// Open Source

Open source projects and communities are the backbone of modern software development, yet the human side of building and sustaining them is rarely discussed as openly as the technology itself. In this episode, Chris is joined by JJ Asghar, Developer Advocate at IBM, who shares hard-won lessons from over a decade cultivating open source communities — from a small Linux distribution to OpenStack, Kubernetes, Tekton, and Istio. This is not a tools talk; it is a candid conversation about the soft skills, scoping decisions, and leadership approaches that separate thriving projects from those that burn out.

Inspired by the recent episode with Annie Talvasto, I wanted to put together a blog post that will introduce an ongoing series on Cloud With Chris. Before we introduce that series though, it's important that we first introduce the Cloud Native Compute Foundation (more commonly known as CNCF).

In the first tech-only episode of the new alternating format, Chris demonstrates GitHub Copilot's Technical Preview using Ruby and Python — from API integrations and regex generation to Azure Functions and IoT Hub messaging — and discusses the FAQ around code ownership, training data, and personal information filtering. The episode also covers CNCF fundamentals, Azure API Management policies with JWT token validation, Traefik proxy on Kubernetes, and the general availability of Azure Arc, including Azure SQL enabled by Arc.

In this episode, Chris is joined by Mert Yeter — software architect, Azure MVP, and Traefik Ambassador — for a live-demo-driven tour of DevOps on Azure. Starting with Azure DevOps Starter, Mert walks through spinning up a full CI/CD pipeline for a containerized .NET application in just a few clicks, covering Azure Container Registry, Azure Container Instances, and Azure Kubernetes Service. The session then dives into Traefik: an open-source cloud-native reverse proxy and load balancer with powerful pluggable middleware, dynamic service discovery, and a rich dashboard for managing Kubernetes ingresses. Whether you are new to containers or looking to level up your AKS deployments, this episode covers the essential building blocks.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) gave us Kubernetes and Prometheus — but did you know there are over 90 more projects in the ecosystem? In this episode, Chris is joined by Annie Talvasto (CNCF/Kubernetes meetup organizer, Finland) to explore the most exciting CNCF projects across sandbox, incubating, and graduated tiers. They cover Helm for Kubernetes package management, Artifact Hub for centralised artifact discovery, Linkerd for lightweight service mesh with built-in observability and resilience, KUDO for declarative Kubernetes operator creation without deep Go expertise, and KEDA for event-driven autoscaling. Whether you're new to cloud native or a seasoned practitioner, this session will inspire you to explore — and contribute to — the wider CNCF landscape.

Recorded on a Monday morning after a sunny weekend, vlog #24 delivers the week's Azure, Azure DevOps, and GitHub news — covering Azure Virtual Desktop's rebrand, enterprise-scale landing zones for AKS, Azure Migrate private endpoint support, and GitHub supply chain security updates. Chris also recaps recent Cloud with Chris sessions on GitHub Actions, Azure Arc for apps, hybrid cloud, and the Geode pattern, then previews the upcoming Azure VMware Solution session with Shannon Keane and John Lund's cloud journey.

Chris is joined by Karl Cooke (IrishTechie) for a live deep-dive into the GitHub Actions workflows powering CloudWithChris.com. They explore why GitHub was chosen over Azure DevOps, walk through a real-world CI/CD pipeline for a Hugo static site deployed to Azure Blob Storage with CDN purging, and examine how to manage secrets and approvals using GitHub Environments. The session also covers linting Markdown with GitHub Super Linter, early thinking on Playwright-based UI tests, the security considerations around third-party actions from the marketplace, and building a custom .NET GitHub Action for content cross-posting.

Chris rounds up the week's Azure, Azure DevOps, and GitHub news — including the rebrand of Windows Virtual Desktop to Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure FHIR healthcare API updates, SAP on Azure, and a preview of the Azure Arc hybrid and multi-cloud digital event. On the GitHub side, supply chain security takes the spotlight with package registry credential scanning, Dependabot enhancements, and GitHub's Blacktocat fifth anniversary celebrating Black voices in tech. Cloud with Chris recaps include Carl Cook on GitHub Actions, Azure Arc for apps (Event Grid), Sarah Lean on hybrid cloud and DevRel life, and Will Esprit demonstrating the Geode pattern hands-on.

Following on from my recent post where I discussed using schema.org for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), I wanted to stick with a similar theme, but a slightly different angle or topic. This time, we'll be covering the topic of crossposting content.

Weekly Vlog #17 covers Azure's UK Met Office supercomputer partnership, Application Gateway URL rewrite now GA, and chaos engineering taking centre stage in the Azure DevOps blog — exploring how to test resilience systematically as part of your DevOps cycle. GitHub celebrates the Mars 2020 Ingenuity helicopter's open source story and announces protections for open source maintainers against crypto-mining abuse in GitHub Actions. Chris also unveils the Hugo CrossPoster — a new .NET pet project to automate cross-posting Hugo content to Medium and Dev.to with canonical URL support — and invites .NET collaborators for a live coding session.