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I didn't, but I am here to learn things: can someone please explain the reference? TIA.
It's part of Un*x folklore, from Ken Thompson when asked what he might have done differently: Xra Gubzcfba jnf bapr nfxrq jung ur jbhyq qb qvssreragyl vs ur jrer erqrfvtavat gur HAVK flfgrz. Uvf ercyl: "V'q fcryy perng jvgu na r." Found here: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Thompson
From the comments on the blog. > This is a comment made in a software called InstallShield, version X at last, a software intent to create installers, so it probably will appear in many other products. > Found in a InstallShield sample that I was reversing to check if it's a malware. The line made me chuckle, and it's so heartwarming to see someone actually made a blog on it and the fact the line has been around sinc…
This got me thinking, why are installers still necessary on Windows? Why have they never adopted a packaged solution similar to .app on macOS?
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This got me thinking, why are installers still necessary on Windows? Why have they never adopted a packaged solution similar to .app on macOS?
Microsoft store applications are conceptually similar to the dmg/app approach macOS has taken (and have most of the same limitations and restrictions). A few design decisions from the early Windows days tend to keep installers around on windows, though. Windows uses a single shared registry for persistent application settings (instead of something like a plist/config file local to the application) which has some clea…
The NT Registry was intended for Kernel settings only. Persisting application settings to it was a bug that didn't get squashed early enough, in part because Windows 95 copied the idea without understanding the design/architecture/reasoning behind it. It is a bug that will live on "forever" for backwards compatibility.
I’m utterly confused. The author argued he found that "comment" in a binary file. I assume it’s an executable compiled file of some sort. Now, comments don’t end up inside compiled files right? This has to be a string, not a comment?? What am I missing?
It is probably an error message on a very unlikely failure path / assertion. Those sorts of messages are effectively just comments.
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Good old InstallShield. At one point it was everywhere, and then... it wasn't. I keep all the bundled installers I've ever had in a folder. Currently there are files there from 2009 onwards (older ones are archived somewhere). I didn't bother looking for the older ones, but running grep -a ether-rot-mutex quickly yielded a match containing the entire snippet! The culprit is the installer for Ulead (now Corel) PhotoIm…
Installshield as a product had... (has?) absolutely incredible incidental complexity. It's really hard to communicate the scars, if you never dealt with it, you dodged a bullet. Under the next -> next -> finish you saw, was basically a fountain of tears. That software directly relished and consumed the salty tears of engineers. It demanded them as sacrifice, to make the installs keep happening. You would think that a…
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In the true source code sense, I think it was well implied and understandable.
A comment existing in various binaries for the past 20 years is not the same as transient comments in source code that are removed prior to translation into a binary.
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Installshield as a product had... (has?) absolutely incredible incidental complexity. It's really hard to communicate the scars, if you never dealt with it, you dodged a bullet. Under the next -> next -> finish you saw, was basically a fountain of tears. That software directly relished and consumed the salty tears of engineers. It demanded them as sacrifice, to make the installs keep happening. You would think that a…
Probably a good thing that when I built a Windows app in 2010 and needed an installer for it, I used InnoSetup. It was surprisingly easy to get something decently working out of it. But yes, I remember that a lot of installers were InstallShield, and the thought that it might be a mess on the inside has never once crossed my mind.
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Hackintoshes did not necessarily steal MacOS, you could buy legit copies of MacOS.
It's just occurred to me that Apple's move away from the x86 platform has pretty much signed the death warrant of the Hackintosh.
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I think programmers get used to the idea that some names for things are never meant to be spoken and don't ever say them in their head to see what they'd sound like.
Also, some people don’t have an “inner voice”. I don’t hear words when I read them. Sometimes I miss puns if I don’t go back and sound them out.
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Hackintoshes did not necessarily steal MacOS, you could buy legit copies of MacOS.
You could purchase a DVD containing MacOS, but calling them "legit" (as far as installing on a Hackintosh) is a stretch. You're paying for the physical disc, not a license to the OS. The only way to get a license to use MacOS is to purchase a Mac.