Is there a transcript?
available here https://share.transistor.fm/s/e2538f7d
I couldn't find a transcript on that page.
Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
11–20 of 22 posts
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#12I have this queued up to listen tomorrow and fully expect it to be stellar. Oxide podcasts have always been a highlight of my week (and almost restore my faith in the industry, because someone, somewhere, is _right_ about the way they develop and integrate product).
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#13I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinc…
They are criticizing the journalist (Kevin Roose) because of this line from his NYTimes article: > "[Andres Freund's] job involves developing a piece of open-source database software known as PostgreSQL, whose details would probably bore you to tears if I could explain them correctly, which I can’t." And that line doesn't matter at all for the purposes of understanding the "xz" attack. To me it's pretty innocuous and…
It seems deeply unprofessional, personally.
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are criticizing the journalist (Kevin Roose) because of this line from his NYTimes article: > "[Andres Freund's] job involves developing a piece of open-source database software known as PostgreSQL, whose details would probably bore you to tears if I could explain them correctly, which I can’t." And that line doesn't matter at all for the purposes of understanding the "xz" attack. To me it's pretty innocuous and…
It seems deeply unprofessional, personally.
[dead]
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
available here https://share.transistor.fm/s/e2538f7d
I couldn't find a transcript on that page.
Click TRANSCRIPT.
Sorry – I'm not shouting, it's literally in all-caps on that page :^)
Here's a screenshot to show you where to click: https://i.imgur.com/MZ37jhD.png
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#16There were like 55 articles about this. People are this famished for some action?
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#17I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinc…
I don't understand the hate for the article. The article is written for a layperson audience, where the technical details would absolutely be eye-wateringly boring. Instead, the article (imo, correctly) focuses on the human side of the story: the fact that a highly detail oriented developer, working on unrelated software, stumbled across a small discrepancy in their measurements, triggering a series of events that led to discovering what is arguably one of the biggest attempted supply chain attacks since Solarwinds.
I don't understand what people wanted to be covered in this article? At what point would there be sufficient technical detail to suffice yet still keep the layperson interested enough to read the rest of the article?
On the other hand if you feel somehow slighted by the flippant attitude in the article, give it a rest! Why are you so sensitive? It's not like he's personally insulting you! The tech community is hardly the underdog any longer, so let's just take a joke once in a while, no? As President Eisenhower quoted[0], "Always take your job seriously, never yourself"
[0] https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/file/w...
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#18I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinc…
I spent 15y+ writing in C/C++/.NET and and I have hard time understanding what is going on with xz with all twists and turns, why you are expecting your brother to understand and NYT will give you clear explanation that laymen can understand this very intricate hack ?
The issue isn't about explaining xz, it's about explaining Postgres. "It's a very popular piece of database software, and Andres' job is making sure that whenever people make changes to it, it doesn't get slower". There you go.
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#19I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinc…
As a lifelong nerd, programming gets a bad rap, and no respect, for the right reasons.
Programming is to engineering as math is to science. Namely, it's made up. Less basis in physical reality.
Same reason learning Elvish isn't as respectable as learning Spanish. One guy made it up, and it hasn't been proven by centuries of actual use.
Programming carries the same odor of "fantasy". Maybe in 300 years, when we're all living in holodecks on spaceships, it'll have a patina of authenticity. For now, we're Mr Robot and Silicon Valley
Re: Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]
#20I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinc…
I don't understand the hate for the article. The article is written for a layperson audience, where the technical details would absolutely be eye-wateringly boring . Instead, the article (imo, correctly) focuses on the human side of the story: the fact that a highly detail oriented developer, working on unrelated software, stumbled across a small discrepancy in their measurements, triggering a series of events that l…
"I wasn't that bothered by it."
- Andres Freund, 3 minutes 41 seconds into the podcast, about the NYTimes article. :-)