Pretty Printing JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) on the Command Line using OpenSSL (3 mins read).
How to easily introspect a JWT on the command line using OpenSSL and optionally Python for real pretty-printing.
by 
Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#python
#command-line
#jwt
#json
#pretty-print.
URL Decoding with Ruby on the Command Line (1 mins read).
How to use Ruby's standard library to decode URLs with a handy one-liner.
Using Hugo .Render to Save Repetition (3 mins read).
Replacing ifs with .Render to save duplication in Hugo templates.
Using <details> tags for HTML-only UI toggles (3 mins read).
How using the <details> HTML tag can provide a toggleable UI element with only built-in HTML.
Verify if a field in a JSON response is not set with Rest Assured (1 mins read).
How to verify whether a field is not present in a JSON Rest Assured Response.
Pretty Print JSON with Java (1 mins read).
How to pretty print a JSON object using Java and Jackson.
Gotcha: URL Encoding for consecutive double slashes issue with Rest Assured (2 mins read).
How to workaround consecutive double slashes being URL encoded (as %2Fs) in Rest Assured.
Prettier HTML Reports for Cucumber-JVM (2 mins read).
How to generate prettier HTML reports for Cucumber with cucumber-reporting and cucumber-reporting-plugin, with and without Jenkins.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#java
#cucumber
#testing
#reporting.
Viewing X.509 DER Certificate Fingerprints with OpenSSL (1 mins read).
How to view an X.509 DER certificate's fingerprint using openssl commands.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#certificates
#command-line
#der
#openssl.
Viewing X.509 PEM Certificate Fingerprints with OpenSSL (1 mins read).
How to view an X.509 PEM certificate's fingerprint using openssl commands.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#certificates
#command-line
#pem
#openssl.
Pretty Printing JSON with Ruby (1 mins read).
Using Kernel.jj to pretty print Ruby objects as JSON objects.
Specifying datetime in your Hugo posts' front matter (1 mins read).
Setting your posts' date to a datetime string to specify the time a post was published at.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#hugo.
Easily rewriting Git URLs from HTTPS to SSH and vice versa (2 mins read).
How to use Git's config to rewrite HTTPS URLs to SSH and vice versa, for repo pushes and pulls.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#git.
Verifying Signed JWTs (JWS) with Node.JS (3 mins read).
How to use the jsonwebtoken and node-jose libraries to verify the signature of a Signed JSON Web Token (JWS) with Node.JS.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#nodejs
#command-line
#jwt
#json.
Performing a No-Op with chef-client using JSON (2 mins read).
How to perform a chef-client run without executing anything.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef.
Using git worktree to have multiple branches checked out at once (4 mins read).
How to use git worktree to check out multiple Git branches from the same repo at once.
Using Git refs to help track your GitLab Environments, from your local repo (2 mins read).
How to pull the Git refs that GitLab Environments exposes in your GitLab repo.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#git
#gitlab
#review-apps
#git-ref.
Using Git refs to check out GitHub Pull Requests, from your local repo (2 mins read).
How to pull the Git refs for Pull Requests to your GitHub repo.
Using Git refs to check out GitLab Merge Requests, from your local repo (2 mins read).
How to pull the Git refs for Merge Requests to your GitLab repo.
Performing Code Review on Your own Merge/Pull Requests (4 mins read).
Why the first step to getting others to review your code is to review it yourself.
Pretty Printing JSON using Node.JS on the Command Line (1 mins read).
Using Node.JS's JSON module to pretty print JSON objects from the command line.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#nodejs
#json
#pretty-print.
Automating Promotion of Jekyll Posts from Draft to Post (2 mins read).
The handy script I've created to automate publishing a draft in Jekyll, with handy Zsh + Bash autocomplete.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#automation
#jekyll
#zsh
#bash
#shell.
Converting X.509 and PKCS#8 .pem file to a JWKS (in Node.JS) (2 mins read).
Converting X.509 and PKCS#8 files to JWKS format, using the node-jose library.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#pki
#nodejs
#x509
#pkcs8
#pem
#jwks.
Using git commit --fixup= to track changes that need to be applied on top of another commit (4 mins read).
Using git commit --fixup= and git rebase --autosquash to easily track and squash fix commits.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#git.
TYKJS Middleware Gotcha When Base 64 Decoding Data (3 mins read).
How to workaround the Failed to base64 decode: illegal base64 data at input byte error when trying to use b64dec in TYKJS middleware.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#tyk
#tykjs
#unit-testing
#testing
#javascript
#nodejs.
Unit Testing Your TYK (TYKJS) Middleware (6 mins read).
Writing unit tests (in this case using Jasmine) for the TYK API Gateway's JavaScript middleware functionality.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#tyk
#tykjs
#unit-testing
#testing
#javascript
#nodejs.
How to run tests from the ChefDK in Docker (6 mins read).
How to get up and running with the ChefDK to perform common tests, such as unit tests and linting.
Using Fake Cookbooks for Writing ChefSpec Tests for your Custom Chef Resources (3 mins read).
A directory structure I've found quite useful for writing ChefSpec tests for custom resources, by creating a fake cookbook within the cookbook you're testing.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef
#custom-resource
#chefspec.
Creating a versionable, self-contained (fat-/uber-) JAR for Gatling tests (17 mins read).
Why you'd want a fat JAR for your Gatling tests and how you'd achieve it.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#java
#gatling
#testing
#jar
#artifact
#artefact
#maven
#uber-jar.
Tweaking Gatling HighCharts Response Time Bounds (3 mins read).
How to configure the bounds that Gatling marks your response times within for console output and graphing purposes.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#gatling
#gatling-highcharts.
Setting your default AWS profile for the AWS CLI and SDKs (2 mins read).
Setting the default AWS profile when working with multiple profiles and the AWS CLI / SDKs.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#aws
#aws-cli
#aws-sdk
#command-line.
Chef 14 Upgrade: Custom Resource Properties are Silently Coerced to Hash if they are a nil (2 mins read).
Finding out that a nil gets silently coerced to an empty Hash if given to a custom resource's property of type Hash.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef-14
#chef-14-upgrade
#chefspec
#test-coverage.
Chef 14: ChefSpec Coverage Reporting Deprecation (1 mins read).
Noting the deprecation of using ChefSpec::Coverage.start! when using Chef 14 and above.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef-14
#chef-14-upgrade
#chefspec
#test-coverage.
Chef 14 Upgrade: Change in ValidationFailed error messages when setting required properties (2 mins read).
The updated error message returned by a Chef ValidationFailed error, when you're specifying which properties are required on a custom resource.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef-14-upgrade
#chef
#chefspec
#chef-14.
Viewing X.509 DER Certificate Details with OpenSSL (2 mins read).
How to convert an X.509 DER file to a human-readable format using openssl commands.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#certificates
#command-line
#der
#openssl.
Viewing X.509 PEM Certificate Details with OpenSSL (2 mins read).
How to convert an X.509 PEM file to a human-readable format using openssl commands.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#certificates
#command-line
#pem
#openssl.
Backporting/Replaying Changes Using git cherry-pick (6 mins read).
Using git cherry-pick to make it easier to backport or replay Git commits across different versions of your codebase.
Showing response headers with curl -i (3 mins read).
Showing just response headers when curling a resource, using curl -i.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#curl.
Safely Force Pushing with Git using --force-with-lease=ref (6 mins read).
How git push --force-with-lease=ref can save you from overriding others' changes on shared Git branches.
Viewing Git history of a file in git log while ignoring file renames (5 mins read).
How to track changes to files in Git without pesky file renames getting in the way, using git log --follow.
Test-Driven Chef Cookbook Development Using ChefSpec (and a sprinkling of InSpec) (39 mins read).
Using the example of deploying and running a Java JAR file as a way to show the lifecycle of a fully test-driven Chef cookbook.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#howto
#blogumentation
#chef
#test-kitchen
#chefspec
#tdd
#testing
#guide.
Pretty Printing JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) on the Command Line using Ruby (3 mins read).
How to easily introspect and pretty print a signed JWT (JWS) or an encrypted JWT (JWE) on the command line using Ruby's standard library, or using the ruby-jwt external library.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#ruby
#command-line
#jwt
#json
#pretty-print.
Using chef-shell to interactively debug attributes and recipes (5 mins read).
How to use chef-shell to see attribute config and recipes, with and without a Chef Server.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#chef
#chef-shell
#blogumentation
#test-kitchen
#chef-server
#chefdk.
Creating a versionable, self-contained (fat-/uber-) JAR for Cucumber tests (11 mins read).
Why you'd want a fat JAR and how you'd achieve it.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#java
#cucumber
#testing
#jar
#artifact
#artefact
#maven
#uber-jar.
My Path from School to University to Work (25 mins read).
A look back at my journey up to now, the choices I've made, and what advice I have for others who are embarking on their own journeys into tech.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#musings
#blogumentation
#capital-one
#career
#university
#nottingham
#school
#a-level
#gcse.
Pretty Printing JSON on the Command Line with Ruby (1 mins read).
Using Ruby's JSON module to pretty print JSON objects from the command line.
Merging multiple repositories into a monorepo, while preserving history, using git subtree (3 mins read).
How to merge multiple repositories, with their history, into a single repository, using the git subtree add command.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#git
#monorepo
#git-subtree
#command-line.
Sharing Multiple SSH Sessions over the Same Network Socket (3 mins read).
Reusing network sockets for speed and reduction of authentication handshakes with OpenSSH.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#ssh
#openssh
#command-line.
Better Git Diff Outputs with Git Submodules (2 mins read).
How to get nicer diffs when working with submodules.
Beware: deleteing a file in Chef doesn't actually delete it (3 mins read).
Why you should explicitly add backup false when deleteing a file through Chef, to avoid leaving potentially sensitive files still on the box.
by Jamie Tanna
.
#blogumentation
#chef.