Segfault

A Pointer Podcast archive for outtakes, off-air recordings, bonus conversations, mistakes, and everything that did not make the main cut.

Production site: https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it
Podcast feed: https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it/index.xml

The site is a static Astro project. Audio is hosted separately in Cloudflare R2; no MP3 files belong in this repository.

Local development

This project uses Bun:

bun install
bun run dev
bun run build
bun run preview

bun run build writes the deployable static site to dist/.

Add an episode

1. Export an MP3 and upload it to the public R2 media bucket (see below).
2. Get the exact object size in bytes.
3. Add one Markdown file under src/content/episodes/, using a zero-padded filename such as 001.md.
4. Fill in the metadata, then set published: true only when every RSS field is real and reachable.
5. Commit and push. The homepage, episode route, and index.xml are generated automatically.

Episode numbers are zero-based and titles are generated consistently as:

Segfault[N]: <title>

The only confirmed episode currently in the repository is Segfault[0]: Ci compri un mac studio. Its supplied date, duration, audio, and related Pointer episode details are intentionally still blank; it remains visible on the site but is not emitted as an incomplete RSS item.

Frontmatter

Copy this shape for a new episode and replace every placeholder with confirmed data. Do not invent a publication date, description, duration, audio size, or related Pointer episode.

---
published: true
number: 1
title: "A real title"
slug: "a-real-title"
guid: "pointer-segfault-1"
date: 2026-01-01T12:00:00+01:00
description: "A real episode description."
duration: "12:34"
audio:
  url: "https://media.pointerpodcast.it/segfault-1.mp3"
  size: 12345678
  type: "audio/mpeg"
pointerEpisode:
  number: null
  title: ""
  url: ""
explicit: false
---

• number, slug, and guid must be unique. GUIDs are permanent: use pointer-segfault-1, pointer-segfault-2, and so on, and never derive them from titles or dates.
• date must be a valid ISO date/time. duration must be MM:SS or HH:MM:SS.
• audio.url must be an absolute HTTPS URL. audio.type is normally audio/mpeg.
• audio.size is the exact MP3 size in bytes and becomes RSS enclosure length.
• pointerEpisode is optional. If the related episode is not confirmed, leave its fields blank/null; the UI omits the relationship.
• A published: true entry fails the build if required RSS metadata is incomplete. An unpublished entry can remain visible for preparation and is skipped by the feed.

To read the exact byte size:

# Linux
stat -c%s segfault-1.mp3

# macOS
stat -f%z segfault-1.mp3

The content collection and Zod schema live in src/content.config.ts; shared production checks live in src/lib/episodes.ts.

Cloudflare R2 audio

1. Create a private-origin R2 bucket and upload MP3 objects such as segfault-0.mp3.
2. In R2 → bucket → Settings → Public access, connect the custom domain media.pointerpodcast.it (or use the exact HTTPS media origin chosen for the episode metadata).
3. Keep the public custom-domain endpoint unauthenticated. Do not use signed URLs in podcast metadata.
4. Ensure the edge/object response preserves Content-Type: audio/mpeg, Content-Length, and supports GET, HEAD, and byte-range requests (Range / 206 Partial Content). R2's public object delivery supports these; do not add a Worker unless testing proves it is necessary.
5. Set long-lived caching for immutable, versioned MP3 objects (for example Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable). Never overwrite an already-published object with different audio; publish a new URL if the bytes change.
6. If browser playback is blocked by CORS, add an R2 CORS rule allowing https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it (and local development if needed) for GET, HEAD, and the Range, Content-Type, and Origin request headers.

Check an object before publishing:

curl -I https://media.pointerpodcast.it/segfault-1.mp3
curl -i -H 'Range: bytes=0-1' https://media.pointerpodcast.it/segfault-1.mp3

Use MP3 as the default delivery format: 44.1 or 48 kHz, normally 128–192 kbps, with audio/mpeg. Astro does not transcode audio during the build.

Artwork

Replace public/podcast-cover.jpg with final square artwork without changing the RSS URL unless the filename is intentionally versioned. The placeholder is referenced as:

https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it/podcast-cover.jpg

A broad, directory-friendly recommendation is a square RGB JPEG or PNG at 3,000×3,000 px, without transparency, kept within common directory upload limits (Apple accepts 1,400×1,400 through 3,000×3,000 px; check the current submission UI for any size limit). Apple also recommends 72 dpi and a correct .jpg/.png extension. Spotify and other directories likewise work best with square JPEG/PNG cover art; verify their current requirements when submitting because directory limits can change.

The RSS feed references artwork with an absolute HTTPS URL and includes both standard RSS <image> and <itunes:image> metadata.

RSS and validation

The feed is generated from src/config/podcast.ts and the episode collection at:

https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it/index.xml

It includes the Podcast Namespace (https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0) with a stable channel podcast:guid, podcast:medium, podcast:locked, and podcast:episode metadata. Keep podcastGuid unchanged if the feed URL or hosting provider changes; it is the show's permanent Podcasting 2.0 identity.

No RSS file is edited by hand. Before submitting or changing an episode, validate:

• XML parses as UTF-8 RSS 2.0.
• Every published item has a unique, permanent GUID, a valid RFC publication date, and a direct HTTPS enclosure.
• Enclosure url, length (exact bytes), and type are present and the media responds to HEAD and Range requests.
• Artwork, episode pages, and audio are publicly reachable over HTTPS.
• Titles and descriptions remain correctly XML-escaped.

Use Apple Podcasts Connect, Cast Feed Validator, and Podbase Podcast Validator before submission. Apple also recommends testing the feed URL in the Podcasts app so artwork, streaming, and downloads can be checked.

GitHub Pages

.github/workflows/deploy.yml uses Astro's withastro/action@v6 to build with the committed bun.lock, then uploads and deploys dist/ with GitHub Pages. It runs on pushes to main and can be started with workflow_dispatch.

In the repository's Settings → Pages, choose GitHub Actions as the source. Enable Pages for the github-pages environment if GitHub requests it. astro.config.ts sets site to https://segfault.pointerpodcast.it and intentionally has no repository base because this is a custom-domain root site. public/CNAME contains segfault.pointerpodcast.it.

DNS

In Cloudflare DNS:

• segfault.pointerpodcast.it: use the GitHub Pages custom-domain target shown by GitHub for the repository (typically the Pages *.github.io target), configure the custom domain in Settings → Pages, and keep HTTPS enforcement enabled after the certificate is issued.
• media.pointerpodcast.it: connect this hostname to the R2 bucket from R2 → Settings → Custom Domains. Do not point it at GitHub Pages; it is an independent public media origin.

If Cloudflare proxying is enabled, confirm that the media hostname still returns the correct Content-Type, Content-Length, HEAD, and 206 range behavior with the curl checks above.

Project map

src/content/episodes/   one Markdown file per episode
src/config/podcast.ts   show-level metadata and canonical URLs
src/pages/index.xml.ts  generated podcast RSS endpoint
public/podcast-cover.jpg replaceable show artwork
public/CNAME            GitHub Pages custom domain
.github/workflows/      deployment automation