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Easter eggs remind us we're human and bring us joy when we least suspect and might need it the most. Obviously don't want easter eggs in things like security

Easter eggs remind us we're human and bring us joy when we least suspect and might need it the most. Obviously don't want easter eggs in things like security code.

waffle_ss 9y ago
How much joy do you think the SO questioner had when their CI was breaking at (seemingly) random times of the day due to this idiotic flourish?
- matt4077 9y ago
  No need to speculate: > @MarnanelThurman No problem, at least there was some fun ;-) So I'd say the answer to your question is: "some". Some being more than none, I'm almost tempted to think they enjoyed this little episode. You'd also have to add the joy of all the people encountering this. Since it's somewhat likely that someone typing "man" after midnight and forgetting the parameter is somewhat frustrated, I'd venture a guess and say this easter egg is a net positive for humanity. Since happy people working after midnight are better than unhappy people working after midnight, I'd even go so far as to say that it improves productivity. And productivity is my professionalism.
- heavenlyblue 9y ago
  Only if he didn’t get laid enough.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Their CI script is not adequate to deal with the standard output of a man after midnight.
- Coincoin 9y ago
  I personally like to stumble on extraordinarily stupid bugs. Bonus points, if the author works with us (or is myself), we get to laugh at his expense forever after.
- oelmekki 9y ago
  It's extremely common for CI to break for no good reason. My bet is that they launched their suite again and only bothered mentioning it because how unexpected the fail was.
- breakingcups 9y ago
  About as much fun as they had using free software they did not pay for of which they were free to browse the source code to their hearts content.
  - 21 9y ago
    So you're saying that free software is not reliable and you can't have any sort of expectations from it, so it shouldn't be used for "serious business" (enterprise, government, ...)
    - salvar 9y ago
      Yes, I believe that's exactly what they're saying.
- igorgue 9y ago
  The one who was working at 00:30? Go to sleep dude!
Sean1708 9y ago
It can be fixed without getting rid of the easter egg (which is exactly what was done: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/man-db.git/commit/?id=84bde8d8a9a357bd372793d25746ac6b49480525 https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/man-db.git/commit/?id=84bd...).
21 9y ago
There are 1000 packages on my Ubuntu. Imagine each one of those having an easter egg on a random day of the year. Each one by itself maybe is cute and "makes you feel human", but not the aggregate behavior.
- archagon 9y ago
  Clearly, we need a standard --noeaster flag. ;)
  - em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
    maybe could simply detect is running inside a displayed shell terminal.

Easter eggs remind us we're human and bring us joy when we least suspect and might need it the most. Obviously don't want easter eggs in things like security code.

waffle_ss 9y ago

How much joy do you think the SO questioner had when their CI was breaking at (seemingly) random times of the day due to this idiotic flourish?

matt4077 9y ago
No need to speculate: > @MarnanelThurman No problem, at least there was some fun ;-) So I'd say the answer to your question is: "some". Some being more than none, I'm almost tempted to think they enjoyed this little episode. You'd also have to add the joy of all the people encountering this. Since it's somewhat likely that someone typing "man" after midnight and forgetting the parameter is somewhat frustrated, I'd venture a guess and say this easter egg is a net positive for humanity. Since happy people working after midnight are better than unhappy people working after midnight, I'd even go so far as to say that it improves productivity. And productivity is my professionalism.
heavenlyblue 9y ago
Only if he didn’t get laid enough.
microcolonel 9y ago
Their CI script is not adequate to deal with the standard output of a man after midnight.
Coincoin 9y ago
I personally like to stumble on extraordinarily stupid bugs. Bonus points, if the author works with us (or is myself), we get to laugh at his expense forever after.
oelmekki 9y ago
It's extremely common for CI to break for no good reason. My bet is that they launched their suite again and only bothered mentioning it because how unexpected the fail was.
breakingcups 9y ago
About as much fun as they had using free software they did not pay for of which they were free to browse the source code to their hearts content.
- 21 9y ago
  So you're saying that free software is not reliable and you can't have any sort of expectations from it, so it shouldn't be used for "serious business" (enterprise, government, ...)
  - salvar 9y ago
    Yes, I believe that's exactly what they're saying.
igorgue 9y ago
The one who was working at 00:30? Go to sleep dude!

Sean1708 9y ago

It can be fixed without getting rid of the easter egg (which is exactly what was done: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/man-db.git/commit/?id=84bde8d8a9a357bd372793d25746ac6b49480525 https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/man-db.git/commit/?id=84bd...).

21 9y ago

There are 1000 packages on my Ubuntu. Imagine each one of those having an easter egg on a random day of the year. Each one by itself maybe is cute and "makes you feel human", but not the aggregate behavior.

archagon 9y ago
Clearly, we need a standard --noeaster flag. ;)
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  maybe could simply detect is running inside a displayed shell terminal.