Patching software
Recently I switched from Void Linux to Freebsd, I mentioned in my last blog post that I now use vanilla vim as my primary text editor instead of GNU Emacs or neovim.
I decided to install vim by building it manually. After installing, I got an idea to add my own little command to vim. So I did, by editing the source code which is also known as patching.
I added a :freebsd command which just prints out the Freebsd logo with "i use freebsd btw".
It looks pretty cool :o
Patches are not new. In fact, they are actually fairly old. More about them here: patches
Anyway, today I'm going to talk a bit about free software (free as in free speech).
The fact that we're even able to modify the behavior of a program to our own liking is really cool. It's like taking an iron conjuring spell and modifying the spell to conjure gold or a sword. It's really cool and people should do it more often.
It's also really fun trying to figure out what a piece of code does which probably will make you a better programmer. You also get a custom version of your favorite software by the end of it which is super cool.
So go ahead and clone your favorite program's repo and modify it to your liking. It could be something silly like adding a "gud" command to git so "git gud" becomes a valid command or maybe adding your own keyword to the C language by editing a tiny C compiler.
The possibility is endless and that's the beauty of it. You can do anything you want.