Signal on Android: Images sent to wrong contacts

Post by ultrarunner » Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 3:40 PM UTC

fulafel wrote: post #333

hackinthebochs wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using incrementing ids as your source of ownership is just asking for trouble. This just means a programming error can have a high probability of ids lining up and leaking resources. Guids make this practically impossible.

I wonder if there's any widely implemented programming pattern that would catch this better, eg consisting of concatenated type code and id. Using GUIDs here would still hide the bug, not flag an error.

Post by crossroadsguy » Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 4:04 PM UTC

dunefox wrote: post #111

jerkstate wrote: post #11

Signal has been adding lots of silly social media like features lately, not surprising that they are messing up the core value prop. I’m shopping for a new encrypted messenger. They used to say every program expands in scope until it can read email, now every app expands until you can add Snapchat filters to your selfies.

Threema seems great so far. Not many users though, sadly. Element (matrix.org) is good as well, but it's not polished and lacks users as well.

Post by crossroadsguy » Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 4:06 PM UTC

hellcow wrote: post #16

jerkstate wrote: post #11

Signal has been adding lots of silly social media like features lately, not surprising that they are messing up the core value prop. I’m shopping for a new encrypted messenger. They used to say every program expands in scope until it can read email, now every app expands until you can add Snapchat filters to your selfies.

Matrix is a solid replacement. Element isn't as easy to use but it's coming along. Quality-of-life features normal users expect like stickers, gifs, etc. are woefully lacking, but the important stuff (y'know, actual messaging) is solid. The most important thing to me is if Element screws up like Signal and starts pushing a shitcoin, I can swap clients without affecting my network.

Post by andrewguenther » Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

gsich wrote: post #265

andrewguenther wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This bug was extraordinarily rare, and because we have no metrics/remote log collection, there was an initial period where we had to spend time adding logging and collecting user-submitted logs to try to track it down. Without telemetry, can you actually back up the claim that this issue was extremely rare?

Even with, what telemetry would allow you to determine how many pictures (and presumably content) you sent to whom?

Post by stathibus » Mon, Jul 26, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

aeturnum wrote: post #374

stathibus wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this attitude. Where did we go wrong as a discipline where making products that actually work is such an outlandish proposition? No other consumer product industry would talk like this.

It comes from the halting problem. People can be more careful writing code, but it is impossible to be certain about all the things code will or won't do. Even very simple programs can have flaws that get found and fixed years later. It happens all the time. We need to be open and honest about the possibility that our code may act in ways we don't foresee.