I attended Chemnitz Linux Days 2025 from Friday, March 21st to Sunday, March 23rd. It was my second time at the event, and I enjoyed it even more than last year. This time, approximately 3,500 people attended in person, with up to 250 parallel viewers joining the live streaming of lectures. You can find more details in the official blog post.
Live Talks #
I had the opportunity to attend several fascinating talks in person:
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OpenSSH: Das neue Zeug - A deep dive into the latest features and developments in OpenSSH, highlighting security improvements and new functionality.
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Let’s Encrypt: Zertifikate für Intranet Server - This session explored how to implement Let’s Encrypt certificates for internal servers, a topic particularly relevant for those managing corporate networks.
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Keycloak: FAQ zu Ausfallsicherheit und Absicherung - An informative session addressing common questions about Keycloak’s reliability and security features, essential knowledge for implementing robust authentication systems.
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Im Maschinenraum von Kubernetes: Operator-Bau mit Ansible - A practical demonstration of building Kubernetes operators using Ansible, offering insights into automating complex operations within Kubernetes environments.
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Fragekultur by Leyrer, it looks like the video recording did not work, but the content was highlighting and I hope we hear an extended version in a future event.
Recorded Sessions #
In addition to the live talks, I caught up with several recorded sessions on media.ccc.de:
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Kleine Bash-Tricks - This session introduced various Bash shortcuts and techniques. One highlight was learning about
Alt+., which recalls the last parameter from the previous command—for example, after runningls /somepath/file, you can typermfollowed byAlt+.to quickly add the path and filename. -
Pimp Your Shell - A comprehensive overview of shell customization options to enhance productivity and user experience.
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24 Monate Immutable Desktop: Ein Erfahrungsbericht - Having used immutable desktops for about 18 months myself, I was particularly interested in the speaker’s experiences and perspectives on this approach to desktop management.
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Infrastruktur und Security Tests - A highly informative session that provided numerous ideas for improving infrastructure testing. I’m especially eager to explore testinfra and Ansible assertions based on the insights shared.
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Good Practices für Ansible Inventories und Inventar-Daten - An excellent presentation by Henning. I’m looking forward to his follow-up talk, which is scheduled for FrOSCon 2025 in August.
My Contribution #
I also had the privilege of presenting a talk titled Effiziente Dotfile-Verwaltung: chezmoi im Einsatz about chezmoi, a tool for managing dotfiles across multiple machines. The audience engagement was encouraging, and I received valuable feedback that will inform my future explorations of the tool.
Conclusion #
Chemnitz Linux Days 2025 was an enriching experience that exceeded my expectations. The event offered a perfect blend of technical depth and community engagement, providing both practical knowledge and networking opportunities. The diversity of topics covered—from shell optimization to infrastructure security—reflected the vibrant ecosystem of open-source technologies.
As I implement some of the techniques and tools I learned about, I’m already looking forward to returning next year and perhaps contributing more to this wonderful community event.
