Coloured pencil diagram showing the Arch Linux boot process using systemd-boot, UKI, TPM2 unlock, and Btrfs subvolumes.

A Sealed Deal: TPM2, UKI, and the Arch Install Script That Nearly Broke Me

Most Arch install guides read like someone dumped their terminal history into a blog and called it a day. I wanted more than that. I wanted a system that was secure, fast, and didn’t ask me for a password every time I booted. I wanted TPM2-backed full-disk encryption, a modern boot process with UKI, and a layout that respected my time. And I wanted it to be repeatable — no more tinkering for hours every six months. ...

May 1, 2025 · 6 min · Oliver Daff
Printed papers on a desk

Foundations of Software Systems

This curated series walks through the most important papers in software systems — from foundational thinking to distributed consensus protocols.

April 13, 2025 · 2 min · Oliver Daff
The Invisible Ceilings of Cloud Infrastructure

The Invisible Ceilings of Cloud Infrastructure

The Invisible Ceilings of Cloud Infrastructure What Pinterest’s EC2 throttling incident—and others like it—teach us about building resilient systems in a black box world. When the Cloud Slows Down, Quietly It started with user complaints. Pages were loading slowly. API calls were timing out. Internal dashboards lagged behind real-time. Something was wrong—but none of the usual suspects showed up. No alerts fired. No dashboards lit up. Logs were clean. And yet the system was clearly sick. ...

April 8, 2025 · 7 min · Oliver Daff
Coloured pencil illustration split in two: on the left, a rigid factory line under 'Follow the Plan'; on the right, a collaborative studio under 'Try It, Talk About It, Tune It'

Enabling vs Constraining

This series dives into the subtle design forces that unlock (or stifle) high-performing teams — from architecture and autonomy to leadership, complexity, and culture.

April 30, 2025 · 1 min · Oliver Daff
Coloured pencil illustration of the title 'Hash Tables Without Assumptions Series' with a hand-drawn hash table below and arrows pointing to index positions 1 and 2

Hash Tables Without Assumptions

This series explores how simple changes to insertion can dismantle long-standing assumptions about hash table performance — and what that shift unlocks for tighter, faster, and more resilient systems.

April 27, 2025 · 2 min · Oliver Daff

Foundations of Software Systems

This series explores the foundational ideas that shaped modern software systems — from philosophy to consensus protocols.

April 13, 2025 · 1 min · Oliver Daff