Plerd v1.820 is out. The main new feature it adds is SSL support for plerdwatcher, meaning that you can run the webmention listener on an https://-based URL. It tidies up some other issues involving webmentions, too.

Starting with this version, Plerd will emit an intentional warning on publication if two posts invoke the same tag with different capitalization. (For example, “christmas” and “Christmas”.) It will list the offending tags and ask you to please hand-normalize them — after which Plerd will swiftly republish itself, for that is what it does.

This is related to the work I described back in version 1.810; I described it then as more complicated than I expected, and it still held complexities for me to discover. I had since found edge cases where capitalizing a previously all-lowercase tag can make things weird, and all because of the inherent issues of syncing files between two computers with different opinions about case-sensitivity.

Alas, I did not accomplish any of the major Plerd features or projects I anticipated last summer. I have no particular excuse other than the usual one: one thing after another managed to plant itself in front of my attention as soon as summer started, and now my optimistic Christmas deadline has arrived. I’m glad I don’t meet it empty-handed, but I feel sorry that I can’t say much more than that.

2020 promises to contain new opportunities and fresh starts for me, and I feel hopeful that this will reflect itself in the Plerd project. I won’t publicly declare any dates this time, but the goals I named remain true. Thank you for your continuing interest in Plerd, and I’ll see you in the new year.