#EDIT not staying up for archive why did I think it maintenance would only be an hour lolol

[sally-mun]

Episode 5: Meanwhile, Behind the Scenes...

Back in Episode 1, I mentioned that Hamlin was the driving force behind the invasion of Albion, but I didn’t delve into why. Well, one of the problems that plagued Albion for the years following Finitevus’ attack was a contamination of their groundwater and soil. Prolonged exposure to the contaminants can result in a degenerative nerve disease colloquially known as Albion Syndrome. This condition is what initially drew Hamlin’s eye; in his best case scenario, the contaminants could be harnessed and weaponized in case they ever had need of chemical warfare. Of course, he couldn’t exactly be forward with this sort of motivation, so his public argument was that Finitevus still needed to pay for his crimes against the world, even if Albion had come to embrace him as a hero for getting them back on their feet. He promised that if Albion wouldn’t deliver him to face justice, then the Acorn Kingdom needed to go take him… and maybe quietly annex Albion in the process.

Now, take everything I just told you and put a pin in it for a second. In Episode 2, something else that got mentioned briefly was the fact that Robotnik closely monitored East and West Acorn following his broadcast. The perimeter forces were easily spotted by both nations’ security teams, but the aerial monitoring initially went unnoticed. Unfortunately, it was discovered when Tails attempted (again) to prove himself useful and performed a sky patrol to keep tabs on the perimeter. He was literally shot out of the sky by one of Robotnik’s drones, and probably would’ve died from the fall alone had Knuckles not witnessed it and warped in to catch him. Tails didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries, but took heavy damage to the base of his spine, resulting in paralysis of both of his tails and severely limiting the use of his legs.

It’s at this point that Amadeus took an interest in Albion. Given that Albion Syndrome is a nerve issue, there was a chance that a cure for it could also be used in some way to help Tails. Amadeus made the decision to begin secretly funneling a portion of his own funds to the lab working on treatment options, with the agreement that he gets access to any advancement they make. This deal was made in absolutely secrecy, however, as Amadeus had every expectation that if Hamlin got wind of it, things wouldn’t go well for him on the council.

So imagine the lab’s surprise when one day Amadeus’ funding suddenly cuts off, with no notice or explanation. Finitevus, a consultant at the lab, ventures to West Acorn to find out what’s going on – only to find instead that Amadeus immediately behaves as though Fini is an immediate threat and draws his sword. Fini retreats and wonders what the hell is going on; surely Amadeus could’ve concluded that he was there to ask what was up, right?

Many plots later, Finitevus has discovered that someone named Adam is watching Amadeus’ every move, which is why he had to stop sending money to Albion and pretend to regard Fini as an enemy of the state. More investigation reveals that this Adam seems to be gunning for the Acorn Council, which meant that it may be more than just Amadeus that’s being stalked. Fini takes it upon himself to continue looking into this matter; West Acorn already regards him as a criminal anyway, so he didn’t have a reputation to worry about ruining, and if he got in a sticky situation he could just warp away to safety.

Another batch of plot reveals that Adam isn’t a name, it’s an acronym: The “Automatic Data Archiving Mainframe.” Adam is an AI – and most alarmingly, he appears to have been built off of Nicole’s code. Feeling that all of this is well over his head, Fini enlists the help of Nicole herself. This reveals that Adam’s base functions are indeed the same as hers, but his prime directives are extremely limited. Adam isn’t trying to take over the council, he’s just programmed in a way that makes him paranoid and obsessed with security. Finitevus posits the idea of creating a virus to stop him, but Nicole refuses, as she states that any virus that could ruin Adam would probably be viable against herself. Instead, Nicole suggests a patch: Something that would expand his prime directives beyond his limited scope, as well as tidy up his general coding (as she noticed his programming seemed very… cobbled together). She also warns Fini that Adam has a large array of projection models to represent himself; he could literally be anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Upon completion of the patch, Fini heads back to West Acorn and begins skulking around various important government locations, attempting to draw Adam’s attention in the hopes that he’d confiscate the flash drive and accidentally install the patch himself. Fini eventually warps himself into Castle Acorn, banking on the notion that this must be where Adam’s mainframe is located since it’s the epicenter of their government. All that was left to do was to keep acting suspicious until someone “caught” him.

To his surprise, Finitevus is intercepted by King Max, who angrily demands to know what he’s doing in his home. Deciding there’s not much to lose here, Fini plainly states that he’s looking for Adam. Max scoffs and says he doesn’t know anyone by that name, then calls for security. Fini explains exactly who and what Adam is, hoping that if nothing else this might upset Max enough to get… well okay maybe not an ally, but at least stop him from being an enemy.

However, to Fini’s shock, Max suddenly stands up from his wheelchair and announces that he can’t have him running around with that sort of information. Finitevus immediately moves to warp away, but Max snags his arm before he can toss the ring – hard. Fini makes every effort to shake him loose, but to his disbelief, Max’s grip never wavers. Instead he drags Fini to a panel in the wall and removes a pair of inhibitor rings (like the kind Shadow uses) and forces them onto Fini’s arms, effectively stopping him from being able to use chaos energy to escape. Realizing just how screwed he is, Fini takes a chance and tries addressing Max as Adam.

Max – Adam – responds that he’s been watching Fini all day and demands to know what he’s been up to. Fini makes a roundabout response about how Adam of all people should understand wanting to snoop, while idly fiddling with the flash drive in one hand. Adam spots this and snags the drive from him… but to Fini’s horror, crushes it and asks if Fini honestly thought he’d be stupid enough to infect himself with a virus. Doing his best not to panic, all Fini can think to say is that that’s not what it was.

Adam leads Fini out of the prominent areas of Castle Acorn into what appear to be maintenance corridors. Expecting that he’s about to be imprisoned, Fini starts formulating an escape strategy – but to his amazement, Adam actually leads him directly to his mainframe. Adam comments that Fini needs to be scanned so he can make a model of him before he’s taken to his cell, and instructs him to stand on a circular platform. At that same moment, Hamlin enters the room, instantly becoming irate and demanding to know why Adam hasn’t taken stricter security measures with Fini. Confused, Adam says that Fini’s been subdued and therefor no longer constitutes a threat. Hamlin irritably takes a seat at one of the consoles and hammers away at the keyboard; Adam’s model promptly vanishes for a moment, then reappears, somewhat corrupted. He cycles through several projections before finally settling on a royal guard.

Suddenly it seems as though Adam’s aggression has dramatically increased, and he roughly grabs Fini and throws him toward the door so he can be locked up. Mulling over the obvious deficiencies in the way Hamlin’s attempted to edit him, Fini attempts idle conversation with Adam, hoping to crash his system by pointing out contradictions in his directives. For the most part this tactic works; Adam’s model glitches out repeatedly before vanishing again. Finitevus flees the castle, all the while still speaking out loud to Adam on the off chance he can still hear, reiterating that the flash drive was not a virus, and if it’s salvageable he should take a look at it to prove it. Luckily Adam doesn’t manage to project his model again before Fini makes contact with Knuckles and fully escapes.

Spooked by how helpless he’d been with those inhibitor rings, Fini keeps his distance from West Acorn for a while, but ultimately can’t help trying to find out if the plan had ever worked. He warps (in a mild disguise) back to West Acorn, and is almost immediately intercepted by Adam in the form of a castle guard. Fini feigns ignorance, but after taking him to a private area, Adam switches his projection model back to that of Max to make his point. He immediately demands to know what Fini had done to him, admitting that his paranoia had gotten the best of him and he did in fact repair and investigate that flash drive. Fini calmly states that he’d simply fixed the parts that were broken and added the parts that were missing: Emotion, critical analysis, etc. He also points out that it seems to be working, because Adam was having a conversation with him rather than immediately locking him up. Adam sputters a bit about Fini staying out of his territory and leaving his system alone, then demands he leave before he DID get locked up.

Over the next few weeks this pattern repeats, with Finitevus intermittently dropping in somewhere secluded in Castle Acorn and waiting for Adam to appear so they could have a conversation. Their discussions generally focus on Adam’s programming – his directives, how those directives interact (or interfere) with one another, how the terms are defined, etc. With each discussion Adam appears to become more “aware” of his situation beyond the scope of simply monitoring West Acorn Republic. At no point does he make a move to actually incarcerate Fini, even warning him a few times not to say or do certain things because it would be construed as “a threat” and force him to act against him.

During one of Finitevus’ visits, Adam seems more distraught over his situation than usual. Fini presses him for information, reminding him that up until now, he’s been nothing but trustworthy and has helped him process all the new emotions he’d been experiencing. Adam says nothing, but withdraws his projection and instead unlocks a nearby door. One by one Adam leads Finitevus through the secluded areas of Castle Acorn, unlocking and relocking doors as he passes. This ultimately leads Fini to the door of an enormous vault. Once Adam enters the proper code, Fini opens the massive door and steps in to find the usual suspects: Treasures, confidential records, heirlooms, etc. The only thing that seems out of place is a small table against the back wall, holding nothing but a small, dusty vase. Stepping closer, Finitevus realizes it’s not a vase – it’s an urn.

The name on the urn reads, “King Maximillian Acorn.”

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[sorcerusdragonbionics]

Reading List 7/28- 8/3

And I’m still late, but like way worse than last time. I apologize, one of my semesters ended on the 2nd and the other one ends on the 15th. So I did this as a mental break from my school work. Also, I have a TON on my list so it’s a little daunting.

Here’s the Google Link or Keep Reading. Whichever suits your fancy.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BAGH7cAzHse8a8uLCSIiK-ZJ3YC13vNK_7AzoDOdG3g/edit?usp=sharing

7Promise Me Series

Fandom: BNHA

Author: Femmie

https://archiveofourown.org/series/1422073

Book 1: Promise Me!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19403938/chapters/46176517

Summary: The League of Villains attacks UA High, leaving great consequences. More specifically, they turn certain individuals back to children… // How will the young heroes in training react to this sudden change? // And what will happen when a misterious secret of Izuku Midoriya is uncovered?

16/16

Rating: T

Warnings: no archive warnings apply

Words: 41684

Book 2: Forgive Me

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19818796/chapters/46925842

Summary: It's been five years since graduation. Five years since the incident took place... It left scars on all of them, but mostly on Deku's reputation. // Will he keep his head up as society beats him down? // And what happens when an old enemy surfaces once again?

9/15

Last updated: 31/7/2019

Has been updated since. Now Complete.

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose not to use Archive Warnings 

Book 2 gives you a pretty good idea of what happened and it’s not exactly… pleasant, but not graphic just intense

Words: 14595

A Little Issue

Fandom: BNHA

Author: thebakuhoe

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16049183/chapters/37468160

Summary: Everyone awoke to an ear piercing screech. // “MAMA? WHERE ARE YOU? W-WHERE AM I?”// A child? What’s a kid doing in the dorms…? Aizawa thought, as he lugged his tired body through the hall, trying to find the source of the screams. // One by one, students started bursting out of their rooms, “What’s that screaming? “Did a kid get in here?” everyone was panicking at the sudden chaos. // “Calm down, everyone. Jirou, use your quirk to find where that shrieking is coming from, everyone else, quiet down!” // After regaining her composure, Kyoka plugged her earphone into the wall, closing her eyes. “It’s coming from… Midoriya’s room?” // Aizawa threw open Izuku’s room door, only to find a small Izuku, huddled in the corner, crying his heart out. // 'Jesus fucking Christ…' Aizawa whispered under his breath, walking towards the child. // “W-who are you? W-where’s my mom? Did she send me away?” Little Izuku could barely get the words before everyone saw him, and the chaos started all over again.

13/?

Last updated 2019/7/3

Has since been updated. Now: 14/? - updated 8/9

Ratings: G

Warnings: no archive warnings apply

Words: 15919

Costume Party

Fandom: BNHA

Author: Saysi

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16601090/chapters/38907170

Summary: One Halloween Bakugou Katsuki put together a passable wolf costume, and ever since, he has worn the same outfit for every costume party he was dragged along to. This time, though, he finds himself face to face with a very drunk Midoriya Izuku, who has ingested more than enough liquid courage to have some fun with Bakugou's costume. // Who would have guessed Bakugou was into it the whole time?

3/3

Rating: E

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 10523

The Demon Alchemist Series

Fandom: FMA

Author: metisket

Reader: Opalsong

https://archiveofourown.org/series/172415

In Defiance of Reason Summary: “Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re doin’ your best. It’s just your best isn’t quite good enough, Colonel. So while you’re doing whatever the hell it is you do, I’ll be here cleaning up after you.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2580431

Time: 33:08

1/1

Rating: T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Justifying the Means Summary: In which Ed becomes Central's local vigilante, thereby becoming Maes's problem. Roy finds something poetic in this. // He looked nervous, and nerves were never something you wanted to see in a person who might fly off the handle and kill everyone in sight, Maes reflected.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/2671454

Time:  2:30:53

1/1

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Theory and Practice Summary: Ed took a trip out East for automail maintenance, and came back with a Xingian prince and a suicidal plan involving lots of explosions. Maes was coming to expect this sort of behavior from Ed.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4910062

Time: 3:00:23

1/1

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Spin Summary: Ed knows a hundred ways to kill a person organized into ten distinct degrees of painful, but only the most basic first aid. And if that doesn’t say it all.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5038312

Time: 4:47:57

2/2

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Podfic- 0 words read

Full PodBook Time: 10:52:21

How can you smile with so many scars

Fandom: BNHA

Author: Quirkyasfok

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16226225/chapters/37928999

Summary: After taking on a villain who's quirk involves making the words that have hurt someone the most appear on the their skin Katsuki begins to learn the true power of how much effect words can have on someone.

3/3

Rating: T

Warnings: Creator chose not to use Archive Warnings

The spiral that Kacchan goes on is fast but steep and his thoughts of Izuku’s back is descriptive.

Words: 3921

What The Fuck Did You Just Call Me?!

Fandom: BNHA

Author: reading_raindrop

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16122836/chapters/37665152

Summary: “A-ah B-Bakugou! You dropped some pencils!” // Katsuki stiffened. Kirishima and Kaminari froze. Basically, everyone within earshot stopped what they were doing to look at Izuku like he sprouted a second head. What did he just call him? “What the fuck did you just say to me?” // Katsuki whipped his head towards Izuku with his signature death glare as he stood up from where he picked up the fallen supplies. // “U-um I said you dropped some pencils! I think this eraser might be yours to-” // “No. What the fuck did you just call me?” // Izuku starts calling him Bakugou and it pisses the explosive teen off a lot more than he thought it would

4/4

Rating: T

Warnings: no archive warnings apply

Words: 8303

Weird Duo

Fandom: BNHA

Author: Hoothootowls

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19008829/chapters/45141760

Summary: Growing up together they were always together, even if bakugou was vulgar and rude while midoryia was a sweet soft hearted child. // It was rough after they found out izuku was quirkless. Bakugou thinking izuku was now useless and weak. Izuku crying and trying to prove him wrong. // It worked out when Katsuki realized all he had to do was stay with Izuku to keep him from being totally worthless, because there was no way deku could ever be anything by himself. He needed Katsuki. // It helped that Izuku was almost kidnapped as a kid, leaving Katsuki to never let deku go anywhere alone.

4/?

Last updated: 2019/7/31

Rating: T

Warnings: creator chose not to use archive warnings

Katsuki is overprotective to the point of where it could very easily be considered controlling (it’s in the tags)

Words: 5275

A Dusty Journal

Fandom: FMA

Author: First_Duchess

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20022103/chapters/47410486

Summary: "I don't really understand it, is all." Winry mumbled into the phone, then her tone got serious. "Seriously, and be honest with me, Mustang, what perverse bullshit did you subject Ed to? Because that's the only logical explanation I can come up with for this." // Roy sat there, dumbfounded and speechless (which was a rarity), and didn't have much sense in himself to cut the tension over the line. // "I'm sorry, Ms. Rockbell, could you repeat all that?"

4/?

Last updated: 8/1/2019

Has Since been updated. Now: 7/? - 8/9

Rating: E

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 14798

Game On! Series

Author: lightgetsin

Reader: Hananobira

https://archiveofourown.org/series/396001

Play to Win Summary: Ed loses his virginity, and then his inhibitions. Roy loses his mind.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/5828362

Time: 1:24:22

1/1

Rating: E

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

A Game for Two Players Summary: "The Bastard is not in love with me, and I can prove it. With science!"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/564911

Time: 2:02:30

Rating: M

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Podfic- 0 words read

No PodBook so no total time

Twenty-Four

Fandom: BNHA

Author: SharkbaitSekki

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13167162

Summary: Izuku gets himself kidnapped, and Katsuki is dragged into it with him as they face villains with particularly terrifying illusion Quirks. // It ends up being a living nightmare, but Katsuki can't bring himself to regret following Izuku into it all. Because between the pain and the terror, between the lies and the illusions, between life and death, at least they can always hang onto one another. Even if everything else is fake, they know that they will always be real.

1/1

Rating: T

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Yeah this is Dark, heed the torture tag

Words: 5376

Origins Series

Fandom: BNHA

Author: SoraMoto

https://archiveofourown.org/series/935172

Origin Summary: In a world of magic and myth Prince Shouto is tasked with finding a legendary sword that makes kings, Beast King Bakugou only wants someone to keep his castle clean and make spicy curry for him, and Izuku just can't believe his poor luck.

23/23

Rating: T

Warnings: Major Character Death

Words: 25883

Rebirth Summary: No one's sure what lead to some people getting soulmate marks, but what Izuku does know is that with or without a quirk he is going to do all he can to be the protector of his two soulmates. Too bad one of them is angry that his symbol is girly and the other thinks the only way to protect the others is to keep his distance. Why can this never be easy?

71/71

Rating: T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 72579

Later Summary: Years later, after all three have become heroes, we get a small glimpse into their lives.

1/1

Rating: T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 1258

Rebirth Deleted Scenes Summary: You guys asked for and here it is, the sexy times scene I left out of Rebirth after Shiguraki and Izuku meet at the mall. // Shouto and Katsuki were both worried for their boyfriend following the attack and now they punish him and make him promise to never do it again. // Please read after chapter 50 of Rebirth.

1/1

Rating: E

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Words: 1497

An Interesting Trip

Fandom: FMA

Author: ShanaStoryteller

Reader: Rhea314 (Rhea)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9160828

Summary: Everyone's born with their soulmate's first words to them written on their skin, and that should make things easy, but it really doesn't. // "Roy has alternatively despised his mark and clung to it like a lifeline. Colonel. Just one word, right at the back of his foot. His literal Achilles’ heel.

1/1

Rating: Not Rated

Like Low T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Podfic- 0 words read

Time: 45:31

Your Son

Fandom: FMA

Author: Bookwrm on FFnet, but there is no current link that I could fins=d

Reader: Glass_Lady

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7214956

Summary: "I'm not your father. It's not fair that you can affect me this much." A military function becomes a nightmare when Ed accidentally takes a poisoned drink meant for Roy.

1/1

Rating: T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Podfic- 0 words read

Time: 50:16

Know the Difference

Fandom: FMA

Author: ShanaStoryteller

Reader: Rhea314 (Rhea)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13730778

Summary: “You’ve heard the rumors,” Mustang says, looking at Ed over the top of his latest report, “about the angels.” // Ed scoffs and rolls his eyes, “Angels don’t exist, don’t be ridiculous.” // “Of course, of course,” he murmurs, gaze sliding back down, “There have been multiple eye witness accounts, however.” // Ed slouches into the chair and doesn’t bother to keep the contempt to from his voice when he says, “Don’t depend on anything with wings to save you. Things that were made to leave always end up doing so, in the end.” // “Yes, well,” he says, “sometimes they come back.”

1/1

Rating: T

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Podfic- 0 words read

Time: 1:01:23

Halfway Decent

Fandom: FMA

Author: Tierfal

Reader: Opalsong

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13054374

Summary: Roy gets significantly more than he bargained for with a pair of gold-eyed prostitutes.

1/1

Rating: E

Warnings: Underage

Heed the NonCon Drug Use PLEASE (plus it’s darker if you interpret things a certain way.)

Podfic- 0 Words Read

Time: 33:46

Cause for Concern

Fandom: FMA

Author: metisket

Reader: Opalsong

https://archiveofourown.org/works/13051365

Summary: Havoc's first encounter with the little Elrics. // Havoc had been looking forward to meeting the Elric brothers, but he’d been looking forward to it while thinking he’d have the whole office as a buffer. He hadn’t thought he’d have them all to himself in a car for half an hour in traffic. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Overjoyed was not the word.

1/1

Rating: G

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Podfic- 0 Words Read

Time: 20:14

[jmtapio]

Since 2003, the Debian project has been running a server called Alioth to host source code version control systems. The server will hit the end of life of the Debian LTS release (Wheezy) next year; that deadline raised some questions regarding the plans for the server over the coming years. Naturally, that led to a discussion regarding possible replacements.

In response, the current Alioth maintainer, Alexander Wirt, announced a sprint to migrate to pagure, a free-software "Git-centered forge" written in Python for the Fedora project, which LWN covered last year. Alioth currently runs FusionForge, previously known as GForge, which is the free-software fork of the SourceForge code base when that service closed its source in 2001. Alioth hosts source code repositories, mainly Git and Subversion (SVN) and, like other "forge" sites, also offers forums, issue trackers, and mailing list services. While other alternatives are still being evaluated, a consensus has emerged on a migration plan from FusionForage to a more modern and minimal platform based on pagure.

Why not GitLab?

While this may come as a surprise to some who would expect Debian to use the more popular GitLab project, the discussion and decision actually took place a while back. During a lengthy debate last year, Debian contributors discussed the relative merits of different code-hosting platforms, following the initiative of Debian Developer "Pirate" Praveen Arimbrathodiyil to package GitLab for Debian. At that time, Praveen also got a public GitLab instance running for Debian (gitlab.debian.net), which was sponsored by GitLab B.V. — the commercial entity behind the GitLab project. The sponsorship was originally offered in 2015 by the GitLab CEO, presumably to counter a possible move to GitHub, as there was a discussion about creating a GitHub Organization for Debian at the time. The deployment of a Debian-specific GitLab instance then raised the question of the overlap with the already existing git.debian.org service, which is backed by Alioth's FusionForge deployment. It then seemed natural that the new GitLab instance would replace Alioth.

But when Praveen directly proposed to move to GitLab, Wirt stepped in and explained that a migration plan was already in progress. The plan then was to migrate to a simpler gitolite-based setup, a decision that was apparently made in corridor discussions surrounding the Alioth Git replacement BoF held during Debconf 2015. The first objection raised by Wirt against GitLab was its "huge number of dependencies". Another issue Wirt identified was the "open core / enterprise model", preferring a "real open source system", an opinion which seems shared by other participants on the mailing list. Wirt backed his concerns with an hypothetical example:

Debian needs feature X but it is already in the enterprise version. We make a patch and, for commercial reasons, it never gets merged (they already sell it in the enterprise version). Which means we will have to fork the software and keep those patches forever. Been there done that. For me, that isn't acceptable.

This concern was further deepened when GitLab's Director of Strategic Partnerships, Eliran Mesika, explained the company's stewardship policy that explains how GitLab decides which features end up in the proprietary version. Praveen pointed out that:

[...] basically it boils down to features that they consider important for organizations with less than 100 developers may get accepted. I see that as a red flag for a big community like debian.

Since there are over 600 Debian Developers, the community seems to fall within the needs of "enterprise" users. The features the Debian community may need are, by definition, appropriate only to the "Enterprise Edition" (GitLab EE), the non-free version, and are therefore unlikely to end up in the "Community Edition" (GitLab CE), the free-software version.

Interestingly, Mesika asked for clarification on which features were missing, explaining that GitLab is actually open to adding features to GitLab CE. The response from Debian Developer Holger Levsen was categorical: "It's not about a specific patch. Free GitLab and we can talk again." But beyond the practical and ethical concerns, some specific features Debian needs are currently only in GitLab EE. For example, debian.org systems use LDAP for authentication, which would obviously be useful in a GitLab deployment; GitLab CE supports basic LDAP authentication, but advanced features, like group or SSH-key synchronization, are only available in GitLab EE.

Wirt also expressed concern about the Contributor License Agreement that GitLab B.V. requires contributors to sign when they send patches, which forces users to allow the release of their code under a non-free license.

The debate then went on going through a exhaustive inventory of different free-software alternatives:

GitLab, a Ruby-based GitHub replacement, dual-licensed MIT/Commercial

Gogs, Go, MIT

Gitblit, Java, Apache-licensed

Kallithea, in Python, also supports Mercurial, GPLv3

and finally, pagure, also written Python, GPLv2

A feature comparison between each project was created in the Debian wiki as well. In the end, however, Praveen gave up on replacing Alioth with GitLab because of the controversy and moved on to support the pagure migration, which resolved the discussion in July 2016.

More recently, Wirt admitted in an IRC conversation that "on the technical side I like GitLab a lot more than pagure" and that "as a user, GitLab is much nicer than pagure and it has those nice CI [continuous integration] features". However, as he explained in his blog "GitLab is Opencore, [and] that it is not entirely opensource. I don't think we should use software licensed under such a model for one of our core services" which leaves pagure as the only stable candidate. Other candidates were excluded on technical grounds, according to Wirt: Gogs "doesn't scale well" and a quick security check didn't yield satisfactory results; "Gitblit is Java" and Kallithea doesn't have support for accessing repositories over SSH (although there is a pending pull request to add the feature).

In an email interview, Sid Sijbrandij, CEO of GitLab, did say that "we want to make sure that our open source edition can be used by open source projects". He gave examples of features liberated following requests by the community, such as branded login pages for the VLC project and GitLab Pages after popular demand. He stressed that "There are no artificial limits in our open source edition and some organizations use it with more than 20.000 users." So if the concern of the Debian community is that features may be missing from GitLab CE, there is definitely an opening from GitLab to add those features. If, however, the concern is purely ethical, it's hard to see how an agreement could be reached. As Sijbrandij put it:

On the mailinglist it seemed that some Debian maintainers do not agree with our open core business model and demand that there is no proprietary version. We respect that position but we don't think we can compete with the purely proprietary software like GitHub with this model.

Working toward a pagure migration

The issue of Alioth maintenance came up again last month when Boyuan Yang asked what would happen to Alioth when support for Debian LTS (Wheezy) ends next year. Wirt brought up the pagure migration proposal and the community tried to make a plan for the migration.

One of the issues raised was the question of the non-Git repositories hosted on Alioth, as pagure, like GitLab, only supports Git. Indeed, Ben Hutchings calculated that while 90% (\~19,000) of the repositories currently on Alioth are Git, there are 2,400 SVN repositories and a handful of Mercurial, Bazaar (bzr), Darcs, Arch, and even CVS repositories. As part of an informal survey, however, most packaging teams explained they either had already migrated away from SVN to Git or were in the process of doing so. The largest CVS user, the web site team, also explained it was progressively migrating to Git. Mattia Rizzolo then proposed that older repository services like SVN could continue running even if FusionForge goes down, as FusionForge is, after all, just a web interface to manage those back-end services. Repository creation would be disabled, but older repositories would stay operational until they migrate to Git. This would, effectively, mean the end of non-Git repository support for new projects in the Debian community, at least officially.

Another issue is the creation of a Debian package for pagure. Ironically, while Praveen and other Debian maintainers have been working for 5 years to package GitLab for Debian, pagure isn't packaged yet. Antonio Terceiro, another Debian Developer, explained this isn't actually a large problem for debian.org services: "note that DSA [Debian System Administrator team] does not need/want the service software itself packaged, only its dependencies". Indeed, for Debian-specific code bases like ci.debian.net or tracker.debian.org, it may not make sense to have the overhead of maintaining Debian packages since those tools have limited use outside of the Debian project directly. While Debian derivatives and other distributions could reuse them, what usually happens is that other distributions roll their own software, like Ubuntu did with the Launchpad project. Still, Paul Wise, a member of the DSA team, reasoned that it was better, in the long term, to have Debian packages for debian.org services:

Personally I'm leaning towards the feeling that all configuration, code and dependencies for Debian services should be packaged and subjected to the usual Debian QA activities but I acknowledge that the current archive setup (testing migration plus backporting etc) doesn't necessarily make this easy.

Wise did say that "DSA doesn't have any hard rules/policy written down, just evaluation on a case-by-case basis" which probably means that pagure packaging will not be a blocker for deployment.

The last pending issue is the question of the mailing lists hosted on Alioth, as pagure doesn't offer mailing list management (nor does GitLab). In fact, there are three different mailing list services for the Debian project:

the main service, lists.debian.org, running ~~Mailman 2~~ SmartList and managed by hand

the Alioth service, lists.alioth.debian.org, running Mailman 2 and managed by FusionForge

the Debconf service, lists.debconf.org, also running Mailman 2

Wirt, with his "list-master hat" on, explained that the main mailing list service is "not really suited as a self-service" and expressed concern at the idea of migrating the large number mailing lists hosted on Alioth. Indeed, there are around 1,400 lists on Alioth while the main service has a set of 300 lists selected by the list masters. No solution for those mailing lists was found at the time of this writing.

In the end, it seems like the Debian project has chosen pagure, the simpler, less featureful, but also less controversial, solution and will use the same hosting software as their fellow Linux distribution, Fedora. Wirt is also considering using FreeIPA for account management on top of pagure. The plan is to migrate away from FusionForge one bit at a time, and pagure is the solution for the first step: the Git repositories. Lists, other repositories, and additional features of FusionForge will be dealt with later on, but Wirt expects a plan to come out of the upcoming sprint.

It will also be interesting to see how the interoperability promises of pagure will play out in the Debian world. Even though the federation features of pagure are still at the early stages, one can already clone issues and pull requests as Git repositories, which allows for a crude federation mechanism.

In any case, given the long history and the wide variety of workflows in the Debian project, it is unlikely that a single tool will solve all problems. Alioth itself has significant overlap with other Debian services; not only does it handle mailing lists and forums, but it also has its own issue tracker that overlaps with the Debian bug tracking system (BTS). This is just the way things are in Debian: it is an old project with lots of moving part. As Jonathan Dowland put it: "The nature of the project is loosely-coupled, some redundancy, lots of legacy cruft, and sadly more than one way to do it."

Hopefully, pagure will not become part of that "legacy redundant cruft". But at this point, the focus is on keeping the services running in a simpler, more maintainable way. The discussions between Debian and GitLab are still going on as we speak, but given how controversial the "open core" model used by GitLab is for the Debian community, pagure does seem like a more logical alternative.

Note: this article first appeared in the Linux Weekly News.

via Planet Debian

[johnbenjamin9578-blog]

Starting a Photography Business

When you're a keen digital photographer, and you have the desire to spend your working life doing something you take pleasure in such as photography, it would certainly be a pity if you did not seek it, even more, wouldn't it? You do not need to sign up with an organisation or pay thousands of dollars to get begun either. You merely require the passion to learn as well as continue. A lot of great photographers who rely on their trade to endure don't also know they have these traits since they love what they do and also they simply can not quit.

It holds true that there is riches to be made in photography and I'm not going to downplay that or present to the opposite because, in every situation, it's been up to the individual. Definition - it depends upon exactly what setting of digital photography they pick, how much time they take into business, do they have a commercial curved, are they extra creative than common and so on. All these points come into play when success in a photography business or studio is examined.

I don't want to create any false hopes by that last paragraph because success will certainly call for some hard work, resistance as well as patience. These next thirty tips need to assist you along the way. There is, even more, detail offered on this subject matter at the web link below this page.

Where can I get info on developing a digital photography organisation?

1. Constantly do some considerable study before starting out a job with your very own photography team so that you recognise the benefits and drawbacks included. Some suggestions include signing up for an excellent publication about the photographic market such as Professional Photographer, Video Camera Arts and Photo District Information. Besides that, the web is the biggest resource of information and also can provide you with a myriad of profession changes or even more info on starting a digital photography organisation.

At which degree do you intend to begin your digital photography service?

2. This is the trickiest question that a person interested in starting a service experience. It is essential to choose just what kind of photography organisation you desire so that the appropriate requirements as well as (often) money can be muscled up.

When is the best time to begin a fully-fledged digital photography service?

3. After picking just what you need and also any added needed equipment that is required to establish the necessary facilities, you will consider your primary tool - the camera meticulously, be it digital or film. You should also think about meticulously a reliable, top quality COMPUTER as well as real appropriate software application to adjust your pictures with only impacts. If the business is being carried out on a large scale then possibly a creating laboratory should be intended as well as established.

oWhat type of locations will generate actual revenue to your organisation?

4. A newly developed service in digital photography calls for a particular area or a beat (working locally), as in journalism. For example, wedding digital photography, sporting activities related photography or developing photography. As soon as produced, an organisation could likewise be expanded into much more fields.

Building a digital photography profile

5. It is always crucial to assemble a good pattern as for digital photography is concerned. A portfolio needs to include a collection of outstanding photographic job that you believe to be impressive. Make certain that pictures are uncommon in character and also are from varied fields. Your profile should have the ability to thrill the client in the initial conference.

6. Don't keep all the photographs that you have in your ownership. Only keep your best operate in the folder so that you don't shame on your own or find yourself needing to clarify pictures that aren't relevant.

7. Showcase spontaneous photos that you believe are of top quality. You would certainly be surprised how many individuals respond positively to people's expressions when they excel shots.

Standard apparatus called for

8. A canvas background of at minimum 7-9 foot as well as the background shades must be either navy or white as minimal needs to begin with; a well-branded workshop lights system such as that of Norman & Speedtron; accredited image adjustment software application such as Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop, etc

Exists a requirement for establishing a makeup studio as part of your picture workshop?

9. Make-up and also digital photography often go together. Wherever makeup is involved it is often referred to as digital technique photography because the powder is capable of entirely changing a person's individuality, as well as occasionally significance to a product in the case of marketing digital photography.

What type of photo-editing software program offered out there?

10. Photo-editing software through which individual results and also complete changes to a photo are feasible as well as could also usually save the requirement for a re-shoot.

11. Some of the photo-editing software that is prominent includes Photoshop CS; Photoshop Light area, iPhoto, I View Multimedia, MediaPro, ACDSee, Corel and also Picasa.

Are storage and therapy of pictures crucial in building photography service?

12. Never embrace laxity while managing or archiving photographs. You will regret it later. Storage space, as well as access effectiveness, will certainly either boost or irritate your workplace. Frequently old photos come to be more valuable with time.

Exactly how can be pictures be preserved quickly beside the traditional approach?

13. Today's cams are highly functional and also will certainly enable downloads as well as transfers from highly shocking tools including your mobile however pictures can additionally be kept on a CD's, USB's and also DVD's also.

Choosing a Video camera

14. Stay with w ell well-known brand name. The degree of large pixel offered and top quality of the zooming facility needs to be explored very carefully. I have my favourites, but there are several equally like mine.

15. Most of the cams are compatible with computers as well as printers and also because we currently make use of memory sticks, we are complimentary to run unencumbered.

What sort of a website does an individual have to have?

16. Your collection of photos should be correctly categorised under different groups. The visual look of your site will certainly do marvels for your business so take think about setting up one with semi-automation where the maintenance and effort are provided for you like photo stock plus.

17. Bear in mind to continually update as well as keep your site to make sure that each time people come across your website, they will locate find something brand-new and fascinating.

Copyright of your photos

18. Copyright is the right protects the individual that has or who took the photographs. A quick workout if you are aiming to use some stock homes for business purposes.

Why is a calling card valuable?

19. In every service, going to cards are handy. It is very beneficial in for people to contact you after your initial conference. It should consist of all your call information. If you're a photographer, a brilliant impressive visuals or a photo of on your own with your equipment is best. Your get in touch with number or email should be easy to read. I have seen cards that have huge names and photos, and the phone are so small they are difficult to read. Absurd! Make your contact number the largest point on the card - that's what most individuals will utilise it for.

Which points must ceremony while you prepare to construct a wedding celebration digital photography service?

20. Wedding Photography is virtually an additional art unto itself. There are numerous things to remember for a genuinely useful wedding celebration shoot. I have prepared one more write-up to handle this in even more detail and also it's everything about-- Wedding event Photography.--

Advantage of job photography

21. Task photography is that branch of digital photography where an individual is involved or consigned to catch shots of something outstanding and remarkable, such as in the case of marketing or portrait photography; this could supply you stable earnings after you've learned the ropes.

Advantage of stock digital photography

22. Stock digital photography is that branch of photography where there is a collected supply of photographs which can be sold to interested purchasers, developers, adverting companies, etc. This can be a slow haul but if your photos are well considered, it can be the resource of a recurring income.-- My favourite is stock photos--.

Other places where you can market your photo collection?

23. Art programs are the best platform where your creativity, as well as job, will certainly be valued since at such areas you will discover some particular niche clients that have an eagle eye natural ability. Such areas have been known to bring immediate popularity.

24. Winter Park Art Show at Orlando, Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts, Old Town Art Show; Chicago, Boston Mills Art Program; Peninsula, Ohio, Comparable art programs are held in different parts of the world, and also they are simple to discover on the web. Simply do a Google look for "photography art program" and also the name of the nation you are in after adding the plus sign such as this; "photography art program"+ Sweden

Prices to be charged from the clients

25. In the first phases of your service, don't aim to bill inflated quantities or else it will certainly provide the incorrect impression, and you will certainly probably shed a valuable long-term customer. Walk slowly. Ring various other digital photographers as well as research. Five calls need to do it.

Marketing your photography service

26. You must aim to market your working from appropriate locations. Photographs could likewise be published over the internet. Magazine over the internet will boost customer enquiry. Don't forget to look for suitable regional markets and obtain the snaps printed in a neighbourhood journal or paper as well as continually present your call number plainly - regularly!

27. Developing as well as making successful a company is a challenging phone call but if you take on a correct advertising and marketing strategy. Today, Advertising is one of the most popular mediums of promoting. Ads can be positioned on sites, on the internet telephone directories, papers and publications, etc. Research the ideal mediums before you enter. Occasionally good deals obstruct of acknowledging the right advertising and marketing automobile.

28. You can create a website of your very own to properly promote your digital photography business yet one thing that needs to be born in mind is always remembering to consist of a testimonial area as well as gauge the reaction of individuals going to the internet site. Let them make remarks.

Career potential customers in picture journalism

29. People curious about establishing a photography business could start their career by ending up being a photo reporter. Appealing and beautiful photos can be supplied to newspapers, publications, websites and also the photography organisation is flourishing to such a degree that even international media companies will use you bad money in return for rare and top quality pictures.

30. Mainstream photographers are participated in TELEVISION, parcels and also copy services, newspapers, publications as well as illustration photography. There are much more jobs likewise associated with photography compared to there ever before was previously, and because of the diversity and also versatility of electronic photography, even more regard has been attached to this profession. Several of the avenues in digital photography in addition to business are Journalism, Graphic Arts, Advertising and marketing, DTP works, Publications as well as Movie development.

Go and make on your own a warm beverage, as well as a, have a long Consider where you're posting likely to begin, that is if you have not already started.