Kenny MacDermid KenMacD

Programming Achievements: How to Level Up as a Developer

This gist is part of a blog post. Check it out at:

http://jasonrudolph.com/blog/2011/08/09/programming-achievements-how-to-level-up-as-a-developer

I want to write software that helps kill people.

Please, before you call the police and get my github account put on lockdown, allow me a moment to explain. What I really want to do is work on projects that advance the human condition and improve people's lives. I've been in a mad dash to learn how to program for the past four or five years exactly because I realized how much good I could do for the world with a computer.

Build your own private, encrypted, open-source Dropbox-esque sync folder

Prerequisites:

One or more clients running a UNIX-like OS. Examples are given for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, although all software components are available for other platforms as well (e.g. OS X). YMMV
A cheap Ubuntu 12.04 VPS with storage. I recommend Backupsy, they offer 250GB storage for $5/month. Ask Google for coupon codes.

Software components used:

Unison for file synchronization
EncFS for folder encryption

Don't use VPN services.

No, seriously, don't. You're probably reading this because you've asked what VPN service to use, and this is the answer.

Note: The content in this post does not apply to using VPN for their intended purpose; that is, as a virtual private (internal) network. It only applies to using it as a glorified proxy, which is what every third-party "VPN provider" does.

A Russian translation of this article can be found here, contributed by Timur Demin.
A Turkish translation can be found here, contributed by agyild.
There's also this article about VPN services, which is honestly better written (and has more cat pictures!) than my article.

	! urxvt
	URxvt*buffered: true
	URxvt*cursorBlink: true
	URxvt*underlineColor: yellow
	URxvt*font: xft:inconsolata:size=10:antialias=true
	URxvt*depth: 32
	URxvt*borderless: 1
	URxvt*scrollBar: false
	URxvt*loginShell: true
	Urxvt*secondaryScroll: true # Enable Shift-PageUp/Down in screen

	#!/bin/bash

	unload() {
	kextstat \| grep "org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB" > /dev/null 2>&1 && sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB
	kextstat \| grep "org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt" > /dev/null 2>&1 && sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt
	kextstat \| grep "org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp" > /dev/null 2>&1 && sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp
	kextstat \| grep "org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv" > /dev/null 2>&1 && sudo kextunload -b org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv
	}

	load() {

	local lpeg = require "lpeg"

	local utf8_codepoint
	do
	-- decode a two-byte UTF-8 sequence
	local function f2 (s)
	local c1, c2 = string.byte(s, 1, 2)
	return c1 * 64 + c2 - 12416
	end

	# coding=utf-8
	"""
	LICENSE http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
	"""
	import datetime
	import sys
	import time
	import threading
	import traceback
	import SocketServer

	#!/bin/bash

	# Bash script for setting or clearing touch requirements for
	# cryptographic operations the OpenPGP application on a YubiKey 4.
	#
	# Author: Alessio Di Mauro <[email protected]>

	GCA=$(which gpg-connect-agent)
	DO=0
	UIF=0