Showing 1—25 of 151.
2026-06
Firewalling Docker with nftables
- 2026-06-05
- 5 minutes
Docker has a reputation when it comes to firewalling - it's pretty difficult to restrict ports. It's best practice to have a firewall on your servers, to restrict incoming traffic by port or IP address. This means that not just anyone can start a server on an arbitrary port and receive traffic externally - the firewall needs to let it in. However, because of the way Docker works, starting a container listening on a port…
2026-05
My not-so-static new static website
- 2026-05-09
- 13 minutes
It's been 3.5 years since I last did this, so it's clearly about that time - time I rewrote my website. If you're reading this post, it's on a brand new custom built platform to serve my website. Under the hood it's still Python and Django, but gone is Wagtail, or any CMS for that matter. It's a semi-static site! According to the git history, I started this rewrite over a…
Torchbox's new status page
- 2026-05-07
When something breaks, our clients deserve to know. Here's how our new status page makes that easier.
2026-03
Torchbox Spring Event 2026 A/V
- 2026-03-25
- 16 minutes
A few times a year, everyone at Torchbox (my employer) gets together in person to hear updates about the company and its strategy from various members of the team (or "co-owners"). Those in the UK are expected to attend in person, for a day of socializing and confirming people do exist from the shoulders down. However, as a mostly remote company, with many people spread around the globe, we can't reasonably get everyone…
Wagtail Security team no longer accepts GPG-encrypted emails
- 2026-03-18
You can still report Wagtail security issues via email — just not with GPG.
Moving on from Gandi: Registrar and DNS migration
- 2026-03-07
- 13 minutes
DNS is the cornerstone of any infrastructure. Us humans are terrible at remembering strings of numbers (162.55.181.67), but we're good at remembering words (theorangeone.net). When people own a domain, there are 2 components involved: the registrar and name servers. For the last 9 months, Gandi has served served as both for me, and as just the registrar for longer still. As a service, they've been great. I've not had a…
2026-02
Extracting directories into their own repositories
- 2026-02-08
- 8 minutes
Software projects in git repositories (or Version Control Systems - yes there are others) tend to be made up of much more than just 1 file, or even 1 directory. To make functions and functionality easier to find, good software is split up, forming modules or isolated components which can be put together to form user journeys or processes. In some cases, these modules may become useful in their own right, and may benefit from…
2026-01
Wagtail's new Security Announcements Channel
- 2026-01-27
Get notified of security releases for your favorite CMS
State of the Server 2026
- 2026-01-01
- 17 minutes
Over 2025, I've come to realise quite how much I rely on the services running on my home server. Sure, I could still get on with most aspects of life, but so much revolves around my services being there and working. Over time, I only intend to grow that dependence, so I want to make sure everything is at its best. Much like 2024, 2025 has been another long and tiring year…
2025-12
Jake versus 2025
- 2025-12-28
- 15 minutes
Christmas is quieting down in my household, marking the end of yet another crazy life-changing year. At the end of last year, I told myself I needed to slow down and get to a more sustainable place. Needless to say that hasn't happened at all. Instead, life has developed and progressed in unexpected ways. Last year, I started a traditional "year in review" style post, to go along with my also-stolen "state of…
Why I returned my Proton subscription
- 2025-12-15
- 9 minutes
Nearly 10 years ago, I used Proton Mail for my email. At the time, it was the new kid on the block, but promised unrivalled privacy and security - 2 things I care greatly about. Fast forward, and that all still holds true. If, for whatever reason, I was doing sketchy things, and needed a secure email, it's where I'd go. Proton CEO Andy Yen gave a great TED Talk on starting…
2025-10
I ran a Half Marathon
- 2025-10-13
- 12 minutes
I'm not a runner, not by any stretch of imagination. But yesterday, I (and several colleagues) ran a half marathon - the Oxford Half Marathon. 13.1 miles, or 20 kilometers in non-freedom units. I'm currently sat on my sofa, with aching legs, a sore throat, and on hell of a sense of achievement. It's a Half Marathon, rather than being a full Marathon I bailed from half way through…
2025-09
django.tasks exists
- 2025-09-17
- 7 minutes
As of today (well, technically yesterday), django.tasks is officially released upon the world! Mostly. Note that django.tasks and django-tasks are in fact different, albeit by a single character. Take care when reading.What happened? As of today, the first PR to implement DEP 14 ("Background workers") has been merged into the main branch of the Django code base, all 3094 lines of it. We missed the 5.2 release window…
Terraforming AdGuardHome
- 2025-09-09
- 3 minutes
I like to configure as much of I can on the things I host (of which there's a fair amount) using Infrastructure as code, especially if it's a critical service. I recently switched the DNS server in my house to AdguardHome from Pi-hole, partly to try something new, but also because of the simpler deployment and more powerful features. Naturally I wanted to see if I could manage AdguardHome declaratively, too. AdguardHome is configured…
2025-08
2025-07
Deploying a Social Media server
- 2025-07-09
- 5 minutes
I talk to a lot of people through some form of online platform - conventional social media, forums, chat etc. Given I work remotely, it's where a fair bit of conversation ends up. Since leaving Twitter, I now self-host both of the main social media platforms I use: Bluesky since late 2024 and Mastodon since late 2022. When I set them up, both were running on my home server, inside my house. This…
2025-06
Make your Android phone feel faster with this one neat trick
- 2025-06-11
- 2 minutes
Currently, my phone is a Samsung Galaxy S22. I bought it in early 2023, just after the S23 was announced. Since phones don't change that much year-on-year, I didn't see the need to get the absolute latest, after my beloved Oneplus 7 Pro started showing its age and lost upstream Android support. Fast forward 2 years, and it's still doing fine, but it's not as snappy as it used to be. It's not…
Replacing Cloudflare: My domain move
- 2025-06-11
- 8 minutes
I've been using Cloudflare for a while for my domains, since at least 2020. Unless you've been living under a rock since 2009, you've probably heard of Cloudflare. They're a rock-solid DNS provider, with an easy to use interface, high-quality terraform provider, and a number of other features. Quite frankly, with them, it's never DNS! I lie - it's always DNS With that said, since around 2023, I've wanted to…
2025-05
2025-04
I'm done with Twitter
- 2025-04-05
- 2 minutes
Yep, that's it, it's finally happened: I'm done with Twitter. Since it's purchase by Elon Musk back in around October 2022, Twitter (I refuse to call it X) has slowly (or in some cases not-so-slowly) been going downhill. Various changes to the algorithm to push various policies, multiple instability issues, AI for the sake of AI, and much more. Unless you've been living under a rock, you already know about these "improvements", but…
2025-01
State of the Server 2025
- 2025-01-01
- 18 minutes
My server(s) play a fairly important part in my life. Not only is it where a number of critical services I use are hosted, but it's also where my most important files are stored. For a long time, I've done what I can to preserve my data privacy. Running my own servers keeps me in control of my data, what's done with it, and who it's sold to (or not as the case may be).…
2024-12
Jake versus 2024
- 2024-12-26
- 14 minutes
2024 is nearly over, and for me it's been a crazy, life-changing year. At the start of the year, I told myself I wanted to make some big changes. Write more, get fitter, join more communities, catch up with long lost friends etc. So far, I've not really achieved many of them, but life has served me other experiences instead, and it's been an incredible time. I've seen quite a few people talking about…
Making my TV glow with WLED
- 2024-12-17
- 14 minutes
RGB LEDs can be added to pretty much anything. Some places, like your car or your vacuum, it's probably not more than a gimmick. But in others, like your computer or "battlestation", it can bring an otherwise mundane-looking setup to life. One day, for reasons I can't entirely remember, I decided to set myself a new project: I want a backlit TV. Not the kind of backlight that LCD TVs have, but on…
Self-hosting Bluesky
- 2024-12-04
- 6 minutes
Bluesky is quickly becoming the "hot new" social network, growing by almost 1.6 users every second. "Recent events" have lead to a fairly large Twitter exodus, and people looking elsewhere seem to all be moving to Bluesky. Mastodon exists, is still pretty active, and is what most people moved to during the last great exodus, however because it's so federated, it's not quite as approachable for most people, who just want to log…
2024-10
Introducing the new starter kit for Wagtail CMS
- 2024-10-18
Give Wagtail CMS a go with our brand new starter kit. See how you can launch a new website and start making it your own with Wagtail templates. Discover why people are calling Wagtail the best Python-powered CMS.
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