Hacker News: JdeBP

New comment by JdeBP in "Lunar Flyby"

JdeBP — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 01:53:45 +0000

It may one day be, far in the future, although that's predicted to be so far off that Sol might have become a red giant by then, making the issue moot.

But only Luna is tidally locked at the moment. Terra is not, and its rotation still has a long way to slow down before it becomes so.

New comment by JdeBP in "Babylon 5 is now free to watch on YouTube"

JdeBP — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:27:02 +0000

Then go to Midwinter, the home of The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, and prepare to be absorbed for days.

New comment by JdeBP in "Windows NT/OS2 Design Workbook"

JdeBP — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:11:22 +0000

And also not entirely correct. The 16-bit 1.x API was definitely x86-specific. But the 32-bit 2.x API was not, as evidenced by OS/2 for PowerPC actually existing at one point.

New comment by JdeBP in "LT6502: A 6502-based homebrew laptop"

JdeBP — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 17:54:31 +0000

Transputers. Lots and lots and lots of transputers. (-:

New comment by JdeBP in "How Terminals Work"

JdeBP — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 09:06:14 +0000

For the record: https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/115869933538346446

New comment by JdeBP in "Understanding the bin, sbin, usr/bin, usr/sbin split (2010)"

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 10:03:57 +0000

There are no contemporary sources for that because it is, as it was called here on Hacker News some years ago, an 'ahistoric retcon'.

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31338349

The 's' is for 'static' version of the explanation of the name of sbin is not actually supported by any 20th century Unix doco. The books on AT&T Unix System 5 (before which, things were in /etc) that actually give an explanation for sbin all say system binaries, or system administration commands; and none of them says anything about linkage.

The 'static link' story came from Linux people years afterwards. Here's Ian McCloghrie correcting this misconception in a Linux discussion back in 1993:

* https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.linux.development/c/EKzL...

I pointed out the origins of sbin some years ago.

* https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/02/msg00041.html

New comment by JdeBP in "Understanding the bin, sbin, usr/bin, usr/sbin split (2010)"

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:44:22 +0000

If you had been born in the 1960s, you might well have learned by dint of being alive at the time that the world underneath /usr was pretty complicated in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; that /etc was where some of the things that were used to boot the system once went; and that the tale of sbin is complex and slightly sad.

The tale that things were simple until they went to pot in 2000 is wholly ahistoric.

New comment by JdeBP in "Understanding the bin, sbin, usr/bin, usr/sbin split (2010)"

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:28:43 +0000

The problems with what you say are that:

1. The history of /usr subdirectories is a lot more complex than that. There was a /usr/lbin once, for example.

1. /usr/local is not where third party softwares from packages/ports go on "the BSDs". On NetBSD, they go in /usr/pkg instead, again exemplifying that this is quite complex through history and across operating systems.

New comment by JdeBP in "Understanding the bin, sbin, usr/bin, usr/sbin split (2010)"

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:14:47 +0000

I really should write that "Yes, Virginia; executables once went in /etc." Frequently Given Answer.

Because it was /etc (and of course the root directory) where the files for system boot and system administration went in some of the Unices of yesteryear. In AT&T Unix System 5 Release 3, for example, /etc was the location of /etc/init, /etc/telinit, and /etc/login .

sbin is actually quite complex, historically, because there were a whole lot of other directories as well.

* https://jdebp.uk/FGA/unix-path-and-personalities.html

New comment by JdeBP in "Microsoft Office didn't just get renamed to Microsoft 365 Copilot"

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 08:13:39 +0000

To add further evidence: People actually discussed this here on Hacker News three months ago.

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45444362

Microsoft Office didn't just get renamed to Microsoft 365 Copilot

JdeBP — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 08:13:39 +0000

Article URL: https://www.howtogeek.com/no-microsoft-office-didnt-just-get-renamed-to-microsoft-365-copilot/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46509874

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare down: Facebook and X among apps not working in major internet outage"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:23:35 +0000

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 .

New comment by JdeBP in "Claude Is Down"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:17:55 +0000

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 for why.

New comment by JdeBP in "Downdetector Is Down"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:17:36 +0000

Already noted in lengthy discussion, in amongst many other ironies, at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 .

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare is down – live updates on internet outage affecting ChatGPT, X"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:16:55 +0000

Already at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 .

New comment by JdeBP in "ChatGPT Is Down"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:16:34 +0000

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 for why.

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:31:33 +0000

Sadly, I can report that this has brought down 2 of the major Mastodon nodes in the United Kingdom.

Happily, the small ones that I also use are still going without anyone apparently even noticing. At least, the subject has yet to reach their local timelines at the time that I write this.

2 of the other major U.K. nodes are still up, too.

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare is down and causing outages at X, OpenAI"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:21:37 +0000

Duplicates https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963949 .

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare Down?"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:18:44 +0000

Also later at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963949 .

New comment by JdeBP in "Cloudflare Down, Again"

JdeBP — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:17:08 +0000

Duplicates https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963780 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45963949 .