Charles Stross wrote an interesting blog post about the apparent desire of super rich people to kill the poor, it seems that the people in power want to make all the conspiracy theories come true [1].

Wouter wrote an insightful blog post about the need for free firmware [2].

Matthew Garrett wrote an interesting blog post about the potential security issues raised by non-free firmware and firmware updates [3]. Which goes well with Wouter's post.

Interesting article about fake job adverts with a code sample for the applicant to show their skils which depends on hostile libraries that install a RAT [4]. Do we need Qubes for software development nowadays?

Bruce Schneier wrote an insightful and informative article about the two-tiered Internet access scheme in Iran and how it is bad for society [5].

Caleb Hearth gave an interesting talk Don't Get Distracted about the often ignored unethical uses of software [6].

Techdirt has an insightful article from 2025 Fascism For First Time Founders about why it's a bad idea for tech companies to support fascism, this aged very well [7].

Dr. Bret C. Devereaux wrote an informative blog post about why fascists always fail at war, and also authoritarians in general [8].

Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders wrote an interesting blog post about the new Japanese political party Team Mirai, we need this sort of party in every country to save democracy [9].

Sam Varghese wrote an insightful article about the current situation in Israel and Iran and the poor performance of Australian journalists in covering the issues [10].

Louis Rossman made a video about the Norwegian Consumer Council's advertising campaign about Enshittification, he includes an excellent advert that the Norwegians produced [11].

Marga Manterola gave a really good talk at Fosdem 2026 "Free as in Burned Out: Who Really Pays for Open Source?" [12].

• [1] https://tinyurl.com/2xqrrxkf
• [2] https://tinyurl.com/yvahow2x
• [3] https://tinyurl.com/27m7qusr
• [4] https://tinyurl.com/2adpd7gf
• [5] https://tinyurl.com/2bn627x2
• [6] https://calebhearth.com/dont-get-distracted
• [7] https://tinyurl.com/2b7m8pwa
• [8] https://tinyurl.com/2c9m6v4v
• [9] https://tinyurl.com/2ybcjpa5
• [10] https://sams-blog.com/?p=5730
• [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-D9LaitUw
• [12] https://tinyurl.com/26j5a8gj

30 Apr 2026 1:09pm GMT

How to build reverse dependencies using Salsa CI

Last week, I attended MiniDebConf Campinas, and one of my favorites talks was "Salsa CI, showing features that almost nobody knows" by Aquila Macedo.

One of the things I learned is that we can easily build reverse dependencies using:

$ git push -o ci.variable="SALSA_CI_DISABLE_BUILD_REVERSE_DEPENDENCIES=0"

I tried this option before uploading typer version 0.20.0-1:

This is an amazing feature. Thanks to everyone involved in making it happen!

30 Apr 2026 2:27am GMT

I mentor several people in Debian, and have been repeatedly asked to offer an opportunity to ask questions on a live call. I have now started a recurring video call for exactly that, which I call Mentoring Mondays, and it is open for anyone aspiring to contribute to Debian, one of the oldest and most widely used Linux distributions.

Mentoring Mondays have already been happening for the past few Mondays, and this week we had a record 20 people on the call. During the calls so far we have had a demo of updating a package for a new upstream release using gbp, and of how to create a Merge Request on Salsa for a new upstream version. There is clearly a need for this, so I am announcing this now also on my blog, just as I have publicly announced that I offer mentoring for aspiring Debian contributors.

What is Mentoring Mondays?

Mentoring Mondays is a recurring video call that lasts roughly 45 minutes with the agenda:

• Weekly walk-through: demo of something in Debian packaging, explaining the what and why
• Discussion on pros and cons to help participants develop their judgment
• Questions & answers on Debian packaging, or open source contributing in general

This is ideal for you if you:

• Have built a .deb package at least once and want to do it better
• Are stuck on a specific Debian packaging bug and need guidance
• Want to understand how Debian Developers actually work day-to-day

The call is mainly intended for those who want to contribute to Debian (or Debian derivatives, with Ubuntu being the most popular), but anyone can join to learn about things related to contributing to a Linux distribution. Please note that video chat uses Debian Social Jitsi. Joining the call requires authentication using a Salsa account, which anyone contributing to Debian should have anyway.

Calls are not recorded, so participants can chat freely, and are also encouraged to be on-camera for an enhanced sense of community.

Next call: Monday May 4th, 2026

• Time: Monday May 4th, 2026 at 12:30 UTC
• Calendar event: Download 2026-05-04.ics
• Meeting URL: https://jitsi.debian.social/MentoringMondays

Make sure you are logged into Salsa first, before opening the call on Debian's Jitsi instance.

Matrix channel and future meeting time announcements

Please join the Matrix channel #mentoringmondays:matrix.debian.social if you plan to attend Mentoring Mondays. All future meeting times will be announced there. It is also the channel to post questions about Debian packaging to be answered during the call.

The current meeting time is friendly to people in Europe, Asia and Australian time zones, and will repeat at the same time slot on:

• May 11th, 2026 at 12:30 UTC
• May 18th, 2026 at 12:30 UTC
• May 25th, 2026 at 12:30 UTC
• June 1st, 2026 at 12:30 UTC
• June 8th, 2026 at 12:30 UTC

Starting in mid-June the meeting time will change to accommodate participation in different time zones.

Spread the word

Feel free to extend the invite to anyone you think might be interested in joining!

If you mention this on social media, please post using tag #mentoringmondays, or simply boost the existing posts on the social media of your preference: Mastodon, Lemmy, Reddit, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Farcaster, X.

Thanks

A big thanks to Jason Kregting for helping organize. I would also like to thank in advance all the Debian Developers who are able to join the call and be available to participate in discussions and help answer questions.

30 Apr 2026 12:00am GMT