$HOME/.config/salty/$user.key"

    if [ -f "$identity_file" ]; then
        printf "user key exists!"
        exit 1
    fi

    # Check for msgbus env.. probably can make it fallback to looking for a config file?
    if [ -z "$MSGBUS_URI" ]; then
        printf "missing MSGBUS_URI in environment"
        exit 1
    fi


    salty-keygen -o "$identity_file"
    echo "# user: $user" >> "$identity_file"

    pubkey=$(grep key: "$identity_file" | awk '{print $4}')

    cat <<- EOF
Create this file in your webserver well-known folder. https://hostname.tld/.well-known/salty/$user.json

{
  "endpoint": "$MSGBUS_URI",
  "topic": "$user",
  "key": "$pubkey"
}

EOF
}

# check if streaming
if [ ! -t 1 ]; then
    stream
    exit 0
fi

# Show Help
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
    printf "Commands: send read lookup"
    exit 0
fi


CMD=$1
shift

case $CMD in
    send)
        sendmsg "$@"
    ;;
    read)
        readmsgs "$@"
    ;;
    lookup)
        lookup "$@"
    ;;
    make-user)
        make_user "$@"
    ;;
esac

Tractor Beam
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Startup Aims To Help Software Companies Shift To Usage-Based Pricing Models
The startup Metronome “claims to have developed a billing and data infrastructure platform that is capable of ‘reliably’ processing data at scale so that usage-based companies can iterate on business models without code changes,” reports TechCrunch. “It does this by providing businesses with real-time APIs for their customer … ⌘ Read more

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org this might be of help https://wordle.at/

Netflix Raises Monthly Subscription Prices in US, Canada
Netflix has raised its monthly subscription price by $1 to $2 per month in the United States depending on the plan, the company said on Friday, to help pay for new programming to compete in the crowded streaming TV market. From a report: The standard plan, which allows for two simultaneous streams, now costs $15.49 per month, up from $13.99, in the Unite … ⌘ Read more

Jerome Powell Says the Fed is Prepared To Raise Rates To Tame Inflation
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, told lawmakers on Tuesday that a rapidly healing economy no longer needed as much help from the central bank and that keeping inflation in check – including by raising interest rates – would be critical for enabling a stable expansion that benefits workers. From a report: Mr. Powell, … ⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de
No worries, I understood you perfectly. My reply was merely a commentary, because some here—specially the youth, and I have a 20 years old son—think that the vaccine makes the 100% impervious, and thus behave pretty stupidly.

I am the one in charge of bringing food, and helping the elderly in the family, so I take super extra precautions… for their sake.

@prologic@twtxt.net I knew you were short sided from day one I saw Yarn. On desktop everything is huge, and I assumed it was to cater short-sightedness. Also, you have enabled underlines on buttons on iOS, bold and bigger fonts, etc., so that was also a give away. Sorry if I digress, but, glasses wouldn’t help? I have to wear mine all the time, otherwise I am also near blind myself!

@movq@www.uninformativ.de 12,342 twts, totalling 6.2 MB. Would deleting help, or will they come back? I guess there is one way to find out! 😄

@xuu@txt.sour.is yikes the style sheet for blogs needs help.

Anyone here good with Go and feel like helping me build our a “Direct Messages” feature? I was going to pay someone on Upwork to do this, but I’ve received very few applicants (just one!) and they aren’t that good (stock standard crappy Bootstrap experience and no evidence of any experience with Go).

@prologic@twtxt.net @twtxt@txt.sour.is I have noticed that I will get some duplicate web mention notifications. some kind of dedup would be helpful.

Donated 500ml of my own blood today at the Uniklinik in Düsseldorf to help others in need.

@von@tilde.town Understanding you. For me: keeping a bullet-journal on a paper notebook helped me herd my chaotic mind into manageable streams. See https://bulletjournal.com

Created an Indieweb.org wiki article about twtxt - help expand it please - https://indieweb.org/twtxt

I usually tell people to read The Goal by Eli Goldratt. It’s weird in a lot of ways, but it really helped me understand the roots of modern agile development process.