Updated as of 02 October 2024.

Here are some recommended utility applications and quality-of-life tweaks from an occasional macOS user. ...more

GPG is useful especially for signing commits on GitHub. It is a good idea to pre-emptively make backups of your GPG credentials, as extracting them from an unbootable system drive is not a straightforward process.

Backing up GPG

These steps should work on most, if not all, Linux distributions.

1. First, export your credentials

   gpg --export --export-options backup --output public.gpg
   gpg --export-secret-keys --export-options backup --output private.gpg
   gpg --export-ownertrust >> trust.gpg
   

2. Afterwards, copy these 3 files public.gpg private.gpg trust.gpg to somewhere safe (like an external drive or NAS).

3. You can import them on a new machine by running the following

   gpg --import public.gpg
   gpg --import private.gpg # Prompts you to type the passphrase that you used when you first created the GPG key.
   gpg --import-ownertrust trust.gpg
   

Tip: For GitHub users, if you need to sign commits using your existing GPG key on your new machine, here is the official guide.

The GNOME desktop environment for Linux is simple, stable, and user-friendly. However, the maintainers tend to make some bizarre design decisions that reduce its usability. Thankfully it supports third-party extensions like a web browser.

Here are some extensions that I found useful, along with recommended settings. These should be compatible with most popular Linux distributions. ...more