Ken Muse
Creating a Custom Buildroot Package For Binaries
Buildroot comes with a lot of great features, but what good is a custom image if you can’t add your own binaries? In this post, I’ll show you how to create a custom Buildroot package that uses a pre-compiled binary. I’ll walk you through the steps to create a package for the GitHub CLI, including how to configure it, define its dependencies, and how to install the package into your custom image.

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Speeding Up the Buildroot Toolchain
None of us like to wait. Time is precious, so we want to make the most of it. Unfortunately, if you’re just getting started with Buildroot it may seem like you’re spending a lot of time waiting for a toolchain to compile. In this post, we’ll look at ways to avoid that problem. Discover three easy ways to speed up your builds and spend more time creating, not waiting.

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Configuring Buildroot for Crafting Images
Ever wondered how to create a minimal Linux image using nothing but some menu selections? This guide walks you through using Buildroot’s menu system to craft your own custom OCI image, step by step using the graphical interface.

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Building OCI Images With Buildroot
Now that you’ve built an image by hand, you may be wondering if there are tools that might make this process easier. This week we’ll explore one of those – Buildroot – and look at how it can be used to automate building custom images.

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Calling Docker From Inside a GitHub Job Container
A common question I’ve heard is “how do I run Docker commands from within a GitHub Actions job container?” In this post, I’ll explore how GitHub Actions implements job and service containers using Docker, and how you can use that to run your own Docker commands from inside a job container.

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Authenticating Docker in Docker Containers in Kubernetes
Running Docker-in-Docker inside Kubernetes can be tricky … especially when you need to access private registries. Learn how to securely authenticate DinD containers.

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Why Exporting Environment Variables Doesn't Work In Actions
Ever wondered why you can’t just export your environment variables in GitHub Actions? I mean, it’s a Bash script, right? Well, it turns out that the way GitHub Actions works makes exporting them across steps impossible. Let’s dive into the details and learn how to properly set environment variables in your workflows.

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How to Dynamically Authenticate With Git
Need to authenticate with different Git repositories using various credentials? This post explores how to dynamically authenticate with Git using credential helpers, environment variables, and secret management systems.

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How Does Git Authentication Work?
Ever wondered how Git actually authenticates with remote repositories? Ever needed to configure different credentials to access different repositories? This article dives into the inner workings of Git authentication, exploring the role of credential helpers, how they are implemented, and how to customize them for your needs.

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Good Code Doesn't Care Where It Lives
Ever wondered if applications really have to be written to target servers or containers? Can they be more flexible so that they run anywhere? I recently had to create a Probot application that worked on VMs, containers, and serverless platforms. And I needed to do that without writing multiple versions of the code.

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