Latest posts
- EnshittifAIcationMar 20, 2026Stefano Marinelli
Yesterday morning, first thing after waking up, I checked my emails. One of them was from a client - a sharp person, but not a tech expert - forwarding a message from one of their "digital marketplaces". They claimed that during site crawling, their bot upgrades the connection to HTTP/2, and that this somehow causes issues on their end, so they were asking us to disable HTTP/2 to fix the problem.
- Why I Love FreeBSDMar 16, 2026Stefano Marinelli
When I first laid eyes on the FreeBSD Handbook, back in 2002, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Six years of Linux, a relationship I've written about elsewhere, across various distributions, had trained me to hunt for documentation in fragments: often incomplete, often outdated, sometimes already stale after barely a year. Here was an operating system that came with a complete, accurate, up-to
- Time Machine inside a FreeBSD jailJan 28, 2026Stefano Marinelli
Many of my clients do not use Microsoft systems on their desktops; they use Linux-based systems or, in some cases, FreeBSD. Many use Apple systems - macOS - and are generally satisfied with them. While I wash my hands of it when it comes to Microsoft systems (telling them they have to manage their desktops autonomously), I am often able to lend a hand with macOS. And one of the main requests they
- Installing Void Linux on ZFS with Hibernation SupportDec 22, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Introduction FreeBSD continues to make strides in desktop support, but Linux still holds an advantage in hardware compatibility. After running openSUSE Tumbleweed on my mini PC for several months, I decided it was time to switch to a solution I could control more closely. Not because Tumbleweed doesn't work well - it works great! - but I prefer having direct control over what happens on my machine
- Why I (still) love LinuxNov 24, 2025Stefano Marinelli
I know, this title might come as a surprise to many. Or perhaps, for those who truly know me, it won’t. I am not a fanboy. The BSDs and the illumos distributions generally follow an approach to design and development that aligns more closely with the way I think, not to mention the wonderful communities around them, but that does not mean I do not use and appreciate other solutions. I usually publ
- Static Web Hosting on the Intel N150: FreeBSD, SmartOS, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux ComparedNov 19, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Update: This post has been updated to include Docker benchmarks and a comparison of container overhead versus FreeBSD Jails and illumos Zones. Note: Some operating systems (FreeBSD and Linux) support kernel TLS (kTLS) and the related SSL_sendfile path in nginx, which can improve HTTPS performance for static files. Since this feature is not available on all the systems included in the comparison (f
- Self-hosting your Mastodon media with SeaweedFSNov 06, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Mastodon 4.5.0 is here, and with it come some interesting changes that, in my opinion, might encourage more people to consider it for self-hosting their Fediverse community. While it may not be as lightweight and simple as other solutions (like snac or GoToSocial or many others), I believe it remains one of the best platforms for managing a medium-sized Fediverse community, thanks in part to the d
- The Email They Shouldn't Have ReadOct 08, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Author's Note: Before we begin, an important clarification. What follows is a horror story based on real events from my career. However, to protect the privacy of the people and companies involved, I have deliberately mixed things up: technologies, contexts, and specific details have been modified or merged with other experiences. I therefore invite you to read this story not as a strict chronicle
- FreeBSD vs. SmartOS: Who's Faster for Jails, Zones, and bhyve VMs?Sep 19, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Disclaimer my test environment and use case - a guidepost, not a final verdict. Years ago, I installed a PCEngines APU at a client's site. It dutifully ran Proxmox with a few small VMs inside. It wasn't a speed demon, but it got the job done. Tasked with running in a closed, uncooled, and unsupervised server closet, it soldiered on for about seven years. Then, while I was at BSDCan, I got the call
- Introducing the illumos Cafe: Another Cozy Corner for OS DiversityAug 18, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Introducing the illumos Cafe: Another Cozy Corner for OS Diversity From the BSD Cafe to illumos Cafe The idea for this new project was born from the success of the BSD Cafe, an initiative I introduced to the world in July 2023, which received an incredibly positive response. Far more than I ever anticipated. The BSD community already had its well-established hubs: in the Fediverse, places like bsd
- Make Your Own Backup System – Part 2: Forging the FreeBSD Backup StrongholdJul 29, 2025Stefano Marinelli
With the primary backup strategies and methodologies introduced, we've reached the point where we can get specific: the Backup Server configuration. When choosing the type of backup server to use, I tend to favor specific setups: either I trust a professional backup service provider (like Colin Percival's Tarsnap), or I want full control over the disks where the backups will be hosted. In both cas
- New Article on BSD Cafe Journal: WordPress on FreeBSD with BastilleBSDJul 21, 2025Stefano Marinelli
New Article Published I'm excited to announce that I have published a new, in-depth article on the BSD Cafe Journal: "WordPress on FreeBSD with BastilleBSD: A Secure Alternative to Linux/Docker". This piece explores how to create a robust and secure WordPress installation on FreeBSD using BastilleBSD, leveraging the power and isolation of FreeBSD jails as a compelling alternative to the more commo
- Make Your Own Backup System – Part 1: Strategy Before ScriptsJul 18, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Backup: Beyond the Simple Copy For as long as I can remember, backup is something that has been underestimated by far too many people. Between flawed techniques, "Schrödinger's backups" (i.e., never tested, thus both valid and invalid at the same time), and conceptual errors about what they are and how they work (RAID is not a backup!), too much data has been lost due to deficiencies in this area.
- How to install FreeBSD on providers that don't support it with mfsBSDJul 02, 2025Stefano Marinelli
FreeBSD is an extremely powerful operating system. The ability to isolate services in jails and, thanks to ZFS, the simplicity with which you can create snapshots (both local and remote) make it a perfect system for increasing peace of mind, especially when running many workloads. Many providers, blinded by the success and large numbers achieved by Linux distributions, have decided to no longer su
- Vibe Coding Will Rob Us of Our FreedomJun 05, 2025Stefano Marinelli
It was one of those Friday afternoons when everyone just wanted to go home, but their PM had that look we all know too well. I manage the infrastructure for this mid-sized e-commerce client, so I get to see their development process from the server side. Their deadline was, as it often is, completely insane. "Alex", a junior developer on their team - I've been watching his commits for about six mo
- The Day GlusterFS Tried to Kill My CareerMay 21, 2025Stefano Marinelli
I was at a client, a healthcare facility, to replace some hard drives. The official line was a familiar one: no budget for significant upgrades. This meant we had to keep the current setup running, a system that was both outdated and, frankly, unreliable by modern standards. We were holding everything together with metaphorical duct tape and sheer willpower, but somehow, it was stable and function
- The Server That Wasn't Meant to ExistMay 13, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Yesterday I read a piece of news that brought back an important - and painful - episode from my career. About 16 years ago, I was contacted by an old friend. He was worried about a situation involving some mutual acquaintances. The main issue was the complete lack of information flow: no digital systems of any kind were in place. "If we keep going like this, we’ll be bankrupt in just a few years",
- Make Your Own Internet Presence with NetBSD and a 1 euro VPS – Part 1: Your BlogApr 22, 2025Stefano Marinelli
Why NetBSD? For many years, I've been using (and appreciating) NetBSD because it's stable, efficient, and reliable. The codebase has proven its reliability, running without reboots for years without issues. It supports ZFS (though differently than FreeBSD), LVM (useful for those accustomed to it on Linux), the ability to take filesystem snapshots (UFS2, making ZFS less crucial), and it's an excell
- Launching BSSG - My Journey from Dynamic CMS to Bash Static Site GeneratorApr 07, 2025Stefano Marinelli
I've had my own website practically forever. Back in the late '90s, I already had a web page on my ISP's server, and since at least 2001, I've had my own homepage on my own server. I've never been a great graphic designer, let alone a skilled webmaster, so I've always tried to keep things minimal and compatible. Initially, like many others, I wrote HTML pages by hand. Then I used WYSIWYG creation
- OSDay 2025 - Why Choose to Use the BSDs in 2025Mar 23, 2025Stefano Marinelli
This is the text underlying my presentation at OSDay 2025, held on 21 March 2025 in Florence, Italy. There was limited time, so I couldn't go into much detail and had to keep things more general and structured than usual. You can watch the video of my talk on YouTube. The slides can be downloaded here Happy reading! OSDay Florence - 21 March 2025 - Why Choose to Use the BSDs in 2025 "I'm Stefano M