+++
title = "Hello Rafiki"
date = 2024-08-27
+++

> `Rafiki` means friend in Swahili.

> 'Hello Rafiki' is also a subtle nod to Andreas Kling 
> of the Ladybug Browser project.
> <br> His work on Serenity OS is a 
> huge inspiration for me.

# Welcome to my stream of creativity. 

I started this blog to practice my technical writing 
and communication skills. So this first post is 
here to make me cringe in future.

# My blog setup.

This static site is built with 
[Zola](https://www.getzola.org/documentation/getting-started/overview/). 
I love how  straight forward it is. It also gets bonus
points for  having an Alpine Linux package.

The interesting part is how the hosting works.

# Codeberg

This site is hosted on [Codeberg](https://codeberg.org/).
Codeberg will be the de facto home for all my new 
projects. I am increasingly wary of the new AI coding wave
where  GitLab and GitHub train their code models with 
free  software, GPL and all. However, I still plan on
keeping  both accounts open in order to contribute to
projects I love.

One of the most frustrating things about Codeberg pages 
is how they are set up. You need a pages repository which 
is basically the public folder. You also require another 
repository that holds the SSG templates, themes, and
markdown content.

Codeberg recommends using git submodules if you want to 
co-locate all the code. For the life of me, I could not 
figure out how to make submodules work. Having a 
submodule as a dependency to a project is very straight 
forward. Being able to work on code in both the parent 
module and submodule feels impossible. 

# Enter Pijul.

I have been dying to try out [Pijul](https://pijul.org/)
for the longest time. Pijul is a next gen distributed
version control system. It has an interesting take on
patches that frankly I am completely on board with.

Pijul solves the dual repo issue but allowing me to have 
the public folder as a git repo and the rest as a pijul 
repo hosted on the 
[nest](https://nest.pijul.com/kodesoul/profile).
I have been loving working with pijul and will 
definitely use it for more projects going forward.