http://simonwillison.net/2025-12-30T23:51:33+00:00Simon Willison2025-12-30T23:51:33+00:002025-12-30T23:51:33+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/30/software-heritage/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://til.simonwillison.net/github/software-archive-recovery">TIL: Downloading archived Git repositories from archive.softwareheritage.org</a></strong></p> Back in February I <a href="https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/7/sqlite-s3vfs/">blogged about</a> a neat Python library called <code>sqlite-s3vfs</code> for accessing SQLite databases hosted in an S3 bucket, released as MIT licensed open source by the UK government's Department for Business and Trade.</p> <p>I went looking for it today and found that the <a href="https://github.com/uktrade/sqlite-s3vfs">github.com/uktrade/sqlite-s3vfs</a> repository is now a 404.</p> <p>Since this is taxpayer-funded open source software I saw it as my moral duty to try and restore access! It turns out <a href="https://archive.softwareheritage.org/browse/origin/directory/?origin_url=https://github.com/uktrade/sqlite-s3vfs">a full copy</a> had been captured by <a href="https://archive.softwareheritage.org/">the Software Heritage archive</a>, so I was able to restore the repository from there. My copy is now archived at <a href="https://github.com/simonw/sqlite-s3vfs">simonw/sqlite-s3vfs</a>.</p> <p>The process for retrieving an archive was non-obvious, so I've written up a TIL and also published a new <a href="https://tools.simonwillison.net/software-heritage-repo#https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fuktrade%2Fsqlite-s3vfs">Software Heritage Repository Retriever</a> tool which takes advantage of the CORS-enabled APIs provided by Software Heritage. Here's <a href="https://gistpreview.github.io/?3a76a868095c989d159c226b7622b092/index.html">the Claude Code transcript</a> from building that. <p><small></small>Via <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46435308#46438857">Hacker News comment</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/archives">archives</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/git">git</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/github">github</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/open-source">open-source</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/tools">tools</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai">ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/til">til</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/generative-ai">generative-ai</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/llms">llms</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/ai-assisted-programming">ai-assisted-programming</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/claude-code">claude-code</a></p>

2024-10-17T23:02:18+00:002024-10-17T23:02:18+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2024/Oct/17/using-static-websites-for-tiny-archives/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://alexwlchan.net/2024/static-websites/">Using static websites for tiny archives</a></strong></p> Alex Chan:</p> <blockquote> <p>Over the last year or so, I’ve been creating static websites to browse my local archives. I’ve done this for a variety of collections, including:</p> <ul> <li>paperwork I’ve scanned</li> <li>documents I’ve created</li> <li>screenshots I’ve taken</li> <li>web pages I’ve bookmarked</li> <li>video and audio files I’ve saved</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p>This is <em>such</em> a neat idea. These tiny little personal archive websites aren't even served through a localhost web server - they exist as folders on disk, and Alex browses them by opening up the <code>index.html</code> file directly in a browser. <p><small></small>Via <a href="https://social.alexwlchan.net/@alex/113318585934019063">@alex</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/archives">archives</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/html">html</a></p>

2024-01-21T05:58:18+00:002024-01-21T05:58:18+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jan/21/nyt-flash-based-visualizations-work-again/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://flowingdata.com/2024/01/10/nyt-flash-based-visualizations-work-again/">NYT Flash-based visualizations work again</a></strong></p> The New York Times are using the open source <a href="https://ruffle.rs/">Ruffle</a> Flash emulator - built using Rust, compiled to WebAssembly - to get their old archived data visualization interactives working again. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/archives">archives</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/flash">flash</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/new-york-times">new-york-times</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/rust">rust</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/webassembly">webassembly</a></p>

2022-05-04T22:40:27+00:002022-05-04T22:40:27+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2022/May/4/siard/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="https://www.bar.admin.ch/bar/en/home/archiving/tools/siard-suite.html">SIARD: Software Independent Archiving of Relational Databases</a></strong></p> I hadn’t heard of this before but it looks really interesting: the Federal Archives of Switzerland developed a standard for archiving any relational database as a zip file full of XML which is “is used in over 50 countries around the globe”. <p><small></small>Via <a href="https://twitter.com/MAndrewWaugh/status/1521981238890082304">@MAndrewWaugh</a></small></p> <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/archives">archives</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/databases">databases</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/xml">xml</a></p>

2010-01-18T17:46:24+00:002010-01-18T17:46:24+00:00https://simonwillison.net/2010/Jan/18/if/#atom-tag

<p><strong><a href="http://www.protocolostomy.com/2010/01/18/if-you-dont-date-your-work-it-sucks/">If You Don&#x27;t Date Your Work, It Sucks.</a></strong></p> I learnt this lesson the hard way, when I realised that I had no idea exactly what year I created my earliest web-facing projects. <p>Tags: <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/archives">archives</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/dates">dates</a>, <a href="https://simonwillison.net/tags/year">year</a></p>