Comment by burntsushi | Hacker News Reader

Comment by burntsushi | Hacker News Reader

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My needs are far simpler than that. I don't need state. I don't need dynamic content. I don't need ads. I don't need tracking. I don't need search. I just need a way to publish content and maybe an RSS feed. It doesn't even need to serve files. Everything is static. (I'm not saying fasterthanlime has all those things. Just saying what I don't need.)

I can't even imagine I need a template system beyond something I can write in a few dozen lines with some regexes.

I did the SQLite thing more than a decade ago. I ain't going back to it unless I have a really really good reason for it.

I really just need a purely static web site where I can write Markdown posts. There's some other stuff I want in terms of producing the static content, but in terms of web site functionality itself, it should just be HTML, CSS and some images.

I also don't mind re-compiling. For my needs, "compiling" my web site is likely to take less than 1 second.

Definitely don't need plugins. :)

I plan on trying https://luapress.org/ one of the next weeks. Looks good at a first glance -- give it a quick check if you get a free hour, would be interested what you think of it.

I don't have a free hour unfortunately. And I know I'm not going to use that because I don't want to setup a Lua environment. Indeed, I have enough Lua experience to know that they break the language in big ways for what seems like every release. That's a liability. What happens when luapress stops getting regular maintenance and the version of Lua it uses is no longer packaged in my Linux distro? Oops. Ticking time bomb.

I meant it. I'm done with static site generators built by others. They have caused me too much pain.

EDIT: That "oops" is already reality: https://github.com/Fizzadar/Luapress#luapress-v4

Static site generators are just too easy to build and too easy to let die. And the ones that don't die grow big and bloated. That's my experience. The only remedy I see is to build my own and simplify ruthlessly through tight coupling.

"You either live long enough to see yourself become the villain, or you die a hero."

> Static site generators are just too easy to build and too easy to let die. And the ones that don't die grow big and bloated.

Sadly you're right. I've been monitoring in the trenches for a while and what you said is covering it perfectly.

RE: maintenance, I was aware but was wondering whether Luapress is mature and complete enough to not need maintenance. I'll give it a go.

And I truly get your point about point releases of languages breaking stuff. I am severely burned out on that front myself that's why my next game plan is to buy and setup a Linux workstation and just isolate various software pieces that I [might] need in Docker containers and periodically backup those for extra good measure.

I am done with all that constantly moving and breaking crap as much as you are. Just looking to find software for all my needs and nail its versions and installs and just allow myself to not constantly keep up with the youngsters' play toys.

Appreciate all your software contributions and a good part of them are my favorite in their area.

I also am quite neurotic about version control, updates etc and if you're prepared to climb up a fairly steep learning curve, I'd recommend Nix/NixOS. It's a much more robust and comprehensive solution than Docker. Docker is not as good a technology as it should be in this use case, and it does stuff like cacheing CMD instructions in the Dockerfile based on their value as a string (rather than the result of the command). This can and does lead to Docker images changing between builds even when the Dockerfile itself has not changed.

Yep, thanks for reminding me about Docker -- I just haven't figured out something much better yet. Maybe mini-VMs like Firecracker or just straight up qemu will be my final stops, who knows (as I plan to buy a workstation with hefty RAM amounts; will likely start at 256GB). I still have a lot of time to think about how to approach the whole thing.

--

For Nix, I think you know what I'll tell you: you don't recommend a war veteran with PTSD "just one last war". I get what they're trying to do but their discourse on various platforms has left much to be desired and they seem opposed to offer more ergonomic CLIs and/or UIs. I hear that's changing as well so I'll be checking them out a few times a year. As it is right now, I wouldn't even mind the steep learning curve -- I am not completely burned out and I still punch quite hard in my work -- but mysterious error messages and maintainers ending discussions with "well then it's not for you" et. al. are just not appealing and feel like I'm taking a risk that will not pay off. Nix still feels like somebody's experimentation project.

I truly hope they take off as their idea deserves but that must come with simplicity on the level of your average Joe and Jane pasting 2-3 commands in a terminal (sort of how you install Rust; it's literally two pasted commands). Before something similar happens, Nix is doomed to remain a niche curiosity.

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