Accessing blocked websites from mainland China on an iPhone requires a VPN or proxy solution that can bypass the Great Firewall. This guide covers practical approaches and tools that work as of 2026. VPN Solutions for iOS The most reliable method is using a VPN app. Several options are available: Commercial VPN Services Paid VPN…
When you export a variable in Bash, it becomes available to all child processes spawned from your shell. Sometimes you need to remove that exported status or delete the variable entirely. There are two main approaches depending on what you want to achieve. Remove export status but keep the variable If you want the variable…
[md] Systemd’s coredump handler captures process crash dumps by default, which can consume significant disk space on development or test systems. Here’s how to disable or control coredump storage. ## Quick Solution Edit /etc/systemd/coredump.conf and set: [Coredump] Storage=none Then reload the systemd daemon: systemctl daemon-reload This prevents coredumps from being stored permanently while still logging…
When you have an absolute path like /foo/bar/baz.txt and need to split it into its components, Bash provides two essential utilities: dirname and basename. Using dirname and basename The dirname command returns the directory portion of a path, while basename returns just the filename: p=”/foo/bar/baz.txt” dirname “$p” # Output: /foo/bar basename “$p” # Output: baz.txt…
Google+ shut down in 2019, so the original premise of this post no longer applies. However, the broader problem—automatically sharing blog RSS feeds across social platforms—remains relevant. Here’s how to handle RSS-to-social distribution in 2026. Modern RSS Distribution Tools For most technical blogs, you have several solid options: Zapier remains one of the most reliable…
When writing C programs on Linux that handle file paths, you need to allocate buffers safely. The kernel defines maximum path and filename lengths through standard macros in <linux/limits.h>. Getting the limits On Linux systems, <linux/limits.h> provides two key macros: NAME_MAX — maximum length of a single filename component (255 characters) PATH_MAX — maximum length…
By default, Git doesn’t automatically configure your local branch to track its remote counterpart. You need to explicitly set up this tracking relationship so that git pull and git push know which remote branch to synchronize with. Setting Up Tracking for an Existing Branch If you already have a local branch and want it to…
When you have a password-protected RSA private key (indicated by the Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED header), you’ll need to decrypt it before using it with most applications. The openssl command handles this straightforwardly. Basic decryption Use openssl rsa to decrypt the key: openssl rsa -in encrypted_key.pem -out decrypted_key.pem You’ll be prompted to enter the password for the…
Securing your website with HTTPS is no longer optional—it’s essential for SEO, user trust, and browser compatibility. The good news: Let’s Encrypt provides free certificates, and the tooling has matured significantly. Using Certbot with Nginx or Apache The standard approach is Certbot, which automates certificate issuance and renewal: sudo certbot –nginx This automatically configures HTTPS…
Cinnamon on Fedora offers solid theming options through the official repositories. Here’s a practical approach to building a cohesive desktop environment with matching window borders, icons, controls, and cursor themes. Installing Theme Packages Start by installing available theme packages from the Fedora and Cinnamon repositories: sudo dnf install cinnamon-themes cinnamon-control-center sudo dnf install papirus-icon-theme adwaita-icon-theme…
Chrome on Linux sometimes fails to start with the error “Your profile could not be opened correctly.” This typically happens when the browser’s profile database becomes corrupted, often after a crash or unclean shutdown. Quick Fix: Remove Corrupted Web Data The most reliable solution is to delete the corrupted Web Data file from your Chrome…
Chrome on iOS has a fundamental limitation: it cannot accept self-signed SSL certificates or custom Certificate Authorities (CAs) because iOS restricts all browsers to use the system’s certificate validation. Unlike desktop Chrome, you cannot bypass this through browser settings. Why This Limitation Exists iOS enforces strict security policies where all apps—including Chrome, Safari, and Firefox—must…
If you need to scan documents on Windows, several solid open-source options exist. Here are the most practical choices. NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner 2) NAPS2 remains the top recommendation for Windows scanning. It’s straightforward, actively maintained, and handles most scanner hardware without headaches. What it does: Scans from WIA and TWAIN-compatible scanners Saves to…
Forcing HTTPS on your website protects visitor data and improves SEO. The most common method is using .htaccess with Apache’s mod_rewrite module to redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS. Basic HTTPS redirect Add this to your .htaccess file in the document root: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301] This performs a permanent…
When you try to redirect output from a sudo command to a file using >, you’ll hit a permission error: $ sudo echo “echo hello” > /usr/local/bin/hello bash: /usr/local/bin/hello: Permission denied This happens because the shell processes the redirection operator > before sudo runs. The redirection happens in your unprivileged shell context, not as root….
On a Linux system, you often need to let regular users mount and unmount specific devices without requiring sudo or the root password. This is common for external drives, USB devices, or secondary internal disks. There are several approaches, each with different security and usability tradeoffs. Using /etc/fstab with the user Option The simplest approach…
When a hard drive fails physically, data recovery becomes challenging but sometimes possible. If the drive isn’t recognized by the system or showing signs of mechanical failure, professional recovery services may be necessary—but they’re expensive. Before going that route, you can attempt recovery yourself using open-source tools. When to attempt DIY recovery You can safely…
When you’re managing a Linux server remotely over SSH, determining whether a USB drive has been connected requires checking kernel messages and device listings since you can’t visually inspect the hardware. Check dmesg for USB Detection Events The most reliable method is examining kernel logs with dmesg. When a USB device is detected, the kernel…
Connecting your application to a MySQL database is fundamental to most backend systems. Rather than shelling out to the mysql command-line client, you’ll use language-specific connectors that provide proper connection pooling, error handling, and prepared statements. Language-Specific MySQL Drivers The best approach depends on your tech stack: Python Use mysql-connector-python for straightforward connections or PyMySQL…
GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer that lets you manage multiple shell sessions within a single window. If you’re new to it, here are the best resources to get up to speed, plus practical tips for getting started. Getting Started with Screen For an introduction to the basics, start with A quick tutorial on screen….