Some HCL Connections communities have been running for more than 15 years. Their discussions, documents, and decisions form a valuable collection of organizational knowledge. New employees and people changing teams can use this history to come up to speed, so losing it would be a serious problem.

The HCL Connections preview server is a good example. Content disappeared there after an update, and nobody had preserved it. An archive would have kept that knowledge available.

This week I found connections-export, a Python project for creating portable archives from HCL Connections content. It looks like an awesome tool for preserving a community’s current state in an open format.

This week’s links cover the fragility of US-based infrastructure, smart fridge firmware, AI-generated slop, journald, and the art of asking good questions.

I have used the HCL Connections automation project for years. I abandoned my own Ansible roles for deploying Connections and switched to it. The project works, but it misses some basic practices: it stores passwords in clear text, and its variable inheritance makes environment-specific settings hard to follow.

I got out running again this week. My bruised ribs are healing, and my thumb is nearly as good as new. The links this week cover AI privacy, accountability, surveillance, education, wealth, and the risks of putting powerful tools in the wrong hands.

Just one short article this week. It’s been a difficult one: I lost a good friend and injured myself while running. Thankfully, I only dislocated my thumb and bruised my ribs; nothing is broken. I hope you enjoy the read.

Crisp wheat and rye rolls covered with sunflower seeds, sesame and oats.

A soft and buttery brioche loaf.

Soft American-style toast with a light crumb and a thin crust.

I have a WMF spatula with a stainless steel handle and a silicone head. The silicone part is damaged, but the handle is still perfectly usable.

I contacted WMF to ask whether I could buy a replacement silicone head. I received an automatic confirmation with the case number 08779855, but no answer followed.

Throwing away a stainless steel handle because one small part is not available feels wrong. The product could continue to work for many years if WMF offered the silicone part as a replacement.

Week 36 is over. This time, I recommend watching the NDC Copenhagen keynote, checking Wunderwuzzi’s findings in Opus 5, and reading about LibreOffice’s download record during its release week.

A proof of concept for bringing Community themes back to HCL Connections 8.

A simple wheat bread with sourdough pre-dough.

A normal homeoffice week, but still full of ideas and to-dos after FrOSCon. Linux celebrated the 35th birthday this week, have fun reading this weeks link collection.

Pizza is easier to make at home than you might think.

A simple tomato sauce for pasta or pizza.

A simple gluten-free flatbread that I usually bake in the oven. Small batches can also be made in a pan.

A simple flatbread with gluten that I usually bake in the oven. Small batches can also be made in a pan.

IBM no longer supports IBM HTTP Server 8.5.5. This post documents the move to IBM HTTP Server 9 for HCL Connections.

I started publishing recipes on my blog, including structured recipe metadata for apps and search engines.

A simple roll recipe to make your own rolls for direct eating or freezing.

The old ibmcnx2 project has a new name: Connections Admin Scripts.

This week was very busy and I was onsite for three days after attending FrOSCon. So just two links.

I attended FrOSCon 21 on the weekend of 15 and 16 August 2026. The talks gave me a lot of ideas and to-dos.

Today I did an HCL Connections Docs installation on Windows Server 2022, but the installation failed with an AttributeError.

This week the link collection is about climate, cloud and AI. What impact does a cloud outage have on cats’ meals?

LG monitors installing McAfee after connecting the device and one day of AI in Google earth. Not a lot, but still interesting to read.

A new Gnome extension, a word worm (I thought we got over Office worms ages ago) and an OpenAI parrot attacked Hugging Face. Interesting week and some stuff to read. Have fun.