Oxide and Friends

Jaksot

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  For Want of a Resistor 16.09.2026 1t 23min

  When the supply chain crunch catches up with you, sometimes a tiny resistor the size of a fleck of pepper is the difference between a world-class computer and... e-waste. Members of the Oxide operations and electrical engineering teams join Bryan and Adam to discuss how close we came to stopping production, for want of a resistor.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Robert "RFK" Keith, Eric Aasen, Scott Tagwerker, and Steve Tuck.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s06e12 - Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan CarmelOxF s06e06 - When Nine Nines Isn't EnoughOxF s02e12 - More Tales from the Bringup LabSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Bryan's blog: The Contagion of FearPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Emulating Oxide: How Faux Can You Go? 11.09.2026 1t 24min

  We've been hosting a live show weekly on Mondays at 5p for about an hour, and recording them all; here is the recording.How do you test configurations you haven't built yet? Steve, Andrew, and Rain join Bryan and Adam to talk about the transformative power of the Oxide emulation environment, VOXEL, and how it has accelerated development in many domains.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Steve Karam, Andrew Stone, and Rain Paharia.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s03e06 - Rack-scale Networking (P4 and DDM with Ry Goodfellow)OxF s01e26 - The Pragmatism of Hubris (with Cliff Biffle)OxF s03e09 - Get You a State Machine for Great Good (Wicket with Andrew Stone)OxF s01e25 - Tales from the Bringup LabOxF s01e18 - Dijkstra's TweetstormOxF s03e31 - Hiring Processes with Gergely OroszSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:voxel -- Virtual OXide Emulation Lab: emulated rack deployments on one Helios host (omicron on Falcon/propolis VMs, SoftNPU switches, FRR routers); optional real SP/RoT firmware via sp-emu. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/voxelFalcon -- tool for standing up virtual network/rack topologies of propolis VMs on illumos for testing. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/falconTofino -- Intel/Barefoot programmable switch ASIC (Tofino 2) in Sidecar; P4-programmable. Discontinued by Intel.SoftNPU -- software P4 target emulating the switch dataplane, so the stack runs without Tofino hardware. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/softnpuP4 -- DSL for describing packet-processing pipelines; how the Tofino/SoftNPU dataplane is programmed. https://p4.orgGimlet -- Oxide's compute sled.Sidecar -- Oxide's rack switch board, carrying the Tofino 2.raclette -- reduced-size lab rack (a few sleds + switch) used for dev/test rather than a full 32-sled rack. (my read; unverified)Hubris -- Rust microkernel/RTOS for the SP and RoT: statically-defined tasks, memory protection, synchronous IPC. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/hubrisHumility -- debugger for Hubris systems; dumps tasks, stacks, ringbufs over SWD. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/humilitya4x2 -- pre-voxel testbed topology: 4 emulated Gimlets, 2 SoftNPU switches, omicron on one Helios host.trust quorum -- rack secret split into shares across sleds; a quorum must be present to reconstitute the storage-encryption key, so a stolen sled is useless alone. https://docs.oxide.computer/guides/system/initial-rack-setupillumos -- open-source Solaris-derived OS; the host OS (Helios) is an illumos distro. https://illumos.orgzones -- illumos OS-level virtualization; each control-plane service runs in its own zone.Scrimlet -- Gimlet attached to a Sidecar ("switch Gimlet"); hosts the switch zone, dpd, MGS.DDM -- Delay-Driven Multipath, the underlay routing protocol, implemented in Maghemite (ddmd, ddmadm). https://github.com/oxidecomputer/maghemiteDendrite -- dataplane controller; dpd programs Tofino or SoftNPU and exposes an API to the control plane. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/dendriteswadm -- CLI against dpd for port config, links, addresses, routes.A0 -- sled power state where the host is fully powered (vs. A2, standby with the host off); driven by the SP sequencer task.iCE40 -- Lattice FPGA on Gimlet/Sidecar for power sequencing and board glue logic. https://github.com/oxidecomputer/quartzPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  AI Detection with Max Spero 03.09.2026 1t 1min

  More and more, people are relying on AI to do their writing for them. Is this the new normal, or the intellectual equivalent of claiming take-out is your own home cooking? Max Spero, founder and CEO of Pangram, joined Bryan and Adam to discuss how they distinguish AI and human authorship.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Max Spero.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF: Hiring Processes with Gergely OroszOxF: Shell Game with Evan RatliffOxF: Predictions 2026!!Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:PangramBrandon Sovran: "I Tried to Trick Pangram. I Lost."Stanley Druckenmiller: "Let the Bond Market Speak"Pangram 4 Technical ReportGoodfire: understand and debug your AI modelIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Return to the Chamber of Mysteries 25.08.2026 1t 16min

  Oxide returns to the chamber... of EMC compliance to earn FCC approval to sell our next generation rack. Did it go smoothly? If it had, would there be a podcast episode? Oxide teammates Robert, Dan, and Stu join Bryan and Adam to discuss the trials and triumph!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Robert "RFK" Keith, Dan Chirpich, and Stu Donnan.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s03e04 - Oxide and the Chamber of MysteriesSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:IEEE EMC+SIPI 2026: International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Signal & Power IntegrityPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Open Weight Revolution with Simon Willison 31.07.2026 1t 24min

  Simon Willison joined Bryan and Adam to discuss a wild couple of weeks in AI. First, we have a high-profile, AI-induced, AI-diagnosed security incident. Next we have the rise of frontier-class open-weights models. Who's for or against open weights? Do they make for a more or less secure future? Exciting times!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Simon Willison.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF: Shell Game with Evan RatliffOxF: Discovering the XZ Backdoor with Andres FreundOxF: Predictions 2025OxF: Predictions 2026!!OxF: Bookclub: How Life Works by Philip BallOxF: OpenAI's Boardroom BrawlSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Gerald the turkey terrorizes Oakland's rose gardenABC7: Gerald the turkey and the Morcom Rose GardenAPD cautions residents after aggressive wild turkey attacks elderly AlamedanHawking radiationDHH's racist complaintsGrok's "MechaHitler" antisemitic spreeSimon on Grok aka "MechaHitler"Hugging Face security incident, July 2026OpenAI on the Hugging Face model evaluation security incidentGreg Brockman's political donations and the Leading the Future super PACOpenAI co-founder and wife donate $5.5M to save the home of bald eagles Jackie and ShadowFirecracker microVMMeltdown (security vulnerability)Kernel page-table isolationJensen Huang on XElectronic design automationGolden Gate ClaudeTethicsHalloween documentsZiziansBiohazard (book)CRISPROliver Sacks: criticism and falsificationsHow Alice Hamilton waged a one-woman campaign to get the lead out of everythingAmerican Poison by Daniel StoneLead–crime hypothesisPope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas encyclicalRerum novarumIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Past, Present, and Future of Digital Storytelling with Ramy Katrib 23.07.2026 1t 4min

  Ramy Katrib has been at the forefront of digital storytelling for over 25 years, with his post-production company, DigitalFilm Tree, earning a reputation as one of Hollywood's most technically adventurous post-production houses. He joined Bryan and Adam to explore the past, present, and future of digital storytelling.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Ramy Katrib.If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Oxide 3D Explorer 27.06.2026 1t 14min

  Recently, Oxide rolled out an eye-popping 3D rack explorer at explorer.oxide.computer. Oxide's designer extraordinaire, Ben Leonard, joined Bryan and Adam to describe the process of turning CAD drawings into an interactive site.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Oxide colleague, Ben Leonard.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:The Explorerits repoPierre Lamond oral historyPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Hardest Kind of Unsafe Rust 13.06.2026 1t 28min

  We love Rust for how much the compiler helps enforce safety. But sometimes it's up to us to uphold the complex--and often unclear--expectations of what constitutes safety on our own. Oxide colleague, Rain, joins Bryan and Adam to talk about the technical details of what it takes to impose safety on the hardest type of unsafe Rust.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest star, Rain Paharia,Previously on Oxide and Friends:OxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s03e01 - Predictions 2023!Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Oxide Blog: iddqd, or the hardest kind of unsafe RustPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  This Old Repo: LLMs and the Restoration of BattleTris 09.06.2026 1t 18min

  Bryan and Adam discuss the process of restoring a software project--BattleTris--untouched and unbuilt in over 20 years! How did LLMs help restore code Bryan started in the mid-1990s and what does that teach us about developing and maintaining software in the future?Your hosts were Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal.Previously on Oxide and FriendsOxF s03e24 - Fork in the road for Terraform?OxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s06e01 - Predictions 2026!!Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:BattleTris on githubSurge 2011 ~ Closing Plenary ~ Theo SchlossnagleFrom the Governor of DelawareIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel 27.05.2026 1t 2min

  Two years ago we introduced listeners to the Oakland Ballers, the startup returning baseball to the city of Oakland. Bryan and Adam were joined again by Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel to discuss the Ballers first two--highly successful--seasons, and to announce some exciting new collaborations between the Ballers and Oxide!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Paul Freedman, Bryan Carmel, and Steve Tuck.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:OxF S4 E11: A Baseball Startup with Paul Freedman and Bryan CarmelOxF S4 E7: Data VisualizationBryan's blog: A parade in OaklandBallers x Oxide hackathonIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  The Tale of Reverso 16.05.2026 1t 6min

  Oxide ships a rack scale system--how to test the manufacturing of the backplane and switches? Previously we've been using a collection of sacrificial servers, but this was unwieldy, expensive, and unscalable--all big problems as we ramp up manufacturing to 100s a month! Enter "Reverso", an extremely simple test fixture, that uncovered an extremely complex bug.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Oxide colleagues, Robert "RFK" Keith, Adam "The Hammer" Suczewski, and Matt Keeter.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s01e26 - The Pragmatism of HubrisOxF s01e24 - The Sidecar SwitchOxF s03e13 - The Network Behind the NetworkOxF s05e23 - Adventures in Data CorruptionSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Adam Leventhal, Hardware EngineerdendritePaddle-to-the-SeaPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  AI in Computer Science Education 10.05.2026 1t 29min

  AI is an existential topic for all aspects of education--for none more so than Computer Science. Bryan and Adam were joined by Kathi Fisler and Shriram Krishnamurthi, professors of Computer Science at Brown, to discuss their experimental introductory course that strongly incorporates agentic programming. What do students take away from their "smoke the whole pack" approach?In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, speakers included Shriram Krishnamurthi, Kathi Fisler, and Will.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:OxF s5e29: AI in Higher Education with Michael LittmanGreenspun's tenth ruleAndy van DamBrown CS15 TetrisWesleyan TetrisGenerating Programs Trivially: Student Use of Large Language ModelsData-Centricity: A Challenge and Opportunity for Computing Education -- Shriram Krishnamurthi and Kathi FislerLLMs ⭢ Regular Expressions, Responsibly!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Mechanical Engineering at Oxide [chapter images] 07.05.2026 1t 24min

  Bryan and Adam were joined by members of the Oxide mechanical engineering team to talk the mechanical challenges of building a rack-scale computer, and--in particular--of scaling manufacturing from just a few racks to hundreds. NOTE: Keep an eye on the chapter art for the pictures under discussion.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Oxide Colleagues Elliott Donlon, Brooks Willis, Doug Wibben, and Ben Williams.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Topic[@M:SS](link into recording) Leventhal's ConundrumPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Are LLMs Insufficently Lazy? 03.05.2026 1t 31min

  Brogrammer Garry Tan has been boasting about "writing" tens of thousands of lines of code each day as the paragon of productivity. Is this really the right way to think about building systems? Bryan and Adam were joined by Polish software engineer, Gregorein, who took a closer look into what Tan was generating to discuss what was found.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our guest (who we introduced a mere 4 minutes in) was gregorein.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Gregorein's twitter threadBryan's blog: The Peril of Laziness LostPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Building a Quorum of Trust in the Oxide Rack 04.04.2026 1t 26min

  The Oxide rack contains within it a distributed system that needs to trust itself. But how is this trust built? Bryan and Adam were joined by colleagues Andrew and Finch to explore how Trust Quorum was designed, built, and verified.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Oxide colleagues, Andrew Stone, and Finch Foner.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s03e17 - Software VerificationpaloozaOxF s06e02 - Engineering Rigor in the LLM AgeOxF s05e20 - Debugger-Driven DevelopmentSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Oxide RFD 238: Trust Quorum and Rack UnlockPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  When Nine Nines Isn't Enough 18.03.2026 1t 24min

  Bryan and Adam were joined by members of the Oxide team to describe the multi-year search for a mysterious source of hardware failures. All related to an ultra-reliable--and yet still not reliable enough--component.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by members of the Oxide team: Nathanael Huffman, Alan Hanson, Cliff Biffle, Eric Aasen, Robert "RFK" Keith, and Jordan Hendricks.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Oxide RFD 630: BMR491 Glitch Mitigation PlanRFK's reportPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Oxide's $200M Series C 27.02.2026 1t 45min

  Oxide raised a truckload of capital a few weeks ago to fund the business for the foreseeable future. Bryan and Steve describe the raise, and Adam poses the best the best (and worst) questions scraped from Hacker News.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Oxide CEO, Steve Tuck.Previously on Oxide and Friends:OxF s01e25 - Tales from the Bringup LabOxF s04e30 - Intel after GelsingerOxF s05e24 - Oxide’s $100M Series BOxF s02e18 - Silicon Valley Bank with Eric VishriaOxF s05e28 - Systems Software in the LargeMentioned during the show:Oxide Blog: Our $200M Series COxide is hiring!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Shell Game with Evan Ratliff 12.02.2026 1t 23min

  Evan Ratliff, journalist and podcaster, joined Bryan and Adam to talk about his extraordinary podcast, Shell Game, in which he started a company staffed exclusively by agentic AI.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, our special guest was Evan Ratliff.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:Shell GameEvan on This American LifeMIT Review: Moltbook was peak AI theater"Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!"The Startup Chronicles - HurumoAIPRs needed!If we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Software Engineering Past, Present, and Future with Grady Booch 07.02.2026 54min

  Bryan and Adam were joined by Grady Booch, software engineering pioneer and living legend, to speak about the past present and future of software engineering. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme!In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by special guest, Grady Booch.Some of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them (some LLM assistance):SAGE as foundational real-time distributed systemSoftware crisis demand outpaced ability to build reliable systemsMargaret Hamilton (SAGE → Apollo) and the term “software engineering”UMLRational Software founded (1982); acquired by IBM (2003)OO overshot via inheritance; core idea (objects as cognitive units) enduredLLMs are unreliable narrators - they cannot do abductive reasoningArchitecture = decisions with high cost of changeCore skills persist: abstraction, coupling, cohesion, judgmentFear cycles repeat; fundamentals endureGrady's Book RecommendationsThe Sciences of the Artificial — Herbert SimonThe Mythical Man-Month — Fred BrooksRefactoring — Martin FowlerIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!
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  Engineering Rigor in the LLM Age 15.01.2026 1t 32min

  What do LLMs mean for the future of software engineering? Will vibe-coded AI slop be the norm? Will software engineers simply be less in-demand? Rain and David join Bryan and Adam to discuss how rigorous use of LLMs can make for much more robust systems.In addition to Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal, we were joined by Rain Paharia, and David Crespo.Previously, on Oxide and Friends:OxF s03e08 – Does a GPT future need software engineersOxF s04e04 – HeliosOxF s05e28 – Systems Software in the LargeOxF s04e20 – Pragmatic LLM Usage with Nicholas CarliniSome of the topics we hit on, in the order that we hit them:The issue Bryan was fixingiddqd: the crate Rain builtGhosttyDavid's bugs: 1 2 3Rain's nextest bug: SIGTTOU when test spawns interactive shellOxide RFD 619: Managing types across Dropshot API versionsdrift: the crate Adam builtIf we got something wrong or missed something, please file a PR! Our next show will likely be on Monday at 5p Pacific Time on our Discord server; stay tuned to our Mastodon feeds for details, or subscribe to this calendar. We'd love to have you join us, as we always love to hear from new speakers!