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The idea is that the Squeak image is a "binary blob", so doesn't count as a source package. The image file does come paired with two text files (sources and cha
by jecel 6y ago
The idea is that the Squeak image is a "binary blob", so doesn't count as a source package. The image file does come paired with two text files (sources and changes) that can be viewed in any text editor (but with old Mac line ending) and have the full sources. But there are objects inside the image that aren't generated from these sources (some have been "alive" since 1976) and these can be only examined using tools that also exist inside the image.
Once in a while someone asks for a tool to save the image as a XML or JSON file. They don't know enough to write this tool themselves. The problem is that the people who do know (it is pretty trivial, actually) have no interest in doing it. Normally the idea is that you could then use Unix diff or similar tool to check what has changed from one version of the image to the next.
- pjmlp 6y agoYeah, but as Dennis Ritchie has proven, having the source package isn't enough if one isn't a security expert anyway. I doubt that every Debian package has such level of security review.
- nineteen999 6y agoIt's less about security auditing than it is just about freedom to view the source and/or modify. That's why Debian is separated into free and non-free to begin with. Nothing is stopping it from going into non-free as I understand it.
- monadic2 6y agoView the source in `ed`, apparently, is the requirement, as the full semantic specification is clearly accessible and modifiable.
- rjsw 6y agoKen Thompson was the author of "Reflections on Trusting Trust" not Dennis Ritchie.
- pjmlp 6y agoOoops, thanks for the correction.
- xkriva11 6y agoPharo is now bootstrapped entirely from the text source files. To do it, you need already working Pharo, so there is a chicken-egg problem...
- Rochus 6y ago> To do it, you need already working Pharo Just because of the compiler, or are there other preconditions only available in an existing image?
- xkriva11 6y agoDuring bootstrap, the hosting Pharo serves a virtual object memory with object stubs and provides an AST interpreter. It is a quite complicated process. It is possible to rewrite it to another language but not easy.
- Rochus 6y agoI will try to directly start and run the Smalltalk-80 sources file and somehow pre-create the required global objects in the C++ code.
- monadic2 6y ago> The idea is that the Squeak image is a "binary blob", so doesn't count as a source package. I get why they did this (arbitrary, simple to evaluate), but at no semantic level does this make any sense.