Checked against source
Write-ups where a claim is taken to the point where it could have failed. Each one is written after the thing was built and run, with the claims checked against source rather than documentation — usually because the documentation turned out to be wrong.
By cyb3ralbert, engineer.
Now
Bitcoin Core, and what it takes to establish a claim a reviewer would otherwise have to take
on faith — starting with
64 test vectors and the comment that cites them.
Alongside it, Kubernetes from scratch on a local hypervisor:
the four machines the tutorial does not build.
Writing
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The tutorial asks for four Debian 12 machines and says nothing about where they come from. Five ways a cloud image refuses to boot on a real host, and the RAM the thirteen labs actually need — 768 MiB, not the 2048 in the spec.2026-09-10
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A comment in a Bitcoin Core test file cites a URL that redirects instead of 404ing. Establishing that the replacement holds the same 64 vectors took four independent supports — and two negative controls to show the comparison could fail at all.2026-08-28
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Which tools a server puts in
tools/list, read line by line across six codebases. Includes the survey I got wrong and why.2026-07-29 · updated as servers change -
Wiring git-crypt's GPG mode through trezor-agent, so the repo key is never on the host. With the PIN-matrix mechanics explained and the unlock UX measured.2026-07-19
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Encrypting TOTP secrets with the device's own
CipherKeyValue, so only ciphertext is stored.2026-07-19 -
Deterministic reconstruction of the GPG identity from BIP39 via SLIP-0010, checked against the official test vector. Answers trezor-agent#335.2026-07-19
Code
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The four machines Kubernetes The Hard Way asks for, from cloud images on local libvirt. Write-up.
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Reusable Claude Code skills, including the full step-by-step for the write-ups above.
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Working implementations for the two Trezor write-ups.