Openrsync: An implementation of rsync, by the OpenBSD team

(github.com)

51 points | by sph 3 hours ago

5 comments

  • Bender 14 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-42 41 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"?
    • jtickle 35 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_danger 29 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.

        • gilrain 26 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.

          • datakan 13 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.
          • jcelerier 11 minutes ago
            Allowing closed-source to exist is always the less moral choice for many reasons (one example being ecological sustainability)
          • kennywinker 16 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.

            • KZerda 7 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_danger 33 minutes ago
      Many projects closely associated with OpenBSD start with "open"... openssh, openbgpd, openntpd, opensmtpd etc.
      • hamdingers 18 minutes ago
        Not many are reimplementations of existing, much more popular, already open source projects.
        • throw0101a 4 minutes ago
          OpenSSH was a 'reaction' to the original SSH(.com) code getting closed source:

          > OpenSSH originated in 1999 as a fork of Björn Grönvall's OSSH, which derived from Tatu Ylönen's original SSH 1.2.12 release, the last version distributed under a license permitting open-source redistribution before Ylönen's subsequent software became proprietary under SSH Communications Security.[4]

          * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSSH

          It was probably the second thing with the Open— prefix by this group of developers, OpenBSD itself being the first. They simply ran with the naming convention. OpenBGP/OSPF were developed as alternatives to Quagga (GPL).

  • skeledrew 46 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_danger 41 minutes ago
      I feel bad for people with the real name Claude.
      • formerly_proven 17 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.
  • triggis 1 hour ago
    No-slop version for the sane of us

    Context: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@JeremiahFieldhaven/116654345...

    • ranger_danger 37 minutes ago
      • akerl_ 36 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.
        • triggis 28 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.
          • akerl_ 1 minute ago
            No. It's not important. It's actually pretty shitty to go around looking for projects and then telling the maintainers you disagree with how they develop.
          • stsquad 4 minutes ago
            Do not going harassing developers because you think they are doing it wrong. If you can do better and don't want to actually contribute to the upstream you are always free to fork it.
  • jmclnx 1 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/@[email protected]/1...

    • agwa 3 minutes ago
      Where do you see that about Postfix? I followed the links and the only thing I see is that AI is being used to find bugs, not write code.
    • Bender 7 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.
    • nineteen999 20 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.