Openrsync: An implementation of rsync, by the OpenBSD team(github.com)

47 pointsby sph3 hours ago5 comments

Bender10 minutes ago
The actual work of porting is matching the security features provided by OpenBSD's pledge(2) and unveil(2). These are critical elements to the functionality of the system. Without them, your system accepts arbitrary data from the public network.
https://justine.lol/pledge/
I am not seeing pledge on Alpine Linux in edge. Have people been testing Pledge on Linux? Did I perhaps misunderstand the risk of using Openrsync without pledge? Or is this article just for OpenBSD users?
WD-4237 minutes ago
What's the deal with the name? Openrsync implies to me that it's an open source alternative to a closed source program. But the original Rsync is GPL? Is this just the pushover license making it "more open"?
- jtickle30 minutes ago
  OpenBSD folks would consider the GPL to be less open due to the requirement to apply the GPL to any derivative works.
  - ranger_danger25 minutes ago
    And GNU folks would say the GPL is actually the more open choice because it forces the project to stay open.
    Two different ways of thinking about it I guess... it's nice to have choices and I don't think one is more or less "correct", more a matter of opinion/taste I guess.
    gilrain22 minutes ago
    > more open choice because it forces the project
    A true morality must be based on consent, not coercion. Humanity may not be there yet, and therein lies the argument for force (and thus copyleft); but the ultimate goal should always be to reduce its necessity.
    datakan9 minutes ago
    It’s not coercion. You’re free to not use it, or alternatively do what these folks did, write your own. Coercion would be forcing people to use it through some mechanism, which clearly isn’t possible with GPL.
    jcelerier7 minutes ago
    Allowing closed-source to exist is always the less moral choice for many reasons (one example being ecological sustainability)
    kennywinker12 minutes ago
    Is this not the paradox of tolerance restated in different terms?
    BSD license is unrestricted, it tolerates taking open source and closing it, thus always being at risk of things closing down.
    GPL license doesn’t tolerate taking from open source and closing it, thus ensuring things stay open.
    KZerda3 minutes ago
    The BSD license is why we have Valkey and not a purely closed-source Redis. It would have been much easier to perform the rugpull if Redis had initially been GPLed.
- ranger_danger29 minutes ago
  Many projects closely associated with OpenBSD start with "open"... openssh, openbgpd, openntpd, opensmtpd etc.
  - hamdingers14 minutes ago
    Not many are reimplementations of existing, much more popular, already open source projects.
skeledrew42 minutes ago
This attempt to avoid things that use AI is increasingly looking like some weird kind of reverse whack-a-mole where each targeted hole becomes radioactive after. Just grabbing some popcorn to watch.
- ranger_danger37 minutes ago
  I feel bad for people with the real name Claude.
  - formerly_proven13 minutes ago
    It took me quite some time to realize what an utterly presumptuous product name Claude Code actually is, but only because Shannon is rarely mentioned with his first name. It's golden calf levels of hubris, even more so if you consider how incapable it was on release. It's like renaming calc.exe Einstein. Incredibly poor taste, but entirely in line with AI tech bro mentality.
triggis2 hours ago
No-slop version for the sane of us
Context: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@JeremiahFieldhaven/116654345...
- ranger_danger33 minutes ago
  https://social.treehouse.systems/@thesamesam/116662824873341...
  - akerl_32 minutes ago
    +1 to this. Other than people's reflexive anger or fear about AI coming for their code, I don't see anything to suggest that these are bugs that are due to the inclusion of AI vs bugs in a program with a bunch of complex interop with the filesystem and network.
    triggis24 minutes ago
    In any case, it's important to identify projects that are beginning to actively vibecode and clearly express position on this issue on various platforms so that authors and maintainers receive feedback. Even if this particular bug was not written by LLM in this particular case, it's not a fact that the release does not include other regressions and that subsequent vibecoded versions will not include them & new ones.
jmclnxan hour ago
I have not checked with OpenBSD 7.9, but as of 7.8 it did not support --exclude or -z. But outside of that openrsync works great.
But seems avoiding "slop" is getting very hard. I saw postfix now has a bit of AI code in it.
https://mastodon.sdf.org/@mrmasterkeyboard@mastodon.social/1...
- Bender3 minutes ago
  Exclude is very commonly used in automation jobs to avoid duplicating big git repos and other big files. I think that would be a show stopper for a number of people.
- nineteen99916 minutes ago
  Somewhat ironic Postfix has a record of no root/RCE in the default install, where opensmptd hasn't (CVE-2020-7247). Time will tell if it stays that way.