I have nothing against hobbies but it's even better if your hobby has something to show for it. I think the time saved by just manually plonking the software on a cloud VPS would allow the author to do something more challenging and interesting, instead of well... pleasuring oneself with heavy duty deployment tools.
>I have nothing against hobbies but it's even better if your hobby has something to show for it.
For you, sure. For many others, it's just about doing something you like doing just because you like doing it. DJ'ing is my hobby, has been for 15+ years. I regularly spin sets a couple of times a week for at least 2, often up to 4 hours at one time, just for myself. I love doing it and feel so content and happy inside when I'm done. I feel even better during it, when everything clicks and I hit a really nice groove.
I have no need to share it with the world, have other people listen to it, or use my hobby to get gigs and make money with it. My sets are ephemeral, my own happy place, and always will be. I'm sure this is the case for many other people and their own hobbies.
Why can't people just enjoy doing a hobby simply because they like doing it? Why does there often need to be pressure from somewhere to do something more with a hobby?
I want to understand where you're coming from. But I do think there's a false equivalence here. DJing is a creative process with no defined goal. There's only so many ways an Ansible playbook can be realistically written to install some software, it's the opposite of a creative process.
Tapping your foot can't be considered a hobby right? It produces nothing tangible and involves no creativity.
It is a creative process, for sure, but that's just one reason I do it. Another reason is just getting lost in it, forgetting about everything else and just "being in it".
The same can be said about a lot of other hobbies, regardless of what kind of process it might or might not be. Just doing it and being in it - reading and getting lost in a book, watching a movie and getting lost in it, going on a hike and getting lost in the woods (metaphorically, not actually lost, lol), writing code and getting lost in it, etc..
Ansible playbooks can be the same way! The point of hobbies for many people is just because they like to do it, nothing more, nothing less. There may also be other reasons, such as the creativity for me, but there are also times when I'm not feeling super creative and my set will just be an un-mixed playlist of music that I just want to get lost in in that moment... if that makes sense.
Some people might just like losing themselves in an Ansible playbook, or think they're fun for fun's sake or whatever reason. :)
Writing ansible playbooks can be very creative, and so can tapping your foot.
Also, there is no requirement that a hobby has to produce something tangible or be creative. Watching television, drinking, people watching, and meditating could all be considered hobbies. Anything you do somewhat regularly to relax or for enjoyment, that isn't your job, is a hobby.
Sometimes a hobby is just something you find pleasantly distracting. Sudokus aren’t creative yet are thoroughly enjoyed by some.
It doesn’t have to be creative nor worthwhile. Just something that you enjoy. Perhaps yours is trolling nerd forums about other peoples choice of hobbies? :P
This is pretty condescending, and also misses the major point made in TFA. Writing a quick Ansible playbook/docker compose means you can quickly standup your services on any system. Run it locally on a raspberry pi, move it to a VPS, just run one command.
None of this tooling is "heavy duty" by any means. If you just apply a little thought, you'll see how this saves time and effort.
Reading a book doesn’t give you anything tactile to show for it. You read for the experience. Likewise for gaming, solving a crossword, nor watching TV. Different people relax in different ways.
