Jamie Tanna | Software Engineer

When should I use env to start a command with environment variables? (2 mins read).

When you should use the env command to specify environment variables when executing a command on the command-line (TL;DR: always).

Thu, 05 May 2022 21:02 by Jamie Tanna . #blogumentation #command-line #shell.

Bookmarked https://blog.cloudflare.com/pipefail-how-a-missing-shell-option-slowed-cloudflare-down/ .

Recommended read: PIPEFAIL: How a missing shell option slowed Cloudflare down https://blog.cloudflare.com/pipefail-how-a-missing-shell-option-slowed-cloudflare-down/

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 15:29 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #scripting #bash.

Bookmarked That simple script is still someone's bad day

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Recommended read: That simple script is still someone's bad day https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2022/04/05/pipe/

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 08:21 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #command-line.

Bookmarked https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/03/09/rewriting-bash-scripts-in-go-using-black-box-testing/ .

I've recently been doing similar with some of my utilities, albeit with an informal comparison between Ruby and Go versions, but would agree that for large, production critical scrips, this is a great way to do it

Recommended read: Rewriting Bash scripts in Go using black box testing https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/03/09/rewriting-bash-scripts-in-go-using-black-box-testing/

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 08:00 by Jamie Tanna . #command-line #bash #shell #go.

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Shell scripts have been around for 50 years.
Ian Miell (@ianmiell)Sat, 20 Nov 2021 07:33 GMT

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 07:35 by Jamie Tanna . #shell.

Bookmarked https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/306111/what-is-the-difference-between-the-bash-operators-vs-vs-vs .

Recommended read: shell - What is the difference between the Bash operators [[ vs [ vs ( vs ((? - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/306111/what-is-the-difference-between-the-bash-operators-vs-vs-vs

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 14:45 by Jamie Tanna . #bash #shell #command-line.

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The hardest problem in computer science is escaping a quotation mark in a bash string.
Lorin Hochstein (@norootcause)Mon, 17 May 2021 15:32 +0000

Tue, 18 May 2021 21:05 by Jamie Tanna . #bash #shell.

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Getting your .zshrc Just Right® has a very pronounced IKEA effect. It's a huge investment, but it feels so darn great 😆
Guillermo Rauch (@rauchg)Sun, 27 Dec 2020 18:49 GMT

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 23:55 by Jamie Tanna . #shell.

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One of the fights I keep losing at ${DAYJOB} is “don’t use short flags in shell scripts if you have long flags available; make things easier for the people who come after you” And like... I do not understand why this is controversial or why people resist it so strongly.
Ryan McKern 🇵🇷 (@the_mckern)Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:55 GMT

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 20:28 by Jamie Tanna . #command-line #shell #scripting.

Bookmarked https://til.simonwillison.net/til/til/bash_escaping-a-string.md .

Recommended read: Escaping strings in Bash using !:q | Simon Willison’s TILs https://til.simonwillison.net/til/til/bash_escaping-a-string.md

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 10:50 by Jamie Tanna . #bash #shell.

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TIL that you can use the "DEBUG" trap to step through a bash script line by line
🔎Julia Evans🔍 (@b0rk)Sat, 03 Oct 2020 15:24 +0000

Sat, 03 Oct 2020 21:57 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #bash.

Bookmarked https://www.devdungeon.com/content/enhanced-shell-scripting-ruby .

I very much recommend learning how to use a more well-structured scripting language than Bash, as languages such as Ruby have a great standard library, a huge ecosystem of other libraries, and are commonly installed across machines - this is a great look at partially replacing shell scripts with Ruby

Recommended read: Enhanced Shell Scripting with Ruby https://www.devdungeon.com/content/enhanced-shell-scripting-ruby

Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:16 by Jamie Tanna . #ruby #shell #scripting #command-line #automation.

Bookmarked https://thomask.sdf.org/blog/2019/11/09/take-care-editing-bash-scripts.html .

Recommended read: Take care editing bash scripts https://thomask.sdf.org/blog/2019/11/09/take-care-editing-bash-scripts.html

Sun, 10 May 2020 11:56 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #scripting #command-line #bash.

Bookmarked https://blog.yossarian.net/2020/01/23/Anybody-can-write-good-bash-with-a-little-effort .

I used to write a lot of shell scripts before realising that what I was trying to do was treat shell scripting as a "full" scripting language (I won't define here what I mean by "full").

Its not - reach for a higher level scripting language like Ruby or Python when things are getting more complicated, and allow shell scripts to glue things together, or be for quick tasks maybe a few lines long.

When you do write them, this advice is great but it's definitely worth gaining understanding of when you should and shouldn't use them.

Recommended read: Anybody can write good bash (with a little effort) https://blog.yossarian.net/2020/01/23/Anybody-can-write-good-bash-with-a-little-effort

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 11:12 by Jamie Tanna . #command-line #shell #bash.

Parsing a Unix Epoch With Bash/Ruby on the Command-Line (1 mins read).

How to convert a Unix Epoch to a human-readable date format.

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:50 by Jamie Tanna . #blogumentation #command-line #ruby #shell.

Bookmarked https://krmannix.com/2019/12/12/using-bash-to-automate-rubocop-fixes/ .

Recommended read: Using Bash to automate Rubocop fixes https://krmannix.com/2019/12/12/using-bash-to-automate-rubocop-fixes/

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 01:32 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #ruby #automation.

Bookmarked https://soptik.tech/articles/beware-of-shell-globs.html .

Recommended read: Beware of shell globs https://soptik.tech/articles/beware-of-shell-globs.html

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 08:09 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #command-line.

Bookmarked https://twobithistory.org/2019/08/22/readline.html .

Recommended read: Things You Didn't Know About GNU Readline https://twobithistory.org/2019/08/22/readline.html

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 12:00 by Jamie Tanna . #bash #shell #linux #vim #emacs #readline.

Bookmarked https://sneak.berlin/20191011/stupid-unix-tricks/ .

Recommended read: Stupid UNIX Tricks https://sneak.berlin/20191011/stupid-unix-tricks/

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:04 by Jamie Tanna . #command-line #shell #linux #unix #openssh #docker #security.

Bookmarked http://redsymbol.net/articles/unofficial-bash-strict-mode/ .

This is a great article about how to be safer when writing shell scripts. I am a huge proponent of not using them where possible, and instead moving them to another scripting language (Ruby, Python, Node) which you can test, and use a shared standard library.

Recommended read: Use the Unofficial Bash Strict Mode (Unless You Looove Debugging) http://redsymbol.net/articles/unofficial-bash-strict-mode/

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 13:31 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #command-line.

Adding Newlines to all Files in Git (3 mins read).

Adding newlines at the end of all Git-tracked files.

Mon, 02 Sep 2019 22:35 by Jamie Tanna . #git #shell #command-line #blogumentation.

Bookmarked https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/blog/?p=766 .

A sneaky and interesting way to trick someone into running a fork bomb, even if they know it may be one!

Recommended read: Tricking the tricksters with a next level fork bomb - Vidar Holen https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/blog/?p=766

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 21:30 by Jamie Tanna . #shell.

Bookmarked https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/blog/?p=746 .

In every programming language, there is a linting tool that can help pick up on some common style issues. ShellCheck isn't one of those - it's so much more!

I've been using it for many years now, and since it came into my life it's honestly changed the way I use shell scripts. There have been so many pitfalls that I've avoided falling into since learning about them (and adding ShellCheck to my Vim linting setup.

This is a great read from Vidar, the ShellCheck author, about a case where it could've caught issues that caused the deletion of a production database!

Recommended read: https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/blog/?p=746 https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/blog/?p=746

Fri, 31 May 2019 22:11 by Jamie Tanna . #shell #command-line.

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.

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 11:29 by Jamie Tanna . #blogumentation #automation #jekyll #zsh #bash #shell.

My editorial workflow for blog posts (8 mins read).

Taking you through the journey I go on when writing blog posts, from ideation to publishing the post.

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 23:16 by Jamie Tanna . #www.jvt.me #workflow #ci #gitlab #git #automation #command-line #shell #gitlab-ci #review-apps.

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.

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:27 by Jamie Tanna . #git #command-line #shell #blogumentation.

SSLError When Running Berkshelf Behind a Proxy (2 mins read).

Getting around the pesky OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError SSLv2/v3 read server hello A error when running Berkshelf behind a proxy.

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 15:44 by Jamie Tanna . #chef #blogumentation #proxy #command-line #shell #chefdk #berkshelf.

Viewing your diff while writing your commits with git commit --verbose (3 mins read).

Making it easier to write commit messages by having the diff in your editor.

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 20:04 by Jamie Tanna . #blogumentation #git #commit #shell #workflow.