grammar and clarifications

content/log/2023/end-of-summer.md

@@ -5,29 +5,32 @@ date: 2023-08-27T15:37:00+03:00
 
 Just before this summer I [laid out my roadmap]({{< ref
 "log/2023/roadmap-summer-2023.md" >}}) for, well, the summer. Here is a quick
-retrospective. Weird order, because it is somewhat chronological.
+retrospective. Weird order, because it is somewhat chronological. This
+post does not offer background for the project, so the previous post is a
+prerequisite reading.
 
 Project 2: my take on universal headers
 ---------------------------------------
 
 During [SYCL 2023][sycl2023] I was told that [Johny Marler][marler] expressed
 explicit interest in the project. I have much higher hopes in him than myself
--- at which point I decided there are better things to do and shelved
+--- at which point I decided to shelve universal-headers. Non-ironically, I am
-universal-headers. Non-ironically, I am no longer working on compiling lots of
+no longer working on compiling lots of C++ code, so this area has less ROI than
-C++ code, so this area has less ROI for the potentially invested time.
+it did back in the day at Uber.
 
 Project 1: city limits
 ----------------------
 
-Showing any spatial result requires a background map. In the spirit of
+Showing any spatial result requires a map in the background (e.g. OpenStreetMap
-protomaps, I looked into how to host the base maps myself. That was quite a
+tiles). In the spirit of protomaps, I looked into how to host the base layers
-rabbit hole with twists and turns, designed to misguide the non-initiated.
+myself. That was quite a rabbit hole, turns out, designed to misguide the
+non-initiated.
 
-Since maps are simple pictures (PNG squares) with a bit of JavaScript to
+Since online maps are PNG squares with a bit of JavaScript for download and
-download and display them, I wanted to "keep things simple" and serve the files
+display, I wanted to "keep things simple" and serve the files with a simple web
-with a plain web server. Which meant pre-generating many tiles from the
+server which also hosts my blog. To do it, I pre-generated many tiles from the
-OpenStreetMap data. Turns out, this results in [5 million tiles][calculator]
+OpenStreetMap data. Turns out, this results in [5 million files][calculator] to
-for Lithuania:
+cover Lithuania:
 
 {{<img src="_/2023/tile-calculator.png"
     alt="screenshot from geofabrik.com"
@@ -35,56 +38,47 @@ for Lithuania:
     hint="graph"
     >}}
 
-Generating 5 million tiles takes at least a day on my small server (I gave up
+Generating 5 million tiles takes at least a day on my small server. To generate
-after this time having decided to seek for a different approach). To generate
+tiles one still needs the usual suspects — PostGIS and more dependencies.
-tiles one still needs the usual suspects — PostGIS and friends. So
+Pre-generating Lithuania does not really save on "simplicity", so I decided to
-pre-generating Lithuania with a complex process and many dependencies and then
+look for another approach.
-serving them via a web server does not really save on "simplicity".
 
-After I discarded the pre-generated tiles idea, I looked at how to serve them
+How about serving them on the fly? This is how most of the world does it,
-on the fly. This is how most of the world does it, so this is the beaten path.
+should be straightforward. The usual OpenStreetMap stack consists of:
-The usual OpenStreetMap stack consists of:
 
 1. PostGIS with all the data, and the tools to keep it up to date.
-2. [mapnik][mapnik], a map renderer. A library written in C++.
+2. [mapnik][mapnik], a map renderer library written in C++.
-3. `renderd`: a daemon that renders map tiles using mapnik.
+3. `renderd`: a daemon that renders map tiles. Uses mapnik.
 4. [`mod_tile`][mod_tile]: An Apache module that connects to `renderd` and
    spits the tiles out in HTTP.
 
 I have no interest in maintaining Apache for just the base maps, so `mod_tile`
 would need to be replaced. [`go_tile`][go_tile] is a good candidate. During my
 earlier pre-generation phases I found that `image/webp` are about half the size
-of PNG. As a result, `mod_tile` [can now render
+of PNG. I could not resist looking into `image/webp`, so now `mod_tile` [can
-`image/webp`](https://github.com/openstreetmap/mod_tile/pull/318) and `go_tile`
+now render `image/webp`](https://github.com/openstreetmap/mod_tile/pull/318)
-[can use it](https://github.com/nielsole/go_tile/pull/13).
+and `go_tile` [can use it](https://github.com/nielsole/go_tile/pull/13).
 
-During the middle of all this I understood how my personal stack is unfit for
+At this point I realized my personal stack is unfit for this project: if I put
-the purpose of ad-hoc projects like this: if I put out something for the world
+out something for the world to see, I want it to keep working for years.
-to see, I want it to keep working for years. Serving the base tiles is just
+Serving the base tiles is just part of the problem, but already includes many
-part of the problem, but already includes many more moving parts than I would
+more moving parts than I would like to maintain on my crumbling servers. So I
-like to maintain on my crumbling servers. So I decided to shelve this mapping
+shelved the "city boundaries" and devoted my attention to "personal
-project and spend some attention spans to "my infrastructure".
+infrastructure".
 
 Project 3a: home lab "infrastructure"
 ------------------------------------
 
-As alluded in the previous section, the "home infrastructure" was not in a
+At the beginning of Summer I had been running two Debian servers waiting for an
-shape I would be happy to maintain long-term. If I start a project that I can
+upgrade. They have been configured by two thousand lines of Ansible YAMLs,
-show off, it needs to work for a long time with no or minimal maintenance.
+which was painful. Painful enough, so I wrote my own DNS and HTTP servers just
-
+to avoid configuration with yaml.
-At the beginning of Summer I ran two Debian servers that needed to be upgraded.
-They have been configured by two thousand lines of Ansible YAMLs. I felt that
-writing the yamls were a necessary pain, so grinded it. It was so painful to
-configure stuff in Ansible that I wrote my own http server instead of using
-nginx; I wrote my own DNS server instead of using bind or nsd. And I was ready
-to write even more software from scratch, myself, just because it was so hard
-to configure out-of-the-box components with Ansible.
 
 In an unrelated conversation with my ex-colleague and good friend Ken Micklas,
-he suggested taking a more serious look into NixOS. I spent most of the
+he suggested taking a more serious look into NixOS. It immediately clicked,
-summer's "computer time" understanding and dabbing at Nix. Boy it was a great
+and, as a result, I spent most of the screen time dabbing at Nix and migrating
-decision. Time will tell, of course, for how long it was a maintainable one,
+my servers. Time will tell if it was a great long-term decision, but it looks
-but it shines pretty bright colors now.
+pretty good now.
 
 As of writing, I have the following on a small [Odroid H2+][oh2] computer in my
 closet:
@@ -110,7 +104,7 @@ closet:
   verification][config-nsd-acme].
 * All on an encrypted root file system in ZFS, with nightly backups to
   rsync.net. The encrypted file system allowed me the liberty to add private
-  data on the server: family photos, chat histories, later -- host a password
+  data on the server: family photos, chat histories, later --- host a password
   manager for my family.
 
 DNS server is a reason why I run another server. The second server is an
@@ -122,21 +116,16 @@ AArch64 virtual machine in Hetzner for €3.98/month which serves two purposes:
   each other in case either of them reboots (hopefully not both at the same
   time).
 
-Why encrypted root partition at home? Because I don't want my family photos and
-personal documents unencrypted.
-
 Project 3b: home and vacation
 -----------------------------
 
 Originally I planned to take some time off and do all those projects. But after
-a couple of weeks it turned out that I am unfit for such a regime: the full day
+a couple of weeks it turned out that I am unfit for such schedule. Day ends and
-goes by and I do not feel like I have achieved more than I would normally have
+I do not feel like I have achieved more than I would normally have if I were
-if I were employed.
+employed. So at mid-August I started actively interviewing. It is ongoing now;
+I expect to have a job again sooner than I originally thought.
 
-So at mid-August I started actively interviewing. It is ongoing now; I expect
+I will keep you posted! Next --- Matrix.
-to have a job again sooner than I originally thought.
-
-I will keep you posted! Next -- Matrix.
 
 [calculator]: https://tools.geofabrik.de/calc/#type=geofabrik_standard&bbox=20.602031,53.844653,26.82,56.45
 [mod_tile]: https://github.com/openstreetmap/mod_tile