5 ms·

When would this be useful?

by 1f60c 5y ago

0xEFF 5y ago
Unit testing.
- pletnes 5y ago
  Or better, integration test where multiple executables are involved, making regular in-process mocking unusable.
ghoward 5y ago
Testing. Maybe a bug only appears around midnight, or near Easter. This makes that easier to reproduce.
- myself248 5y ago
  Gimme gimme gimme? ;)
  - ghoward 5y ago
    Yep! You got my reference. For all others, see [1] and [2] . [1]: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man-print-gimme-gimme-gimme-at-0030 https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747313
kburman 5y ago
Run some trail software forever.
- ape4 5y ago
  But not all, the author says: I get many email messages that say something like "I tried to extend the trial period of xyz software with RunAsDate and it didn't work". Running a software with different date/time can be used for many legitimate purposes and for these purposes RunAsDate was created. I have never said implicitly or explicitly that RunAsDate can be used for extending the trial period of a software. For some shareware programs, RunAsDate might really work, but many shareware creators are smart enough to detect that the date/time was modified and when they detect the time change, they end the trial period immediately. Please don't bother yourself to send me a question about extending the trial period of a software, because these kind of messages are simply deleted without answering.
janci 5y ago
I would need RunAsTimezone
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- kelnos 5y ago
  On Linux (well, glibc, not sure about other libc implementations) you can just set the `TZ` environment variable before running the app. I wonder if Windows has something similar.
OJFord 5y ago
Fixing things like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161/comments/28 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem Testing features like: - night mode - calendar 'today' visualisation on different days of month etc. Cheating like: https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/hacking-time-speed-up-game-clocks-your-android-device-for-faster-farming-0140383/ https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/hacking-time-spee... https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-extend-the-trial-period-of-a-software/ https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-extend-the-trial-period-o... In that last link, #1 is actually (coincidentally, that wasn't in my search) the software submitted here.
dharmab 5y ago
When your printer can't print on Tuesdays: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619
curiousgal 5y ago
Back in school we used to use it to run SAS 9.4
- IggleSniggle 5y ago
  Timed license or something? I’ve heard of SAS but have never used it. Any good?
  - curiousgal 5y ago
    Yeah, a free trial. It's a niche statistical analytics programming language. Used by banks and pharmaceutical companies mostly because it makes it easier to audit things. The open source alternative would be R.
kazinator 5y ago
You might be able to obtain reproducible behavior from a tool that insists on putting time stamps into its output, and has no options for reproducibility. You might be able to get an indefinite extension for running some time-limited trialware.
fiftyacorn 5y ago
Financial quarter ends or year ends
boba10 5y ago
We have program registered till date. The software company went bust. You run the software with correct time and it runs.
tom7 5y ago
We have proprietary software that was registered until X date and the company went bust. Changing the date allows the software to run.
- james_in_the_uk 5y ago
  If you don't need to worry about updates or litigation, just reverse engineer the date check and crack it.
  - dharmab 5y ago
    Sounds like a use case for Ghidra to be sure.

When would this be useful?

by 1f60c 5y ago

When would this be useful?

0xEFF 5y ago

Unit testing.

pletnes 5y ago
Or better, integration test where multiple executables are involved, making regular in-process mocking unusable.

ghoward 5y ago

Testing. Maybe a bug only appears around midnight, or near Easter. This makes that easier to reproduce.

myself248 5y ago
Gimme gimme gimme? ;)
- ghoward 5y ago
  Yep! You got my reference. For all others, see [1] and [2] . [1]: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man-print-gimme-gimme-gimme-at-0030 https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747313 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15747313

kburman 5y ago

Run some trail software forever.

ape4 5y ago
But not all, the author says: I get many email messages that say something like "I tried to extend the trial period of xyz software with RunAsDate and it didn't work". Running a software with different date/time can be used for many legitimate purposes and for these purposes RunAsDate was created. I have never said implicitly or explicitly that RunAsDate can be used for extending the trial period of a software. For some shareware programs, RunAsDate might really work, but many shareware creators are smart enough to detect that the date/time was modified and when they detect the time change, they end the trial period immediately. Please don't bother yourself to send me a question about extending the trial period of a software, because these kind of messages are simply deleted without answering.

janci 5y ago

I would need RunAsTimezone

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
kelnos 5y ago
On Linux (well, glibc, not sure about other libc implementations) you can just set the `TZ` environment variable before running the app. I wonder if Windows has something similar.

OJFord 5y ago

Fixing things like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161/comments/28 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cupsys/+bug/255161... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem Testing features like: - night mode - calendar 'today' visualisation on different days of month etc. Cheating like: https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/hacking-time-speed-up-game-clocks-your-android-device-for-faster-farming-0140383/ https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/hacking-time-spee... https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-extend-the-trial-period-of-a-software/ https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-extend-the-trial-period-o... In that last link, #1 is actually (coincidentally, that wasn't in my search) the software submitted here.

dharmab 5y ago

When your printer can't print on Tuesdays: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619

curiousgal 5y ago

Back in school we used to use it to run SAS 9.4

IggleSniggle 5y ago
Timed license or something? I’ve heard of SAS but have never used it. Any good?
- curiousgal 5y ago
  Yeah, a free trial. It's a niche statistical analytics programming language. Used by banks and pharmaceutical companies mostly because it makes it easier to audit things. The open source alternative would be R.

kazinator 5y ago

You might be able to obtain reproducible behavior from a tool that insists on putting time stamps into its output, and has no options for reproducibility. You might be able to get an indefinite extension for running some time-limited trialware.

fiftyacorn 5y ago

Financial quarter ends or year ends

boba10 5y ago

We have program registered till date. The software company went bust. You run the software with correct time and it runs.

tom7 5y ago

We have proprietary software that was registered until X date and the company went bust. Changing the date allows the software to run.

james_in_the_uk 5y ago
If you don't need to worry about updates or litigation, just reverse engineer the date check and crack it.
- dharmab 5y ago
  Sounds like a use case for Ghidra to be sure.