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Is it really that troublesome to strike a balance between implementing something yourself and using a library when the difference is two weeks versus two years?
by incrudible 6y ago
Is it really that troublesome to strike a balance between implementing something yourself and using a library when the difference is two weeks versus two years?
If, for example, a file format is really complex, it has most likely one implementation that almost everyone uses. If there is a problem with it, you will hear about it. Use that.
On the other hand, if a file format is really simple or you only need a simple subset of it, rolling your own could avoid you getting 0-dayed when the most popular implementation has a vulnerability.
- ComodoHacker 6y ago>you getting 0-dayed when the most popular implementation has a vulnerability vs getting hit when your vulnerable implementation becomes popular. Not an obvious choice indeed.
- incrudible 6y ago> vs getting hit when your vulnerable implementation becomes popular. Which is not going to happen, because there's no point in publishing something that is tailored to your specific purpose.
- ivanche 6y agoThis reminds me of one Finnish student publishing some sort of OS kernel in 1991 or so which supported only his PC-compatible machine...
- incrudible 6y agoOf course, who could rule out that a crappy little domain-specific parser turns into a trillion dollar industry? One should let that remote possibility guide the decision making at all times.