I'm working on…

1. pkgsrc

My mission: Run your own systems, no matter the OS, with the software you need installed and updated.

My work: Heard of OS-level package managers (like APT or Homebrew) that install, update, and remove third-party software for you, taking care of dependencies too? pkgsrc (pronounced “package source”) is a cross-platform package manager that supports a long, long list of Unix-style systems. I’ve used pkgsrc on NetBSD servers, Mac laptops, a Linux box without root access, and a bunch more. I was a key contributor to pkgsrc gaining OS X support in 2001 — back when lots of third-party code needed patching for this very strange Unix platform — and have been continuously involved since. I maintain over 100 packages and am a member of the leadership team.

One happy outcome: In a user's words, “Damn, you made it easy to get [qmail] up and running.”

Watch a lightning talk about one popular use case in Your Dev Toolbox, Everywhere.

Read about the long-term thinking that makes pkgsrc so gratifying in Area under the curve.

Clone pkgsrc from GitHub.

Try it by cloning pkgsrc and following the bootstrap instructions (skipping the CVS checkout step).

2. qmail

An awesome MTA finally has the awesome getting-started experience that it deserves. Thoughtful, flexible, and powerful.
— Nathan Arthur

My mission: Run your own mail server, own your own data, and contribute to a decentralized internet.

My work: Heard of email servers (like Postfix or Exim) that deliver your messages to and from other people? qmail came on the scene in 1996 — when most sysadmins had been suffering with Sendmail’s configuration syntax and frequent security holes — and changed the game. While qmail hasn’t been updated by its author since 1998, its design lends itself to being adapted gently and elegantly to meet present-day needs. My contributions have been focused on encryption, authentication, spam protection, portability, modernization, build automation, and overall ease of use.

One happy outcome: Along with a handful of qmail devotees, we're creating notqmail. We hope that, in the course of time, notqmail will prove to be the community-driven open-source successor to qmail. Our 1.08 release was coordinated to fix security vulnerabilities reported by Qualys (and inherited from qmail 1.03).

Watch how I first got attached to qmail as a Unix newbie, and how I’ve been relentlessly improving its integration ever since, in Maintaining qmail in 2018.

Read a summary of what I shipped by 2018’s end.

Clone my code from GitHub.

Try it by getting qmail-run from pkgsrc and following the instructions displayed afterward.

3. ikiwiki

My mission: Create your own website, own your own data, and publish however you see fit.

My work: Heard of static site generators (like Jekyll or GitHub Pages) that make websites from text files? Ikiwiki came on the scene in 2006, before SSGs were even a thing, and it’s so flexible as to include some optional dynamic features. On the strength of my contributions over the years, I'm an ikiwiki maintainer.