Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 146 posts

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#111

Post by Skeime »

krisoft wrote: post #108
globular-toast wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people put stuff like this in a project's `.gitignore`. The proper place is either your global gitignore (probably appropriate for stupid stuff like this) or in your clone in `.git/info/exclude`. `.gitignore` is for stuff that all developers need to ignore, like compiler output, and should be kept to the bare minimum.

> .gitignore` is for stuff that all developers need to ignore But that is the case, all developers need to ignore the ".DS_Store" files. So by your own rule it is appropriate in there then?

I think the point is that only developers on Macs need to ignore them. If they properly do so, these files will never appear on other developer’s machines, and they therefore don’t need them in .gitignore.

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#112

Post by bgc »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #58

I have a related story: Around the year 2000 I was working operations in the NOC for WebTV (then owned by Microsoft). For those who don't know, WebTV was a little set-top box with a modem which would dial up on demand and provide a very basic web/chat/email experience on the TV. The box would call a 1800 number to figure out its own phone number, then re-dial on a local toll-free number with a local sub-contracted IS…

Holy moley, my first “real” computer ran 98SE and had BLACK ICE, which behaved exactly the way you described.

I remember I would take the IP addresses of the “attackers” and plug them into a McAfee graphical tracert tool, and it felt like nothing short of something out of GoldenEye.

Thanks for the memories!

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#113

Post by terinjokes »

withinrafael wrote: post #80

Similar story: Friend and I put out a kernel driver (uxstyle.sys) that would patch Microsoft's theming digital signature checks. It was free, buggy, and bugchecked the OS on upgrade. It was unsurprisingly added to compatibility blocks in Windows. I fixed the bug and asked Microsoft to loosen the block (version X and below). Microsoft refused citing a EULA violation. Valid or not, I renamed the driver to elytsxu.sys t…

On the rare occasion I install a Windows XP VM nowadays, I still patch uxstyle.dll and install my favorite style: DeMx[0].

[0]: https://www.deviantart.com/xandaman/art/DeMx-29075379

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#114

Post by bandie91 »

krisoft wrote: post #108
globular-toast wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pet peeve of mine when people put stuff like this in a project's `.gitignore`. The proper place is either your global gitignore (probably appropriate for stupid stuff like this) or in your clone in `.git/info/exclude`. `.gitignore` is for stuff that all developers need to ignore, like compiler output, and should be kept to the bare minimum.

> .gitignore` is for stuff that all developers need to ignore But that is the case, all developers need to ignore the ".DS_Store" files. So by your own rule it is appropriate in there then?

he must meant that you block something at its origin: dsstore managed by the OS, you block it at system level; `.o` produced by the project stuff, block it at project repo level.

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#115

Post by [deleted] »

remram wrote: post #35
deaddodo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those .DS_Store files are created in arbitrary directories by the Apple file manager or something. .DS_Store files come from Apple's file systems containing a separate data and resource fork. APFS can natively store the contents, but for foreign file systems/network shares, a .DS_Store file is created to store those attributes.

I never knew that. How come they end up in Git repositories then? They shouldn't be visible to Git running on a native Mac filesystem?

[deleted]

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#116

Post by LeonB »

throwaway09223 wrote: post #58

I have a related story: Around the year 2000 I was working operations in the NOC for WebTV (then owned by Microsoft). For those who don't know, WebTV was a little set-top box with a modem which would dial up on demand and provide a very basic web/chat/email experience on the TV. The box would call a 1800 number to figure out its own phone number, then re-dial on a local toll-free number with a local sub-contracted IS…

Microsoft ends up, wrongly, in the firing line for a bunch of things, similar to the story you told and to the sqlite_ comment in TFA.

Notice that on iOS (for example) if an app crashes it just disappears > poof! On Windows when an app crashes (or you kill a non responsive app), you then see a dialog with Microsoft Windows branding saying that it is logging that the app crashed. As nerds we understand why… but the result is that the user doesn’t curse the app, they curse Microsoft. Whereas when an iOS app disappears they curse the app, not Apple.

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#117

Post by pookha »

qalmakka wrote: post #66

I don't know, the more time passes the more I convince myself that the net benefits of antivirus software do not (an maybe never) exceed their downsides. In decades I've heard so many stories about AV software behaving suspiciously, using borderline shady tricks to monitor user activity, causing severe performance degradation, etc

Seemed to be a win-win for Windows and the AV companies. Windows would let cheap interns pump out code (autorun.inf) and anti-virus companies would throttle your computer looking for anything exploiting the garbage code. Windows Vista was like the high-water mark for a slapped together shit OS with its AV "protection" — "that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back".

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#118

Post by LeonB »

dspillett wrote: post #99
qalmakka wrote: post #66

I don't know, the more time passes the more I convince myself that the net benefits of antivirus software do not (an maybe never) exceed their downsides. In decades I've heard so many stories about AV software behaving suspiciously, using borderline shady tricks to monitor user activity, causing severe performance degradation, etc

> (an maybe never) exceed their downsides There were certainly times when they were necessary: when Windows had nothing built-in to defend itself, and for a time after then when those built-in features were crap. Those times are pretty much over now IMO. I'd go as far as to suggest that the market is now an attempt at a protection racket and hardware hawkers are complicit: things come pre-installed on new laptops and…

The fact that a computer bought from a store, that you pay good money for, comes with this crapware installed shows that even when you do pay, sometimes you are still the product not the customer.

Re: Why sqlite3 temp files were renamed 'etilqs_*' (2006)

#120

Post by LeonB »

qalmakka wrote: post #66

I don't know, the more time passes the more I convince myself that the net benefits of antivirus software do not (an maybe never) exceed their downsides. In decades I've heard so many stories about AV software behaving suspiciously, using borderline shady tricks to monitor user activity, causing severe performance degradation, etc

There’s a deeper economic lesson in here. Essentially it could be summarised as: government cannot leave policing to the market.

In modern capitalist democracies with social benefits there’s a lot of debate/opinion about what the state should do versus leave to the market.

Imagine you establish a successful little utopia on an island somewhere. At first you outsource policing to a few strong and forthright friends, then as the place grows you let the market decide. But as the place really matures you end up having to bring policing “in house”, controlled by the state. There is still plenty (plenty!) of ways it can be corrupt… but when anti-virus / policing etc is fully outsourced - over time its corruption levels completely saturate.

Similarly - a military power that relies on mercenaries/soldiers of fortune/contracted parties. It cannot work beyond a very short term. (Machiavelli goes into this in a lot of detail in ‘The Prince’ … he was super evil but he was no fool.)

Seems strange to say that Bill Gates should’ve read more Machiavelli and he would’ve avoided creating the leeching anti-virus industry for so long.

Post reply on HN