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The Digital Recoil

Oddjobz — Tue, 05 May 2026 13:16:01 +0000

The Digital Recoil

Closing the Gates: The Real Reason behind the NHS Code Blackout

On May 11, 2026, it looks like NHS England will officially end its decade-long commitment to “Open by Default.” While the official narrative cites a “temporary” defensive pivot against AI-driven threats, a deeper look suggests a massive tactical maneuver to sidestep looming UK statutory frameworks.

The announcement sent shockwaves through the GovTech community. Since the Government Digital Service (GDS) established Service Standard 12, the mantra has been “Public Money, Public Code.” By shifting to private repositories, NHS England isn’t just changing where its developers host their work; it is fundamentally altering its legal status in the eyes of the British legal system.

The "Security" Smokescreen

The NHS justifies this move as a response to large-scale ingestion of public code by advanced AI models. The fear is that “bad actors” will use LLMs to find zero-day vulnerabilities in public NHS code.

However, critics point out a glaring logical flaw: the code is already out there. Most critical NHS repositories have been public for years; they have already been indexed, scraped, and ingested by every major model currently in existence.

Closing the gate after the horse has bolted suggests the “security” argument is, at best, a partial truth. The real value of close-sourcing isn’t protecting existing vulnerabilities—it is stopping the clock on the discovery of new ones by the public, and more importantly, by regulators.

The Unmentioned Giants: CRA and PLD

Noticeably absent from the NHS’s public statements are the UK Cyber Security and Resilience (CS&R) Bill and the updated Product Liability (PLD) frameworks. These upcoming laws treat software as a “product” with strict liabilities. If the NHS provides public code that is integrated into third-party health tech and that code fails, the NHS could be legally liable as a “producer.” By moving to private repos, the NHS effectively re-classifies its digital output. It ceases to be a “software manufacturer” placing products on the market and reverts to being a “service provider” using internal tools. This single distinction could save the department hundreds of millions in compliance “gates,” statutory audits, and litigation costs.

“The shift to private repositories may allow the NHS to bypass the ‘Secure-by-Design’ audits mandated by the CS&R Bill, effectively opting out of a regulatory tax that applies to the open-source world.”

The Cost of Silence

The real saving here is not in server costs or developer hours; it is in the avoidance of “Innovation Debt.” Under the new frameworks, a public repository requires rigorous, documented security lifecycles that can cost upwards of £150,000 per project to maintain. By going private, the NHS avoids these public-facing statutory requirements, choosing the relative peace of obscurity over the expensive transparency of the open-source era.

Estimated Savings:

Statutory Audit Savings: ~£25m
Indemnity Premium Delta: £5m-£10m
AI Remediation Liability: Unbounded
Total estimated regulatory saving: £135m+ annually.

References:

https://fsfe.org/news/2026/news-20260504-01.html
https://www.theregister.com/2026/05/05/nhs_to_closesource_hundreds_of_repos/
https://keepthingsopen.com/ (open letter requesting a policy reversal)

Attribution: This article on apparent changes in the state of NHS software was generated by Gemini AI in an attempt to present a relatively neutral ‘take’ on current events.

The Potential trap

Some Open Source licenses (Copyleft in particular) have some very specific mandates relating to transparency. When close sourcing a previously Open Source project there are a number of issues to take into account with regards to how the resulting project can be used and distributed in terms of all the Open Source components that it may use, which is likely only apparent following an audit of all the OS licenses of all the components used in the project.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over time, but it seems ironic that on the one hand the government expects small Open Source developers to work within a regulatory framework (at great expense, for free) while that work is then consumed by Government projects who then, potentially, choose to opt out of that very same framework. Far be it from me to utter the word “Hypocrisy”, but for the average large project that uses maybe 2000+ Open Source components, I do wonder what would happen of all the authors followed the NHS’s lead …

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The Home Lab Revolution: Gitea

Oddjobz — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:48:57 +0000

The Home Lab Revolution: Gitea

For years, I treated GitHub and GitLab as the unquestioned industry standards tools I used daily without a second thought. Recently, I’ve been self-hosting the GitLab Open Source edition; while powerful, it’s a heavy lift to deploy and a constant chore to maintain. However, I recently stumbled upon a lightweight alternative that was a total eye-opener and it’s a game-changer for anyone seeking a leaner on-premise Git solution.

Before you write it off as I don’t need on-Prem Git, what I have works fine, consider there are a few key features that are not so easy to come by on hosted platforms.

The Killer Feature

This is by no means the only reason why Gitea might be on interest, however for me it’s not something I’ve even considered before and I find it fascinating that’s it’s not really even mentioned as a headline feature (as far as I can see).

Migrations and Repository Mirroring

So I had around 100 source code repositories spread over GitHub and GitLab, many of which historically were public. After having made all but one private as a result of the new CRA/PLD legislation, I was faced with not longer needing the liability of having all that code in a public cloud. After wondering idly whether Gitea (which I was experimenting with) had any sort of import facility, I stumbled upon Create -> New Migration …

Which shocked me a little, not only because I wasn’t expecting to see the feature, but the overall quality and feel of the software was exceeding my wildest expectations. I was starting to think there was going to be a catch so I clicked through only to find a relatively simple form which not only offered to migrate the repo files, but literally everything including LFS attachments, Wiki’s etc. Too good to be true, I just knew it was going to fail …

So 82 repositories later (that I’ve sucked in from my online GitHub and GitLab accounts) and I’m still waiting to see a problem. But wait, it get’s better …

Mirroring and 2-Way Sync

Now I’ve only had a limited amount of time to experiment with this so far, but it appears to be exactly what it says on the tin. It will allow you to have either a one way or two way mirror of your hosted repository and keep them in sync!

All the rest ...

If you’re waiting for me to say “BUT”, me too. The only thing I’ve tried to do which initially stumped me was to edit a Readme file in the UI, which I couldn’t as it doesn’t look like they’ve implemented an inline editor. However, it was quite happy to launch VSCode for me on the folder, which is probably a far better option than messing around with an inline editor.

Look and Feel

It looks and feels very mich like GitHub, maybe a little smoother and certainly a lot quicker. I’m running Gitea on a Raspberry Pi 5 inside a container using the binary install on a Debian base with the SqLite database. It FLIES compared to online hosted solutions.

This setup allows me to work entirely offline with full control over my own backups, while still maintaining the flexibility to mirror specific repositories to GitHub or GitLab for cloud redundancy or public sharing. It is difficult to overstate just how responsive the interface is even running on the modest hardware of a Raspberry Pi 5, the performance is instantaneous.

If you’re a GitHub user then it’s all going to feel fairly Normal, and if you’re a GitLab user, well, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The Summary

The bits that (for me) that really make it worthwhile;

Migrations, automated repository imports
Mirroring and Syncing, keep your local copies in sync with your cloud hosted repos
Speed, it is SO quick
Privacy, nobody will be training their LLM’s on your code (!)
You’re not subject to changing terms from your hosting provider
The Open Source version is free to Host yourself (it’s a 3 minute install)
The Internet goes down, you don’t
Low resource usage, my instance with 83 repo’s uses 158M on a Raspberry Pi

What’s still baffling me is why I didn’t notice this sooner …

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A Bigger Issue …

Oddjobz — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:29:16 +0000

A Bigger Issue ...

So while various governments and institutions are off worrying about what people say on social media and try to figure out how to get Open Source programmers to work for them for free, some of the REAL problems facing Open Source seem to be going unchallenged.

It's been coming down the track for a while now ...

Yup, supply chain attacks. This isn’t missiles aimed at boats in the middle east, this is bad actors (hackers) trying to compromise one of the hundreds of thousands (millions) of Open Source packages out there that are incorporated into our every day life. Case in point, over the last few days we saw a very severe exploit that looks like it might originate in North Korea, summary courtesy of Gemini;

Imagine a baker (the developer) makes a cake (the app). They buy flour (Axios) from a trusted supplier. If someone poisons the flour at the factory, every cake made with that batch becomes dangerous, even if the baker followed the recipe perfectly. Once someone eats the cake, not only are they going to be ill, but they will in turn potentially poison others without even realising.

Security Alert: The Axios "Supply Chain" Attack

What Happened?
On March 31, 2026, a popular software building block called Axios—used by millions of websites and apps to communicate with servers—was briefly compromised. Hackers gained access to a lead developer’s account and injected malicious code into two specific versions of the library (1.14.1 and 0.30.4).

How Does This Affect “Average” Users?
Most users don’t interact with Axios directly, but the apps they use do. If a developer unknowingly updated their app during the three-hour window of the attack, that app could have been turned into a “spy” on the user’s device.

The Malware: The malicious code was designed to steal sensitive information, such as passwords, digital keys, and “environment variables” (secret codes that apps use to talk to services like Amazon or Google).

The Risk: While the “hole” was plugged within hours, any data handled by an infected app during that window should be considered stolen.

What Should You Do?

Update Your Apps: If you receive notification of an app update today, install it immediately. Developers are currently “rolling back” to safe versions of their software.

Rotate Critical Secrets: If you are a power user or developer who uses “API Keys” or “Environment Variables” for work, change them immediately.

Monitor Accounts: Keep a close eye on your accounts for any unusual activity over the next few days, particularly if you use developer-focused tools or crypto-wallets.

The Bottom Line:
This wasn’t a “hack” of a single website, but a “supply chain” attack—poisoning the ingredients before the meal is even cooked. While the immediate threat is over, the ripple effects of stolen data may last for weeks.

How could this happen?

Don’t think for a second that this is either new or unexpected. It’s been known about and expected (and has been happening) for quite some time, but it would appear that efforts made to mitigate this sort of attack are proving insufficient.

Depending on the project, developers will pull in code written by other people either from source code repositories like GitHub and GitLab, or from package managers like PyPi or NPM. These are all trusted sources, because, well, you have to trust somebody, right?

The problem (at least in this case) is that if someone who maintains a chunk of trusted code has their credentials compromised in some way, a bad actor then has unfettered access to trusted code. If there are no other controls in place (as apparently in this instance), then the exploit can end up anywhere doing almost anything, from replacing your website with a pink bunny to stealing your online banking credentials on your mobile phone. (or as it looks in this case, going after your digital wallet and all the crypto-currency it can find)

How do we stop this happening?

Well, there’s no easy fix, it’s going to take work. In order to do the work, resources are going to be needed and thus far those with the resources seem to be directing them at the wrong targets.

“We have outsourced our entire digital infrastructure to a handful of unpaid, exhausted and now persecuted volunteers, then acted surprised when the ‘pipeline’ we refused to fund was hijacked by a nation-state.”

If we’re worried about source repository and package repository security, which affects everybody, then maybe some (more) funding is on order. And whereas bugs in code can be a problem, exploits it would seem are a far far bigger problem, And again, if we want well-maintained bug free code, maybe it’s time to start paying the people who write it, rather than threatening them and trying to make them do even more for even less?

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The “Software Police” Are Coming

Oddjobz — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 02:21:45 +0000

The "Software Police" Are Coming: Why Open Source Is Terrified of the EU's New Laws

In recent years, the open-source community has watched the legislative horizon with growing dread. While governments publicly praise “innovation” and “digital sovereignty,” two massive pieces of EU legislation—the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and the Product Liability Directive (PLD) – are set to rewrite the rules of software.

The goal of these laws is admirable: to force manufacturers to build more secure software and to make them liable when data breaches hurt consumers. But there is a catch. The internet wasn’t built by manufacturers. The vast majority of its critical infrastructure from the encryption that protects your bank account to the server software running the NHS is built by volunteers, academics, and small, independent projects.

For decades, this community has operated under a simple pact;

The code is free to use, but it is provided ‘As Is,’ with no warranty and no liability.

This new legislation attempts to shred that pact, treating open-source volunteers as if they were Apple or Microsoft. The result is a looming disaster for open source, innovation, and digital freedom.

The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): Software Needs a CE Mark?

The CRA (often combined with the Cyber Solidarity Act) introduces mandatory security requirements for any “product with digital elements” sold in the EU. In short, it demands that software receive a CE mark—just like a physical toaster or a children’s toy—before it can be “placed on the market.”

The Problem: What does “On the Market” mean?

This is the single biggest question that is currently causing panic. Open-source developers do not typically “place software on the market.” They publish code to a public repository (like GitHub). Under the CRA, if a piece of open-source software is used by a company (even if the developer didn’t know or approve), the original developer could be defined as a “manufacturer.”

The Consequences

Mandatory Certification
If you maintain a popular open-source library, you could be legally required to perform complex risk assessments, undergo third-party audits, and maintain exhaustive technical documentation—all at your own considerable expense.
Strict Deadlines
If a vulnerability is found in your code, the CRA mandates that you patch it and report it to a government agency within 24 hours.
Massive Fines
Failure to comply can result in fines of up to €15 million or 2.5% of total global turnover (even if that turnover is zero).

For a small team of volunteers running a project for free, this is an impossible bureaucratic and financial hurdle.

The Product Liability Directive (PLD): Who Pays When Code Breaks?

While the CRA focuses on the rules of placing software on the market, the PLD focuses on who is responsible when things go wrong.

The updated PLD is trying to treat software as a physical product rather than a service. This means that if a security vulnerability in a “product” (like a web browser or an smart home hub) causes you to lose your data, the “manufacturer” is strictly liable for the damages.

The Problem – The “Supply Chain” Trick

If you build a smart light bulb and use free open-source code for its networking chip, and that light bulb causes a data leak, the consumer might sue you. Under the new PLD, you (the manufacturer) are incentivised to turn around and sue the open-source developer who built the networking code you used for free.

The Consequences

Open-source developers have always built in public on the understanding that they are providing knowledge, not a product with a guarantee. By erasing the distinction between software and physical products, the PLD is treating volunteers like they are manufacturing faulty brake pads.

The Final Outlook: "Let It Rot" or "Get Big"?

The open-source community isn’t just “complaining” about paperwork. They are raising the alarm because this legislation threatens the existence of independent software development.

If these laws are enforced as currently drafted:

Independent Projects Shut Down
Maintainers will simply archive their repositories and delete their code (“Let It Rot”). The legal risk of helping others for free will be too high.
The “Big Tech” Monopoly Is Cemented
Only giant corporations (like Meta, Google, or Microsoft) can afford the compliance costs, security audits, and legal insurance that the CRA and PLD demand. Open innovation dies.
Europe Is Blacklisted
To avoid legal liability, many developers will simply add a single line to their license: “NOT FOR USE IN THE EU.” This will starve European businesses and governments of the very innovation they claim to want.

By attempting to police “software quality” using tools designed for physical products, the state is making independent coding criminal by proxy. If they force the volunteers to quit, they will look back and realize they destroyed the foundation of the digital world, all in the name of making it “safe.”

Attribution: This explanation of the CRA and PLD was generated by Gemini (Google’s AI) in collaboration with the maintainers of this site to clarify the real-world impact of upcoming software legislation.

Now before you get too comfortable because we’re no longer in the EU, you should be aware that many of the promises made when the UK left the EU haven’t exactly been honoured in the way you might have expected. In this context, as you may have heard from ministers via the TV in recent times, the UK is trying to adopt parallel laws to make interactions and compliance with the EU easier (!)

So apparently in the UK we now have the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which finished committee stage in February. As this is billed as “essential to national security” and has cross-party support the chances of adoption seem to be 99%+.

There is also the Software Security Code of Practice, which is the UK’s answer to the PLD. Now apparently (!) this is already in play, but on a “voluntary” basis. “That’s Ok” I hear you say, it’s just “voluntary”. Gemini seems to think that in English Common Law, once a “Code of Practice” exists, it becomes the benchmark for negligence, so in context “voluntary” is really all they need to get the same overall effect.

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The “Internet ID” Debate: Why is it so messy?

Oddjobz — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:35:43 +0000

The "Internet ID" Debate: Why is it so messy?

This article explores the unintended consequences of age-verification laws on the independent developer and open-source communities. It was generated by Gemini (Google’s AI) in collaboration with Mad Penguin to help clarify the technical and social impact of recent legislation.

Most people agree that children shouldn’t stumble across harmful content online. However, the UK’s current approach (the Online Safety Act) has created a massive divide. On one side is the Government saying, “We need to see your ID to keep kids safe.” On the other are the people who build the internet saying, “You are about to break the foundation of the digital world.”

Here is the breakdown of the Pros and Cons in plain English.

The Pros: Why the Government wants this

A “Digital Turnstile”
Just as you show ID at a pub, the law wants a “turnstile” at the door of social media and AI sites. This makes it much harder for children to lie about their age.
Accountability
If everyone is “verified,” it’s harder for anonymous trolls to bully or “groom” others, as their real-world identity is linked to their account.
Peace of Mind for Parents
It gives parents a “system-level” tool to ensure their kids aren’t seeing things they aren’t ready for.

The Cons: Why the "Tech Class" is worried

This is where the “Cons” go deeper than just “I want my privacy.” There are three major risks:

1. The "Honeypot" Risk (Security)

To prove you are an adult, you have to give your data (passport, credit card, or face scan) to a website.

The Problem:
Governments and big companies have a terrible track record of keeping this data safe.
Example:
Just this month (March 2026), a major flaw at Companies House allowed anyone to see the private home addresses and birthdays of 5 million directors just by clicking the “Back” button in their browser.
The Fear:
If the government can’t secure a simple business registry, why should we trust them—or a random social media app—with our passports?

2. The "Ghost Town" Effect (Innovation)

Building these “ID Checkpoints” is incredibly expensive.

The Problem:
Small, creative websites and independent developers (the people who actually build the tools we use) can’t afford the £10,000+ monthly fees to run these ID checks.
The Result:
Rather than risk a massive government fine, these creators are simply turning off their services or “archiving” their work. The internet becomes a “Ghost Town” where only the giant corporations (like Meta or Google) can afford to exist.

3. The "Dependency Collapse" (Stability)

This is the most “invisible” danger. The internet isn’t one single thing; it’s a giant tower of Lego bricks. Most government websites are built using “free bricks” (Open Source code) maintained by volunteers.

The Problem:
If a volunteer in their bedroom is told they are now “legally responsible” for verifying the age of everyone who looks at their code, they will simply delete the code.
The Result:
When those “bricks” vanish, the government’s own systems (like the NHS or tax offices) might stop working because they can’t “rebuild” their software.

The "Shotgun" Analogy

Imagine the government sees a fly on your boot.
They want to kill the fly to protect you.
To do it, they point a shotgun at your foot and pull the trigger.

The Fly (The Harm): Might be gone.
The Boot (The Internet): Has a massive hole in it.
The Foot (The Economy): Is shattered.

The Bottom Line

Opposing this legislation isn’t about “not wanting to protect children.” It’s about pointing out that the tool being used is too destructive. Critics argue that we are trading our privacy and a functional internet for a “safety system” that can be bypassed by anyone with a basic technical skill (like a VPN), leaving us with an internet that is less secure, less creative, and owned entirely by a few giant companies.

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Important Community Announcement

Oddjobz — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:05:01 +0000

Important Community Announcement

It is with profound regret that, after 15 years of dedicated, free support to the UK Linux community, the linuxforums.org.uk forum has permanently ceased operations.

Following the introduction of recently implemented government legislation, the maintainers no longer believe that providing this service is viable or sustainable under the new regulatory framework.

We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to making this forum a vital resource. We offer a special thanks to our volunteer moderators, whose tireless and selfless dedication supported countless users over the years.

While we have closed our doors, we remain committed to the principles of open support. Should we identify an equivalent, legally sustainable service for the UK Linux community, we will attempt to update this page with those details.

– the Mad Penguin team.

05May

The Digital Recoil

03Apr

The Home Lab Revolution: Gitea

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MocaccinoOS

Oddjobz — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 02:41:57 +0000

MocaccinoOS (25.09)

This appears to be one of a number of up and coming immutable style distro’s that aims to move users away from lots of locally installed native applications and all the risks they carry, towards a partitioned future where all applications exist in their own contained environment.

This concept is still early-days to an extent, but this looks like an interesting start. It comes as a standard Live ISO with an option to Install, so you can take it for a spin before committing it to your hard disk. For testing purposes I managed to spin it up and whizz through the installer in a virtual machine without any major issues.

It’s a relatively standard Calamares based installer, maybe not as polished as some of the latest offerings from the likes of Ubuntu, but neatly done and very functional. It comes in a number of flavours as you’d expect, in this instance I’m experimenting with the Gnome version.

There’s nothing much to say about the desktop itself, it’s the standard vanilla Gnome offering with customisation left up to you. What is more interesting is what you find under the hood if you dig a little.

The package manager is something call Luet, which is a very different animal to the likes of apt and yum. The number of applications installed in in the base image is surprising, I found things like btop and mysql already there and other applications like Chromium and LibreOffice available from the software installer via FlatPak.

Main Features as quoted in their Documentation

Focused on minimalism, small footprint, and ease of use
Native vanilla upstream kernel: We closely follow kernel versions from upstream, LTS included
Unique approach to package management: SAT-solving is also applied on packages built in containers (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.)
Meta distribution: It can be easily used to bootstrap other OS or spin-offs
Local iteration: With the container ecosystem, it’s easy to iterate development locally
Cloud first: Support for the most important cloud technology in the landscape
Different variants: From server to desktop, from systemd to runit!

It will be interesting to see where this goes, but for now this looks like a surprisingly easy-to-use cutting edge distro that addresses a number of recent concerns over things like supply chain attacks that look like being an issue both now and in the future. Notably I’m looking at my main system which is running the latest version of Debian (Trixie) which is sporting a 6.1.0 kernel. This feels a little “old”. Mocaccino on the other hand is showing 6.12.45, which is far more recent (!)

I’ve not had chance to play with some of the more advanced development and security features facilitated by it’s immutable nature, but if you’re looking to try something new it certainly feels like a contender.

For more information;

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Linux in August 2025

Oddjobz — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 13:29:23 +0000

News Roundup - August 2025

Despite the heat here in the UK, it’s been pretty busy in the world of Linux. There have been some major new releases, not least Debian “Trixie” which will be the next stable LTS base for many of the major Linux derivative distributions for the next few years.

CachyOS and Arch

In the “also ran” camp we have some other new releases like CachyOS. On the one hand this looks very nice and has lots of new features, but on the other hand as an Arch derivative they may be subject to some of the issues that have been plaguing the Arch OS distribution this week.

Not only have they been subject to a massive and prolonged DDOS attack, but this is off the back of a serious exploit in their AUR repository.

Intel and Clear Linux

Probably the most important Linux distribution you never heard of shuttered it’s doors at the end of last month. Clear Linux, which was developed and supported by Intel is no more. You can read the EOL notice and comments here. The distribution was used partly as a testing ground for new features and new optimisations leading to a Linux Kernel optimised for Intel hardware. It will be interesting to see how Linux fares over time as new Intel features appear and how quickly those features appear in the mainline kernel.

Linux Gaming

Not something that tends to make the technical news maybe as often as it should, but Linux is becoming a fairly serious gaming platform in it’s own right thanks to Steam. With active online users now up the the 30-40M+ range, they seem to have built up a user base that’s become more than sustainable.

Linux Hardware

We’re starting to see a huge range of new hardware appearing that supports Linux. Some of this is available with Linux pre-installed but there is a growing collection of very cost-effective hardware that seems explicitly designed for people who want to install their own version of Linux on it.

Linux turns 34

This month Linux had it’s 34th Birthday. August 25th 1991 and Linus announced the first release of Linux. It was pretty basic at the time and didn’t have support for critical features like networks (!) but even at that point it was clearly going to be a force to reckon with. I downloaded my first version from Compuserve a week later and have never looked back.

Firefox 143

Despite some of the negative press Firefox updates keep on coming on a regular basis, this one brings with it better sound support and support for some of the latest CSS coding features.

More News, More Vendors ...

If you have any news or would like to write for the site, please get in touch or visit the community forums and get involved. Similarly if you are a Linux Vendor (or know one) who would like to be listed under Vendors, drop up a line – it’s a free service.

Ads

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Linux Web Hosting in 2025!

Oddjobz — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:25:18 +0000

Linux Web Hosting in 2025

Once upon a time, in order to host your own website you needed a paid-for web hosting service, a public folder, an index.html file and some HTML coding skills. Fortunately things have moved on a little since then.

Fancy running your own website on your own Linux PC?

You no longer need to know any HTML (although a little appreciation can help) and for relatively modest projects, you no longer need to pay for hosting services. I’m not talking about a specific short term ‘get it for free while it lasts’ product, this has become a long term standard facility offered by many providers.

Why is this free?

Well, it’s a great loss-leader and a way to pick up entry-level customers, with a minimal (if not pretty much zero) operational overhead.

Getting your own self-hosted site

There are many ways to approach this, I’m going to run through the method I use just to give you a flavour of what’s involved.

What you need

A PC running Linux, pretty much anything will do
A (free) Copy of WordPress to run on your PC
A (free) ‘pages’ account with an online provider

What you can expect to pay

For a personal website or small business website nothing. If you find yourself with a really popular site with lots and lots of visitors, probably still nothing. If you start to need dynamic features, user logins and other infrastructure, you may want to add some chargeable features, but you’ll likely still be in the £5 to £20 per month range.

Why Did I Think Websites Were Expensive?

In general the cost is associated with time spent generating and maintaining content, but if you’re doing this yourself, the only cost is your time. If you want a ‘commercial’ template to make your site look really professional (there are plenty of good / free templates) then expect to pay between £20 and £60 from a reputable design firm. (this is a one-off, not a subscription)

WordPress

If you’re unfamiliar with WordPress, it’s a relatively long-lived, open-source Content Management System which has adapted to become a solid platform for building maintainable websites that can be managed and updated by regular people.

Technically it’s a PHP application that runs on top of either Apache or NGINX and MySQL.

You will find a host of video’s on YouTube on how to install WordPress on your computer, or to make life really easy there are Docker images available for both WordPress and MySQL which involve only minimal installation and configuration.

A 'pages' provider

Some companies call the service a ‘pages’ service, others refer it it a ‘JamStack’ account. In each instance it’s typically a static web service that’s driven from either a GitHub or GitLab account. Companies that provide such a service include (but are certainly not limited to);

CloudFlare
GitHub
GitLab
MadPenguin

The idea in each instance is that you save your static HTML pages to your Git account, then point the Pages service at the Git account. Each time you make a change to your website, save the changes in Git and those changes are automatically re-provisioned in the Pages service.

The Missing Link ...

The problem with all this is that although WordPress solves the website design and maintenance issues, and a Pages provider solves the provisioning and delivery issues, there is a disconnect. WordPress stores it’s content in templates and a MySQL database, but the Pages service needs static HTML files.

The Solution

A service which will make a static copy of your WordPress site. There are a number of such (free) WordPress plugins available, but one in particular provides a seamless service, scanning your site directly into a GitLab repository.

The free “MakeMeStatic” plugin takes a snapshot of your WordPress site at any given point in time and synchronises it with your Git Repository. From there you can apply your own Pages provider who will host the site live for you.

Typically they will all allow you to point your own domain name (for free) at your new Pages site. I’m saying “free”, each provider will have their own Terms you’ll need to check for limitations, fair-use, etc.

By default the plugin will use the MadPenguin Git Repository and Pages platform, so subject to pointing your domain name it’s pretty much zero-config. All you need now is some content …

References

WordPress Open Source CMS
CloudFlare Pages
The MakeMeStatic Plugin (available from the WordPress plugin directory)
Theme Forest (for professional WordPress Templates)

The post Linux Web Hosting in 2025! appeared first on Linux.co.uk.

TheLinuxShop

Oddjobz — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 15:32:08 +0000

TheLinuxShop

The Linux Shop has been supplying Linux since 2004 to customers across the UK and Worldwide. We are renowned for our fast, friendly service and our aim is to make your Linux experience a simple and pleasurable one.

Key Services

Key Products

Linux on DVD
Linux on USB

The post TheLinuxShop appeared first on Linux.co.uk.