5 ms·

Rsync and outrage

185 points by st3fan 4mo ago

CaptainFever 4mo ago
It's sad that the outrage posts got hundreds of comments while this article, from the maintainer explaining the CVEs and test suites, only has this singular comment and is already on the second page. A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Do better, HN.
- happymellon 4mo ago
  I'm showing that it was only published an hour ago. 5am here in the UK, midnight Eastern US on a Tuesday night? I can see why it wouldn't have gained much traction yet. > A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Do better, HN. Stop baiting.
  - 2muchtime 4mo ago
    Probably best to spell that “baiting”
    - happymellon 4mo ago
      Thanks! :D
  - CaptainFever 4mo ago
    We'll see if you're right, and if HNers can redeem themselves. I'm not holding out much hope, though.
- bitdiffusion 4mo ago
  Maybe because the explanation isn't so much an explanation but an admission that core functionality was broken in a minor version release - and therefore almost orthogonal to the use of AI. If there had been no major regressions, do you think anyone would have complained? People are (correctly) not going to be held to some kind of lower standard just because they "used AI" and "were fixing security issues".
  - jml7c5 4mo ago
    >If there had been no major regressions, do you think anyone would have complained? If there had been the same regressions but no AI, do you think there would be a 300 post issue full of people complaining? People are holding the update to a higher standard just because they used AI.
ChrisArchitect 4mo ago
Related: Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705
happymellon 4mo ago
A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The scale of the commits, and rewriting the entire testing framework was pretty big for a "bugfix" revision.
- _aavaa_ 4mo ago
  It is entirely misplaced based on the evidence so far. Neither of the bugs you link are currently traced back to a commit that used AI.
  - Eufrat 4mo ago
    But this one can: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/905 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/905 was caused by https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/commit/4fa7156ccdb2ad34b034d18fe2fd6cd79adef8a1 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/commit/4fa7156ccdb2ad3... and I find it pretty absurd. I don’t think AI assisted code is bad, but I really question tridge’s approach here. His post in response to to the dogpiling isn’t good (https://medium.com/@tridge60/rsync-and-outrage-d9849599e5a0 https://medium.com/@tridge60/rsync-and-outrage-d9849599e5a0). I appreciate his sense of duty to maintain rsync, but I get the very strong vibe from his response that he really doesn’t want to do this anymore and the use of AI is a way to make it easier on himself. He goes through some pretty lame arguments (aren’t humans just stochastic parrots‽ We don’t know!) and confesses he’d much rather stay retired and be sailing most of the time. I think his heart is in the right place, but this is no longer a labor of love and it shows. Also, I think another point is that, given the criticality of rsync to so many businesses maybe they could fund development and maintenance of it? What a novel idea.
    - _aavaa_ 4mo ago
      I don't find this bug absurd. It affects linux kernels <5.6 which reached EOL sometime before 2021. > the use of AI is a way to make it easier on himself. I don't see what's wrong with either this or his response in that post. > I don’t think AI assisted code is bad, but I really question tridge’s approach here. What specifically is the part you're questioning?
tomhow 4mo ago
Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 - May 2026 (466 comments) Rsync 3.4.3 has hundreds of Claude commits - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48334021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48334021 - May 2026 (81 comments)
jddj 4mo ago
All of this noise and velocity will provide significant cover for the Jia Tans of the world.
p2detar 4mo ago
> I did not just vibe-code “convert test suite to python”. I’m a software engineer with 40 years experience (yeah, I’m OLD!) Interestingly enough, I see the trend of people with decades of experience using AI more and more often. I'm in the 20 years club myself, and I do AI-assisted coding every day. It does help, and I'm grateful to have a tool like this to quickly try new ideas and throw them away if they suck. Shaming the author for using AI to help with the CI stuff is baffling to me. Are we witnessing just another ideology-driven tribal reaction on the rise?
maltris 4mo ago
I think he should just retire for real (from rsync) and enjoy the time, who would take all the negativity and keep going for a volunteer project like rsync. And this has nothing to do with AI. It seems to me that a significant amount of people in IT disconnected from reality. Go throw a couple potatoes in the ground and see them grow or whatever. Your opinion most likely wont matter nor make any difference.
oompydoompy74 4mo ago
I really feel for the developer of Rsync. He did absolutely nothing wrong and got flamed to hell for it. I’m glad he has help now and I hope all of the negativity doesn’t get to him. I would certainly have a difficult time with my mental health if I was on the receiving end of all this hate.
thepasch 4mo ago
The sooner we all collectively realize that the commonly cited "reasons why LLM code is bad" and "reasons poorly architectured, poorly planned, poorly tested code is bad" are a circle on a Venn diagram, the sooner we can hopefully make some effort to escape this sports fan tribalistic nonsense.
skeledrew 4mo ago
11 hours since this has been posted and 20 comments. Nobody that's raging really cares about the reasoning. All that matters is: AI use spotted -> time for the warpath.
- chr15m 4mo ago
  > Marge, those people chased us with pitchforks and torches. TORCHES! At four in the afternoon!
icar 4mo ago
> for the people saying things like “I’m a PhD from xyz uni and I’m telling your LLMs are just stochastic tools that make everything up and the world will fall apart if you use them”, I’m here to tell you that you are out of date. The world of software engineering has changed dramatically in the last few months. It indeed has. I now review code written by machines that sucks the life of me, read reports written by a machine, and overall have a miserable life as a software engineer. The pay is good so I'll keep on it for the time being, but you are damn right it changed, for the worse.
bhaak 4mo ago
> but I am being cautious, or as cautious as I can be given my desire to be sailing Then step down as maintainer if you don't want to do it properly.
molind 4mo ago
What I miss there is specifics about bugs. One side says: „oh there are new commits authored by Claude and I see new bugs. rsync is dooomed”, Andrew replies: „I’d better be sailing, but we’ve refactored test framework with Claude and I know how it works and I’ve been cautious.” It would be great to see analysis about those bugs. Why, how and when fix is expected. Only this part is important IMHO.

185 points by st3fan 4mo ago

It's sad that the outrage posts got hundreds of comments while this article, from the maintainer explaining the CVEs and test suites, only has this singular comment and is already on the second page. A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Do better, HN.

happymellon 4mo ago
I'm showing that it was only published an hour ago. 5am here in the UK, midnight Eastern US on a Tuesday night? I can see why it wouldn't have gained much traction yet. > A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes. Do better, HN. Stop baiting.
- 2muchtime 4mo ago
  Probably best to spell that “baiting”
  - happymellon 4mo ago
    Thanks! :D
- CaptainFever 4mo ago
  We'll see if you're right, and if HNers can redeem themselves. I'm not holding out much hope, though.
bitdiffusion 4mo ago
Maybe because the explanation isn't so much an explanation but an admission that core functionality was broken in a minor version release - and therefore almost orthogonal to the use of AI. If there had been no major regressions, do you think anyone would have complained? People are (correctly) not going to be held to some kind of lower standard just because they "used AI" and "were fixing security issues".
- jml7c5 4mo ago
  >If there had been no major regressions, do you think anyone would have complained? If there had been the same regressions but no AI, do you think there would be a 300 post issue full of people complaining? People are holding the update to a higher standard just because they used AI.

ChrisArchitect 4mo ago

Related: Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705

happymellon 4mo ago

A bit of a mixed one here. The vibe coding got the project attention and it looks like he's going to get the help he needed. However the "outrage", if you even call it that, wasn't entirely misplaced when pretty basic bugs were introduced by this, such as: Can't use rsync with absolute paths: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/922 Links mode is broken: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/915 The scale of the commits, and rewriting the entire testing framework was pretty big for a "bugfix" revision.

_aavaa_ 4mo ago
It is entirely misplaced based on the evidence so far. Neither of the bugs you link are currently traced back to a commit that used AI.
- Eufrat 4mo ago
  But this one can: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/905 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/905 was caused by https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/commit/4fa7156ccdb2ad34b034d18fe2fd6cd79adef8a1 https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/commit/4fa7156ccdb2ad3... and I find it pretty absurd. I don’t think AI assisted code is bad, but I really question tridge’s approach here. His post in response to to the dogpiling isn’t good (https://medium.com/@tridge60/rsync-and-outrage-d9849599e5a0 https://medium.com/@tridge60/rsync-and-outrage-d9849599e5a0). I appreciate his sense of duty to maintain rsync, but I get the very strong vibe from his response that he really doesn’t want to do this anymore and the use of AI is a way to make it easier on himself. He goes through some pretty lame arguments (aren’t humans just stochastic parrots‽ We don’t know!) and confesses he’d much rather stay retired and be sailing most of the time. I think his heart is in the right place, but this is no longer a labor of love and it shows. Also, I think another point is that, given the criticality of rsync to so many businesses maybe they could fund development and maintenance of it? What a novel idea.
  - _aavaa_ 4mo ago
    I don't find this bug absurd. It affects linux kernels <5.6 which reached EOL sometime before 2021. > the use of AI is a way to make it easier on himself. I don't see what's wrong with either this or his response in that post. > I don’t think AI assisted code is bad, but I really question tridge’s approach here. What specifically is the part you're questioning?

tomhow 4mo ago

Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48342705 - May 2026 (466 comments) Rsync 3.4.3 has hundreds of Claude commits - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48334021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48334021 - May 2026 (81 comments)

jddj 4mo ago

All of this noise and velocity will provide significant cover for the Jia Tans of the world.

p2detar 4mo ago

> I did not just vibe-code “convert test suite to python”. I’m a software engineer with 40 years experience (yeah, I’m OLD!) Interestingly enough, I see the trend of people with decades of experience using AI more and more often. I'm in the 20 years club myself, and I do AI-assisted coding every day. It does help, and I'm grateful to have a tool like this to quickly try new ideas and throw them away if they suck. Shaming the author for using AI to help with the CI stuff is baffling to me. Are we witnessing just another ideology-driven tribal reaction on the rise?

maltris 4mo ago

I think he should just retire for real (from rsync) and enjoy the time, who would take all the negativity and keep going for a volunteer project like rsync. And this has nothing to do with AI. It seems to me that a significant amount of people in IT disconnected from reality. Go throw a couple potatoes in the ground and see them grow or whatever. Your opinion most likely wont matter nor make any difference.

oompydoompy74 4mo ago

I really feel for the developer of Rsync. He did absolutely nothing wrong and got flamed to hell for it. I’m glad he has help now and I hope all of the negativity doesn’t get to him. I would certainly have a difficult time with my mental health if I was on the receiving end of all this hate.

thepasch 4mo ago

The sooner we all collectively realize that the commonly cited "reasons why LLM code is bad" and "reasons poorly architectured, poorly planned, poorly tested code is bad" are a circle on a Venn diagram, the sooner we can hopefully make some effort to escape this sports fan tribalistic nonsense.

skeledrew 4mo ago

11 hours since this has been posted and 20 comments. Nobody that's raging really cares about the reasoning. All that matters is: AI use spotted -> time for the warpath.

chr15m 4mo ago
> Marge, those people chased us with pitchforks and torches. TORCHES! At four in the afternoon!

icar 4mo ago

> for the people saying things like “I’m a PhD from xyz uni and I’m telling your LLMs are just stochastic tools that make everything up and the world will fall apart if you use them”, I’m here to tell you that you are out of date. The world of software engineering has changed dramatically in the last few months. It indeed has. I now review code written by machines that sucks the life of me, read reports written by a machine, and overall have a miserable life as a software engineer. The pay is good so I'll keep on it for the time being, but you are damn right it changed, for the worse.

bhaak 4mo ago

> but I am being cautious, or as cautious as I can be given my desire to be sailing Then step down as maintainer if you don't want to do it properly.

molind 4mo ago

What I miss there is specifics about bugs. One side says: „oh there are new commits authored by Claude and I see new bugs. rsync is dooomed”, Andrew replies: „I’d better be sailing, but we’ve refactored test framework with Claude and I know how it works and I’ve been cautious.” It would be great to see analysis about those bugs. Why, how and when fix is expected. Only this part is important IMHO.