Apologies, maybe that is the approach we’re talking about here, and I’ve simply confused myself. :) OP: If you have the source compiler, which is itself boots

Apologies, maybe that is the approach we’re talking about here, and I’ve simply confused myself. :) OP: If you have the source compiler, which is itself bootstrapped from source, then you effectively sidestep the problem brought up in the paper. So does that translate to English as: You have the source code for a compiler. You’ve ensured that the source code isn’t tainted in any way. If you translate that source code into an executable binary by hand, then you know that binary isn’t tainted. And subsequently, that binary won’t taint its output. ? Hmm. That just doesn’t seem interesting. And, as you say, “Theoretically... you could...”. Emphasis mine...