5 ms·

Change the default temp file prefix to be "SQLite" spelled backwards

58 points by janvdberg 2y ago

qbane 2y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36302805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36302805
seabass-labrax 2y ago
Did this actually work? Searching for 'etilqs_', now in 2024, gives plenty of results much like the ones described in the comment. The claim that "...anybody smart enough to figure out the code is also likely smart enough to know that calling the developer will not help..." doesn't hold true when the confused users were never being 'smart' at all; they were reading out-of-context support queries and blogspam. In my opinion, the problems that remain to this day include: - lack of adherence to conventions for naming and storage of temporary files, especially on Windows. Somehow I'm not surprised that McAfee was a prime offender: antivirus vendors have no incentive to make things less confusing! - sub-standard technical support that perpetuates misunderstandings. I sometimes wonder how I ever managed to become expert in the fields that I have, because most of the information on any technical subject is misleading if not outright wrong. - (predictably) a lack of technical literacy in the general population. I know people are touchy about this, and rightly so - it's not the fault of the individual. Yet you can't avoid the mismatch between the knowledge required to correctly understand and debug software like SQLite and the much lower threshold of being able to find a telephone number online and start pestering people.
mmastrac 2y ago
The backstory from the comments: ** 2006-10-31: The default prefix used to be "sqlite_". But then ** Mcafee started using SQLite in their anti-virus product and it ** started putting files with the "sqlite" name in the c:/temp folder. ** This annoyed many windows users. Those users would then do a ** Google search for "sqlite", find the telephone numbers of the ** developers and call to wake them up at night and complain. ** For this reason, the default name prefix is changed to be "sqlite" ** spelled backwards. So the temp files are still identified, but ** anybody smart enough to figure out the code is also likely smart ** enough to know that calling the developer will not help get rid ** of the file.
- jballer 2y ago
  Should’ve changed it to mcaffee_
- chasil 2y ago
  Why not include a portion of argv[0] if it passes basic sanity checks?
lagniappe 2y ago
But then what was tfanswtpf_
- Someone 2y ago
  I would not know, but it seems that was a short-lived code change that never made it into a release. See https://github.com/sqlite/sqlite/commit/79de864cd1f5aaf0f97b5484b838c71c4d26cb4f https://github.com/sqlite/sqlite/commit/79de864cd1f5aaf0f97b... (same day as this commit)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
sixhobbits 2y ago
(2006)
causal 2y ago
The ability to go observe this kind of history is one of the wonderful things about OSS
- daveoc64 2y ago
  SQLite isn't open source. It's in the public domain.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

58 points by janvdberg 2y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36302805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36302805

Did this actually work? Searching for 'etilqs_', now in 2024, gives plenty of results much like the ones described in the comment. The claim that "...anybody smart enough to figure out the code is also likely smart enough to know that calling the developer will not help..." doesn't hold true when the confused users were never being 'smart' at all; they were reading out-of-context support queries and blogspam. In my opinion, the problems that remain to this day include: - lack of adherence to conventions for naming and storage of temporary files, especially on Windows. Somehow I'm not surprised that McAfee was a prime offender: antivirus vendors have no incentive to make things less confusing! - sub-standard technical support that perpetuates misunderstandings. I sometimes wonder how I ever managed to become expert in the fields that I have, because most of the information on any technical subject is misleading if not outright wrong. - (predictably) a lack of technical literacy in the general population. I know people are touchy about this, and rightly so - it's not the fault of the individual. Yet you can't avoid the mismatch between the knowledge required to correctly understand and debug software like SQLite and the much lower threshold of being able to find a telephone number online and start pestering people.

mmastrac 2y ago

The backstory from the comments: ** 2006-10-31: The default prefix used to be "sqlite_". But then ** Mcafee started using SQLite in their anti-virus product and it ** started putting files with the "sqlite" name in the c:/temp folder. ** This annoyed many windows users. Those users would then do a ** Google search for "sqlite", find the telephone numbers of the ** developers and call to wake them up at night and complain. ** For this reason, the default name prefix is changed to be "sqlite" ** spelled backwards. So the temp files are still identified, but ** anybody smart enough to figure out the code is also likely smart ** enough to know that calling the developer will not help get rid ** of the file.

jballer 2y ago
Should’ve changed it to mcaffee_
chasil 2y ago
Why not include a portion of argv[0] if it passes basic sanity checks?

lagniappe 2y ago

But then what was tfanswtpf_

Someone 2y ago
I would not know, but it seems that was a short-lived code change that never made it into a release. See https://github.com/sqlite/sqlite/commit/79de864cd1f5aaf0f97b5484b838c71c4d26cb4f https://github.com/sqlite/sqlite/commit/79de864cd1f5aaf0f97b... (same day as this commit)
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

sixhobbits 2y ago

(2006)

causal 2y ago

The ability to go observe this kind of history is one of the wonderful things about OSS

daveoc64 2y ago
SQLite isn't open source. It's in the public domain.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]