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I agree. Instead the "friend" is taught the bad behavior of running untrusted (and I didn't see any tests, so untested and undocumented too) code in binary for

I agree. Instead the "friend" is taught the bad behavior of running untrusted (and I didn't see any tests, so untested and undocumented too) code in binary format on their machine. The glob-rename is exactly the sort of problem a script is supposed to solve easily. I feel the author justified the use of Rust and cross-compilation simply to avoid usage of a Windows OS (or VM) for such a trivial task. If the goal was to avoid installing additional run time/deps on the user's machine it seems that (#1) using powershell would have been the best option followed by (#2) a classic .cmd shell file as second best solution.

cgag 10y ago
What? You mean like every other program they've ever run in their lives if they're not a developer, except developed by a personal friend? Compiling is easy. Configuring path variables and installing interpreters are arcane to non-developers.
yitchelle 10y ago
> Instead the "friend" is taught the bad behavior of running untrusted (and I didn't see any tests, so untested and undocumented too) code in binary format on their machine. Being paranoid in the software you run on your machine is a double edge sword. How many people vet their software before using it, and how much vetting do you really need to do?
mathw 10y ago
And as the author said, they don't know PowerShell or batch files very well. They also didn't pretend they had a strong justification for doing it. Rust was what they wanted to use, and hey look, Rust let them do it _and_ cross-compile it. I don't think there was an intention to say that everyone should do this instead of using shell scripts. It's not untrusted code, it's code that a friend wrote to help you out. That's not at all the same as installing random untrusted code off the internet. I write code to help out my friends with things they want to do - are you saying they shouldn't accept it from me just because they can't code themselves? I can give them the source code, but what good is that to them when they can't program and don't want to?

cgag 10y ago

What? You mean like every other program they've ever run in their lives if they're not a developer, except developed by a personal friend? Compiling is easy. Configuring path variables and installing interpreters are arcane to non-developers.

yitchelle 10y ago

> Instead the "friend" is taught the bad behavior of running untrusted (and I didn't see any tests, so untested and undocumented too) code in binary format on their machine. Being paranoid in the software you run on your machine is a double edge sword. How many people vet their software before using it, and how much vetting do you really need to do?

mathw 10y ago

And as the author said, they don't know PowerShell or batch files very well. They also didn't pretend they had a strong justification for doing it. Rust was what they wanted to use, and hey look, Rust let them do it _and_ cross-compile it. I don't think there was an intention to say that everyone should do this instead of using shell scripts. It's not untrusted code, it's code that a friend wrote to help you out. That's not at all the same as installing random untrusted code off the internet. I write code to help out my friends with things they want to do - are you saying they shouldn't accept it from me just because they can't code themselves? I can give them the source code, but what good is that to them when they can't program and don't want to?