DEV Community: Zaphod Dev

You probably don't need git filter-branch OR git-filter-repo

Zaphod Dev — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 10:15:00 +0000

You want to change the author/committer for a range of commits.

Not recommended

Running git filter-branch results in a dire warning about a glut of gotchas generating mangled history

Most powerful

Downloading and using git-filter-repo takes some time, but it does the job.

export ORIGINAL_CLONE_URL=$(git remote get-url origin)

git-filter-repo --name-callback 'return name.replace(b\"Wrong Name\", b\"New Name\")' --force
git-filter-repo --email-callback 'return email.replace(b\"wrong@example.com\", b\"new@example.com\")' --partial --refs A..B --force

git remote add origin $ORIGINAL_CLONE_URL

Easiest

By far the easiest way is using regular rebase together with --exec command to run automatically.

git rebase -i --root --exec 'git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit'

Notes:

--root means the beginning of the repo. You can replace it with HEAD~5 for the most recent 5 commits, or a range A^..B (check range with git log A^..B first)
--reset-author uses whatever is configured in git. You can also use:
- --author="New Name <new@example.com>"
- or -c user.name="New Name" and -c user.email="new@example.com"

Check your work

To make both author and committer visible:

FORMAT="    Commit: %h %d %n \
   Author: %an <%ae> %n \
Committer: %cn <%ce> %n \
  Subject: %s %n"

git log --format="$FORMAT"

LLM prompt for writing documents

Zaphod Dev — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 12:26:04 +0000

There is more to AI-assisted writing than removing em-dashes and excessive hedging. AI is unusually good at generating information and unusually bad at deciding how much information a human actually needs.

Prompting for readability explicitly is one of the highest-value things you can do with an LLM.

Don't just say "make it concise". You want to give it a different optimisation target: optimise for the reader's ability to understand the document.

Example prompt

Completely rewrite this to be 20% of the length / at most 2 pages.

The single aim of the document is:
- <FILL THIS IN YOURSELF>

Write for a busy human reader, not as a comprehensive knowledge dump.

Prioritise clarity and comprehension over completeness.
Include only information that the reader needs to understand the subject,
make a decision, or take action.

Before writing, decide:

- What is the single most important message?
- What does the reader actually need to know?
- What can safely be omitted?

Writing rules:

- Put the main conclusion first.
- Keep paragraphs short and focused on one idea.
- Prefer simple sentences and familiar words.
- Remove information that does not materially help the reader.
- Do not include every caveat, alternative, or fact unless it matters.
- Use headings sparingly and only when they genuinely help navigation.
- Give important information more prominence than minor details.
- Avoid repeating information in different forms.
- Do not explain obvious implications.
- Do not add a section merely for convention's sake

Aim for a document that can be understood by someone who is skimming it.

When deciding between two versions, prefer the one that conveys the same
useful information with less reading effort.

After drafting, critically edit your own output:

1. Identify anything the reader probably does not need.
2. Remove it.
3. Look for paragraphs containing multiple ideas and split or simplify them.
4. Check that the most important information is visually and structurally prominent.
5. Remove unnecessary headings, caveats, repetition and explanation.

Do not try to demonstrate how much you know.
Your job is to make the reader understand what matters.

The last part is particularly relevant: Do not try to demonstrate how much you know. That's almost the opposite of the default behaviour of an LLM.

Remember, a good human-written document often does something AI struggles with: it deliberately leaves information out.

How to change Chrome to bright, bold colours, not pastels

Zaphod Dev — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:21 +0000

The problem

If you have more than one google profile for any reason, such as personal, work, projects, etc. and want to operate them all from the same computer, then you might find it difficult. Every chrome window looks the same.

Naive solution

Chrome has a "Customise profile" feature, it mainly changes the title bar and tab colour to a variety of pale, pastel shades which all look very similar to each other. Why doesn't it let the user choose strong, striking colours?

How to make Chrome different colours

Easiest way
Select a pre-built theme from...

Chrome Web Store: Themes section. Examples: Black, Red
chromethemer.com. Examples: Orange, Blue, Green.

Most flexible way

Build custom themes, site 1: chrometheme.studio
Custom themes, site 2: themebeta.com

Note: Many of the themes include background images. These can be ignored, they only appear on the new tab page. Other extensions exist to change the new tab page separately, as well.

How to disable touchscreen on Dell Precision 5690 without admin rights

Zaphod Dev — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:46:33 +0000

Open the registry, navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Wisp\Touch

Under that, create a new DWORD Value:

Name TouchGate
Value 0 (default)

Reboot.

How to make `git pull` work via mobile hotspot

Zaphod Dev — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:14:29 +0000

The fix

GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -v -o KexAlgorithms=curve25519-sha256" git pull

How to debug

GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -v" git pull

Explanation

A hang at expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY during key exchange points to a MTU/packet fragmentation issue, which is extremely common with mobile hotspots.

What's happening
The SSH key exchange uses large packets (especially with post-quantum algorithms like sntrup761x25519-sha512). Mobile networks often have:

Lower MTU than typical networks (1500 bytes on wifi vs ~1400 on cellular)
Aggressive packet filtering or mangling
Issues with large UDP/TCP packets that need fragmentation The connection establishes fine (small packets), but hangs when the first large crypto packet is sent.

Alternative fix

# Find your hotspot interface (probably wlan0 or similar)
ip link show

# Temporarily reduce MTU
sudo ip link set dev <interface> mtu 1400

Permanent SSH config fix

Add to ~/.ssh/config:

Host github.com
    KexAlgorithms curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org

This disables the post-quantum sntrup761 algorithm which generates the largest packets.

How to disable smart quotes in Jira and Confluence

Zaphod Dev — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:46:33 +0000

The problem

When you type a single or double quote in Atlassian Jira or Confluence wiki, it's automatically converted to a smart quote. As a detail-oriented software engineer, this disturbs me.

Examples

“double”
‘single’
I don’t like it

Even if you delete the quote and re-type it, it becomes smart again.

There is no option to disable smart quotes permanently.

But...

You can get rid of them

Type Ctrl-Z immediately after they appear.

It also works for the word don't: When you type apostrophe ' it looks normal, then when you type t, the apostrophe changes. Type Ctrl-Z and it reverts back to normal again.

Python virtual env cheat sheet

Zaphod Dev — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:05:41 +0000

Update: Use `uv` instead

This is another way to do it, probably sub-optimal:

Setup

python3.6 -m venv venv
source ./venv/bin/activate

Common

(venv) pip install --upgrade pip

Standard

(venv) pip install -r requirements.txt

Optional for poetry

(venv) python -m pip install poetry pip -U
(venv) poetry update
(venv) poetry install
(venv) source .venv/bin/activate

Teardown

deactivate

sed tricks

Zaphod Dev — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:03:48 +0000

Search and replace over multiple lines:

sed -i -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' -e 's/)\n(/),\n(/g' file

Simple toast notification

Zaphod Dev — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:02:57 +0000

Easy:

<button onclick="toast('foo')">Show Toast</button>

<script>
function toast(message) {
  var snackbar = document.createElement("div");
  snackbar.id = "snackbar";
  snackbar.innerText = message;
  document.body.appendChild(snackbar);

  snackbar.style.cssText = `
    visibility: visible;
    text-align: center;
    border: 2px solid black;
    padding: 16px;
    position: fixed;
    z-index: 1;
    left: 50%;
    bottom: 30px;
    transform: translateX(-50%);
    opacity: 1;
  `;

  setTimeout(function() {
    snackbar.style.visibility = "hidden";
    snackbar.style.opacity = "0";
    document.body.removeChild(snackbar);
  }, 3000);
}
</script>

(source)

Docker desktop exit code 139 on WSL2

Zaphod Dev — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:27:32 +0000

Noah's tip

Out of the box new windows - wsl2 is unusable - need to be able to do sudo apt update. Make /etc/resolv.conf changes permanent in WSL 2:

sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf
sudo bash -c 'echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf'
sudo bash -c 'echo "[network]" > /etc/wsl.conf'
sudo bash -c 'echo "generateResolvConf = false" >> /etc/wsl.conf'
sudo chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf

(source)

Will's tip

Problem: Docker containers immediately stop on Docker desktop (Windows) with exit code 139.

Fix: Create a file named .wslconfig in your user directory, e.g. C:/Users/[your user name]/.wslconfig, with contents:

[wsl2]
kernelCommandLine = vsyscall=emulate

Then reboot

(source)

Tools I use in software engineering

Zaphod Dev — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:34:59 +0000

These are not traditional tools, but modern methods of assimilating new information and concepts, and automating common tasks:

https://notegpt.io/youtube-video-summarizer
https://www.mymap.ai/video-summarizer
Your favourite AI can also summarise any transcript you give it

Escape quotes correctly when using psql via docker in bash

Zaphod Dev — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:07:26 +0000

docker compose exec site bash -c 'PGPASSWORD=***** psql -Ufoo -d bar \
  -h example.com -x -c "select qux, date(xyzzy) from tabley          \
  where field in(1, 2, 3) and that_time > '"'"'2024-11-18'"'"'       \
  order by that_time;"'

Quoteception

'"'"' is the Quoteception operator.

When used in the middle of a single quoted string, it:

' Ends the current single quoted string
" Starts a new double quoted string
' That contains one single quote
" Ends the double quoted string
' Re-starts the next single quoted string

Example usage:

echo 'Embedded single quote is here: '"'"' did you see it?'

Outputs:

Embedded single quote is here:  '  did you see it?

DEV Community: Zaphod Dev

You probably don't need git filter-branch OR git-filter-repo

LLM prompt for writing documents

Example prompt

How to change Chrome to bright, bold colours, not pastels

The problem

Naive solution

How to make Chrome different colours

How to disable touchscreen on Dell Precision 5690 without admin rights

How to make `git pull` work via mobile hotspot

How to disable smart quotes in Jira and Confluence

Python virtual env cheat sheet

Update: Use uv instead

sed tricks

Simple toast notification

Docker desktop exit code 139 on WSL2

Noah's tip

Will's tip

Tools I use in software engineering

Escape quotes correctly when using psql via docker in bash

Quoteception

Update: Use `uv` instead