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Rsync and outrage

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Re: Rsync and outrage

#11

Post by happymellon »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #9
happymellon wrote: post #8

A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The sc…

I wonder whether there would have been less complaint had the number been a major increase, say to v4 beta. That amount of change in a minor version number bump seems unusual, but I don’t know rsync enough, I just use the version bundled in my 2/4 year old LTS distros and assume it works. This does once again feel like a case of https://xkcd.com/2347/ I do wonder about “The world of software engineering has changed d…

A major version bump would have been helpful, and having such a large rewrite be initially a beta could have calmed the hoards.

> The world of software engineering has changed dramatically in the last few months

I disagree, but I guess we shall see how this is going to pan out. We've all introduced schoolboy errors in our time regardless of how long we've been developers. Messing up absolute paths because you only tested on relative happens to the best of us, but generally we say "woops" and try to fix it.

Doubling down and blaming users for your fuck up rarely ends well.

Re: Rsync and outrage

#12

Post by deng »

happymellon wrote: post #8

A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The sc…

I wouldn't say these are "basic bugs". The first is specific to using 'rrsync', and the second is when using the rsync daemon, and I can't remember when I last saw a system using that one (yes, I'm aware there are still use cases for using the rsync protocol, but I would consider it pretty obscure nowadays).

You could argue that he should've bumped the version more and should've done a longer beta test, but on the other hand, these were mostly security fixes, and I can understand he wanted to get them out there rather sooner than later (also "doing a beta test" is easier said than done - how do you get people to run a test version of rsync?).

Re: Rsync and outrage

#14

Post by bitdiffusion »

CaptainFever wrote: post #2

It's sad that the outrage posts got hundreds of comments while this article, from the maintainer explaining the CVEs and test suites, only has this singular comment and is already on the second page. A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Do better, HN.

Maybe because the explanation isn't so much an explanation but an admission that core functionality was broken in a minor version release - and therefore almost orthogonal to the use of AI. If there had been no major regressions, do you think anyone would have complained?

People are (correctly) not going to be held to some kind of lower standard just because they "used AI" and "were fixing security issues".

Re: Rsync and outrage

#15

Post by p2detar »

> I did not just vibe-code “convert test suite to python”. I’m a software engineer with 40 years experience (yeah, I’m OLD!)

Interestingly enough, I see the trend of people with decades of experience using AI more and more often. I'm in the 20 years club myself, and I do AI-assisted coding every day. It does help, and I'm grateful to have a tool like this to quickly try new ideas and throw them away if they suck. Shaming the author for using AI to help with the CI stuff is baffling to me. Are we witnessing just another ideology-driven tribal reaction on the rise?

Re: Rsync and outrage

#16

Post by maltris »

I think he should just retire for real (from rsync) and enjoy the time, who would take all the negativity and keep going for a volunteer project like rsync.

And this has nothing to do with AI. It seems to me that a significant amount of people in IT disconnected from reality.

Go throw a couple potatoes in the ground and see them grow or whatever. Your opinion most likely wont matter nor make any difference.

Re: Rsync and outrage

#17

Post by rcxdude »

happymellon wrote: post #11
hdgvhicv wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder whether there would have been less complaint had the number been a major increase, say to v4 beta. That amount of change in a minor version number bump seems unusual, but I don’t know rsync enough, I just use the version bundled in my 2/4 year old LTS distros and assume it works. This does once again feel like a case of https://xkcd.com/2347/ I do wonder about “The world of software engineering has changed d…

A major version bump would have been helpful, and having such a large rewrite be initially a beta could have calmed the hoards. > The world of software engineering has changed dramatically in the last few months I disagree, but I guess we shall see how this is going to pan out. We've all introduced schoolboy errors in our time regardless of how long we've been developers. Messing up absolute paths because you only te…

I don't think they blamed the users for that mistake, though. They specifically thanked people for reporting the regressions. It's the rage from bystanders which is totally out of proportion with the scale of the issues that they take issue with.

Re: Rsync and outrage

#18

Post by PapstJL4U »

happymellon wrote: post #8

A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The sc…

>The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed.

I guess vibecoding certain software is now the new way of "instead of asking for help, write the wrong solution instead".

Re: Rsync and outrage

#19

Post by _aavaa_ »

happymellon wrote: post #8

A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The sc…

It is entirely misplaced based on the evidence so far.

Neither of the bugs you link are currently traced back to a commit that used AI.

Re: Rsync and outrage

#20

Post by oompydoompy74 »

I really feel for the developer of Rsync. He did absolutely nothing wrong and got flamed to hell for it. I’m glad he has help now and I hope all of the negativity doesn’t get to him. I would certainly have a difficult time with my mental health if I was on the receiving end of all this hate.
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