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Comment by Sir_Cmpwn | Hacker News Reader

>VLC 3.0.0 is the first version of "Vetinari" branch of our popular media player.

Also:

    ~ > curl -sI https://www.videolan.org/vlc/releases/3.0.0.html | grep clacks
    x-clacks-overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett

I don't use VLC, but I gained some more respect for them today regardless.

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Here, I would take the opportunity to publicly congratulate to Jean-Baptiste and his team for the great job they are doing, and thank them for the joy they are bringing to many people.

Hugs and kisses

-- Havelock

Oh wow, an actual Vetinari alive!

I just looked it up and I still don't quite understand what clacks are supposed to be, other than an inside joke for Terry Pratchett fans. Do people actually use clacks for side channel data or is it just a way to keep Terry's name out there?

The latter.

Alright then. Hard to tell because there are actual draft RFCs out there.

Hey, you're the guy who made sway! Thanks!

I'm glad you like it :)

It's inspired by this quote from Going Postal:

"A man is not dead while his name is still spoken." - http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com

So no technical purpose, just a fun way of keeping Terry's name alive :)

In the books, the clacks is a semaphore tower used to communicate, and it's sort of a telegraph/internet system, to compare it to the real world.

Specifically, the reference is to so-called GNU messages in the clacks system, where GNU is a prefix code meaning “send the message on, do not log, and turn the message around at the end of the line and send it back again”. These messages were used as memorials for deceased clacks workers - the message would never be delivered, and would stay in the system for as long as the clacks stay running. Hence, the worker’s name will be spoken for - hopefully -eternity.

Just FYI, the previous branch was "Weatherwax".

Oh man that's awesome! I saw the Vetinari name and wondered if it was a Sir Terry reference or something else, respect to those folks at VLC.

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