"Modern continuous integration (CI) systems have become incredibly efficient at detecting issues before they land in production. Yet most pipelines still rely on manual triage when something goes wrong. Teams lose hours or even days reverting bad commits and fixing failing tests. Fortunately, with today's AI coding agents, we can now build self-healing CI pipelines capable of automatically diagnosing failures and proposing (or even implementing) fixes -- all before blocking the rest of your team."

"The core self-healing workflow:"

"1. Failure Detected: The pipeline collects logs, stack traces, and any relevant code diffs."

"2. AI Analysis: The system prompts an AI agent -- such as a GPT-based coding model -- to analyze the error and propose a fix."

"3. Candidate Fix Generated: The AI creates a patch, which could involve adjusting the failing test, the underlying application code, or both."

"4. Ephemeral Environment Validation: The fix is tested in a clean, temporary environment."

"5. Developer Review: The suggested fix is opened as a commit or pull request. A human developer can approve, refine, or reject it."

What do y'all think? Are we ready to plug AI directly into the software integration and deployment system?

How AI-driven, self-healing CI pipelines can transform development

#solidstatelife #ai #cicd

New metal 3D printing technique.

"Metal 3D printing is currently dominated by powder-based techniques like SLM (Selective Laser Melting). These processes yield incredibly precise parts, but the build times are slow. Furthermore, dealing with the powder increases manufacturing complexity: Whenever the powder is transported, loaded into the machine, or cleaned up afterwards, rigorous steps must be followed to prevent the loose spread of powder. (The powders are flammable and present an explosion risk, and can also cause respiratory issues for workers.) Following all of these steps adds cost, time, and risk."

"A Spain-based company called Meltio has developed a new metal 3D printing technology that does away with powder-based hassles. Rather than powder, Meltio's feedstock is metal wire, which is easy to handle on spools. The wire is fed into a point where three to six low-power diode lasers converge, creating what's known as a 'melt pool.' This turns the wire into molten metal that is delivered in layers, as with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing."

Fused Deposition Modeling is the name for the technique that uses plastic on spools to 3D print plastic do-dads.

LMD: A new, less wasteful metal 3D printing technique

#solidstatelife #3dprinting

The reason Russian programmers were banned from contributing to the Linux kernel by the Linux Foundation a few months ago was in fact because of US sanctions. The Linux Foundation finally made a statement on the issue.

Everyone who manages an open-source project and lives in the US or is otherwise subject to US sanctions controls has to pay attention to this issue.

"With the US and international sanctions targeting technology companies based in Russia, this issue has become a topic in certain open source communities that have participation from entities targeted by such sanctions."

"The OFAC sanctions rules are 'strict liability', which means it does not matter whether you know about them or not. Violating these rules can lead to serious penalties, so it's important to understand how they might affect your open source work. Many OFAC sanctions restrictions generally do not care if software or technology is public or published (although US export controls generally do) and are usually completely separate and independent of any Export Administration Regulations (EARs), which the LF has published guidance about In the past. It is important to note that the OFAC SDN List for sanctions programs is very different from the BIS's Entity List for Export Controls. Entities on the BIS's Entity List are not affected by the OFAC sanctions unless they are also added by OFAC to the SDN List."

"OFAC sanctions are US government regulations that restrict or prohibit transactions with certain countries, entities, and individuals ('sanctions targets')."

"For developers, this means you need to be cautious about who you interact with and where your contributions come from. OFAC sanctions can target specific countries, regions, and individuals or organizations, with many of the individuals and organizations listed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons ('SDN') List. OFAC updates this list regularly, adding or removing names as global situations change. OFAC sanctions also apply to all entities that are owned 50% or more directly or indirectly by one or more SDN individuals or entities, whether or not the owned entity shows up on the SDN List. Some entities, such as entities owned or controlled by OFAC-sanctioned governments, may also be sanctioned but not included on the SDN List."

"Many other countries also have similar sanctions programs in place, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, China, and many more."

"It is disappointing that the open source community cannot operate independently of international sanctions programs, but these sanctions are the law of each country and are not optional."

"It is important to understand the basics of these sanctions programs. OFAC's prohibited transactions often include: Financial investments and transactions (e.g. payment for services), trade (import or export) of goods, technology, or services, and any other property transactions (including intellectual property and contracts)."

"The OFAC sanctions may impact common community behaviors, such as two-way collaboration on a proposed software change which could be interpreted as a prohibited provision of services. It would be an issue for developers to provide services to a developer who is employed (directly or indirectly) by an SDN or an entity directly or indirectly owned 50% or more by an SDN."

"OFAC does publish an SDN List, and also offers an OFAC SDN list search tool. Using the search tool, a user can check if an organization is on the OFAC SDN List. OFAC SDN entities show up with 'SDN' under the column 'List'. Please note this tool also searches other 'Non-SDN Lists' that is not affected by the prohibited 'transaction' outlined in this blog and all search hits are not necessarily for the OFAC SDN List."

"The OFAC SDN list and search tool are also not exhaustive and any analysis cannot solely rely on this list."

"Just because an individual or entity is not on the SDN List today does not mean they, or their owner, will not be added tomorrow. In some weeks, OFAC may add hundreds of individuals or entities to the list. Finally, just because an individual or entity is not subject to US OFAC sanctions does not mean that another country has not sanctioned the individual or entity."

"Most OFAC sanctions contain an exemption for the importation and exportations of 'informational materials.' Open source code appears to generally be considered 'informational material' by OFAC, and a one-way receipt of source code via an SDN therefore should be exempt from OFAC sanctions. However, this would only apply to existing code sent by an SDN, and it would not apply if you requested a developer working for an SDN to create new code or to modify code."

"Many open source projects require a Contributor License Agreement (CLA), which would bar contributors from OFAC sanctioned entities. OFAC sanctions bar transacting in intellectual property, and specifically, any agreement in intellectual property or any other contract with an SDN. If your open source project requires a CLA, make sure your CLA validation process includes compliance checks against the SDN List."

We're probably going to see a Russian-Chinese Linux coming out this year that is made by Russian and Chinese programmers (and other "BRICS" programmers) that US programmers don't contribute to. So Linux is going to fork into US/European Linux and Russian/Chinese Linux.

Navigating global regulations and open source: US OFAC sanctions

#solidstatelife #linux #sanctions #geopolitics