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ElSJaako:
One of the subtle fun things about being a discordian is seeing Discordianism popping up in unexpected places. We got a dwarf planet named (possibly), got a TV-show host to make some vague references (probably), and there's a copy of our holy book in the JFK assassination archives.

But one of the nerdiest places Discordianism used to turn up is on almost every linux computer. There was a program included by default called "ddate" that calculates the discordian date. I'll give you my output right now:


--- Code: ---Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 65th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3178
--- End code ---

Ddate was on almost every system because it was included in a useful package of common programs call util-linux, and this package was installed on every system. Unfortunately the current maintainer of util-linux has decided that ddate is a "crazy thing" and has recently decided that it should be removed from linux by default. He did this on June 8, 2012. This K. Zak (Fun fact: "K. Zak" is the Dutch equivalent to "A. Hole") doesn't like us having fun.

Ddate was written on the 65th day of The Aftermath in the Year of Our Lady of Discord 3157 (23 dec 1991) by Druel the Chaotic (Jeremy Johnson), obviously in a fit of pre-christmas religious fervor.

In early 1994 Lee Harvey Oswald Smith, K.S.C. created a package of discordian softwares that he called "The Emperor Norton Utilities":

--- Quote ---The Emperor Norton Utilities is a collectionm of Discordian software. It is the software equivalent of Discordian sainthood. The utilities include mainstays such as ddate, M-x dissociate, and chef, as well as anything you may care to nominate. Indeed, it can contain entire operating systems (such as Linux) and even hardware devices (such as the software-controlled Amiga power light). The documentation for this software consists of the Principia Discordia, the Ludwig Plutonium Hymnbook, Kibo's signature and that sign in California which reads STOP CASTING POROSITY", as well as other sacred tracts too numerous to mention.
--- End quote ---
(M-x dissociate is a script for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage. Chef does pretty much the same thing, but in Swedish. Kibo is someone worth looking up, if you haven't heard about him)

In 2002 Göran Weinholt defended ddate beautifully:

--- Quote ---  > People with more traditional moral values might not
  > appreciate a reference to or advertisement for this movement
  > being present on their system.  However, because it is in
  > util-linux, they will not be able to selectively remove it
  > (unless they write a script that is to be run after every
  > upgrade).
 
  I for one will not stand for this. I personally use ddate, I use it in
  some scripts, I know other people do the same, and I know some Debian
  developers would be annoyed if ddate was removed. There are even programs
  that use ddate, e.g. freecraft and the games that use its engine.
 
  I will be very sad if Debian can't include ddate because an imaginary
  user with "traditional moral values" means more than real users.
--- End quote ---


 Unfortunately, 10 years later, his plea was not heard, and ddate is out of default linux, and on most systems you need to add it yourself.

ElSJaako:
Credit to El Sjaako please. There is a version with slightly more boring facts at: http://www.abnormail.org/ddate/

High Priest:
ddate was recently removed from util-linux hosted on kernel.org. In version 2.23 in fact, the most recent version. If you read the 2.23 Release Notes it says:


--- Quote ---The command ddate has been REMOVED from util-linux.  You can find it here:
https://github.com/bo0ts/ddate
--- End quote ---

We could include a link to the ddate code at the bottom of this article.

PlacidDingo:
I like the idea of the code being included.

ElSJaako:
If you want to include the code you should probably go for an older, less complicated version.

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