Since this month, anyone using the OWASP dependency check plugin from Jeremy Long(*1) needs to upgrade to version 9.
The older versions are no longer supported and could fail to work.
It is also recommended to get an NVD api key(*2), else the NVD update can take a very long time.
The NVD is the U.S. government repository of standards based vulnerability management data represented using the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) (*3).
Since most of us are using a build environment, we don’t want to create a key for every project, but if we do not, we might get rate-limit errors.
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Those who come here know that the blogs here mainly have a technical angle.
This time it’s a little bit different for me.
Why?
Because I started following my dream: Working from abroad.
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Don’t you just hate it when you’re getting that weird git error that prevents you from pulling to your local branch.
For example:
fatal: Need to specify how to reconcile branches.
Well, you could delete your local folder and do a re-checkout.
There are however other ways git can help you, even without falling back to the git reset --hard origin/master
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Yet another short post using Quarkus.
Quarkus is a full-stack, Kubernetes-native Java framework, but for this short post I’m using Kotlin for a change.
The goal of this post is to show you how easy it is to use the circuit-breaker pattern to build fault tolerant services.
For this we use the smallrye-fault-tolerance library, an implementation of the Eclipse MicroProfile Fault Tolerance.
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For one of our clients we use the Quarkus framework.
Quarkus is a full-stack, Kubernetes-native Java framework, designed to work with popular Java standards, frameworks and libraries.
It is possible to get into details about Quarkus, but that’s not what this post is about!
This blog will tell you how to set up a simple database driven application with a full end-to-end test, using Quarkus and testcontainers.
To be able to follow this how-to you’ll need the following:
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Robot Framework is easy enough to set up.
When you have Python installed on your system, it can be as easy as running pip install robotframework &&
pip install robotframework-appiumlibrary.
This is not how I want to do it.
For this intro, I want to run the Robot Framework in a Docker image.
Robot Framework is a generic open source automation framework.
It can be used for robotic process automation (RPA), and also for acceptance level testing and acceptance test-driven development (ATDD).
In this blog I want to focus on the first steps to start working with it.
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As explained in part two of this series, OBS is a tool that makes it possible to create your ‘virtual camera’.
We can use this camera in conferencing tools like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google meet, Signal, and so on.
OBS is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, so it will probably work on your system as well.
In this part I’m going to explain how to get and install OBS, then we’re going to use it together with the chromakey screen.
I’ll focus on the virtual camera support, but the OBS suite can do a lot more.
It is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.
It allows you to apply filters, supports NFI (via a plug-in) and much more.
OBS can be found on the OBS project website.
Here you’ll find a support forum as well, there is an active community helping you out on problems you might face.
For now let’s download the software.
Select your operating system en press ‘Download Installer’.
When you’re using Linux, it’s a bit harder.
If your distribution does not offer OBS Studio as a package, you’ll have to build it yourself.
Luckily the build instructions are not that hard to follow.
On the Mac or on Windows, the process is straight-forward.
After downloading the installer, just run it, and follow the given steps.
As it gives you the question for what it should be optimised for, I did choose 'streaming'.
You are able to change this later on in the 'Profile menu', when you select 'New'.
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In the first part of the small series about videoconferencing, I talked about the hardware.
As promised, this time it’s all about the software, and you don’t have to spend any money on it!
All the software we’re going to use here is open source.
This means it’s free to download, install and use!
Best of all, you are able to contribute to the projects as well, perhaps you’re a gifted developer that can improve the program.
Then give your improvements back to the community!
For now, let’s have a look at the programs you might want to download.
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Since most of us are more or less forced to work from home, we’re using Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack or other videoconferencing programs to keep in touch with each other.
Even though most programs allow you to blur your background or replace it with a nice image, it isn’t ideal and the quality isn’t that good.
On the other hand, you don’t want to be in a situation that you’re in the middle of an important meeting, and find out that you forgot to clean up that pile of laundry or other private goods that you rather don’t show to the outer world.
This is why I thought it would be nice to create a short series that helps you to professionalize your video conferencing setup.
The focus is to keep a tight budget, let’s say about 150 Euro of hardware.
We only will use open source programs to create your virtual environment you want to be in.
This isn’t only a thing that is just fun to do, but I’ll show other possibilities as well.
For example: You are able to place yourself in front of your PowerPoint presentation.
In the end, you’ll be able to create an end-result like this:
For this short demo I used free video footage available on videezy and vidveo.
If you want to use their free available products, remember to link to them and give the proper credits to them as well.
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Since I’ve been working on a Mac, I replaced the default terminal with iTerm2.
It provides some nice features like searching, autocomplete, or allowing to see images in the terminal.
But this one is my favorite one, the undo close tab / session.
Don’t you just hate it when you have multiple terminal tabs open, and accidentally close one?
Just that one where you had an important process running, or tailing an error log?
I do! :)
This is just a short blogpost how iTerm2 helps me having more fun using my terminal.
Actually it’s not much of a blogpost, this provides some screenshots.
Sometimes an image says more than words.
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As developer, you probably have to work with APIs.
Either you consume them, or perhaps you build them.
Most of the time an API provides some sort of JSON response or perhaps XML.
When the implementation is complete, it provides documentation as well, using the OpenAPI specification.
This however is not what this blog is about.
The goal is to get you started exploring OData.
OData is an OASIS Standard that defines the best practice for creating and using RESTful APIs.
So in short, it is a web-based protocol for querying and updating data.
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Now it’s time for something completely different.
Lately I’ve been watching some great videos from Matthew Perks, he has a YouTube channel called DIY Perks.
This inspired me to pick up my own little project to create our own Magic Mirror.
Well, there is not so much magic going around here.
A better name would be a Smart Mirror.
Basically it is nothing more than a monitor behind a double-sided mirror, powered by for example a Raspberry Pi.
A double-sided mirror is not a regular mirror, but it’s reflecting coating has about 70% reflection and 25% light transmission.
So if you place the 'glass' on a dark surface, you would see just a mirror.
When you however put a light source behind it, you’re able to see through it.
If you put a black page on the monitor, add some widgets on them, they seem to be part of the mirror’s reflection.
A Magic Mirror is a great and simple example of an 'internet of things' device.
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