Stability & Longevity
Software that's still here in ten years
Chinaski is built to outlast the build-tool churn. Nine production dependencies, all in Debian stable. No framework treadmill. Static HTML output that can't break.
View on GitHubWhy it lasts
Nine dependencies
The entire runtime dependency tree has nine packages, all in Debian stable. You can audit every dependency in an afternoon. Nothing here churns.
Perl: 30 years of compatibility
Code written for Chinaski today will run on Perl in 2035. That's a stability guarantee no newer language can match.
Static output is a finished artifact
A built site is a directory of HTML files. It doesn't depend on a running process, a specific server version, or a working database. Archive it, restore it, serve it from anywhere.
What keeps it stable
No framework treadmill
Chinaski doesn't use React, Vue, Next, or any JavaScript framework. There is no major version to migrate to, no deprecation cycle to track, and no breaking change to absorb every eighteen months.
Debian stable as the baseline
All nine dependencies are packaged in Debian stable. Security patches come through apt. You don't need to monitor upstream releases for nine separate packages — the Debian security team does that for you.
SQLite as the database
SQLite has a policy of supporting databases in perpetuity. A Chinaski database created today will be readable by SQLite in 2050. There is no migration cadence, no server upgrade, and no schema drift to manage.
Template Toolkit has been stable for 20 years
The Template Toolkit templating system hasn't had a breaking release in two decades. Themes written today will render correctly on future Chinaski versions. Your investment in a custom theme is safe.
See how a build works
Complete setup, theming, and API documentation lives at docs.chinaski.net.
Read the documentation