11 ms·

Renowned reverse engineer Fravia says goodbye

126 points by ilitirit 17y ago

pistoriusp 17y ago
I find it strange how the imminent demise of another makes me reflect upon myself: I found myself wondering what I would write in the same situation, and then realizing that this is a fate that I cannot escape. I like to watch Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech, every now and again, to remind me of that fact: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA Transcribed: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
- ilitirit 17y ago
  > imminent demise Just in case some people don't know, Fravia passed away 2 days ago (2009/05/03)
garply 17y ago
fravia's writings were a big part of my motivation to learn how computers work when I was just a fledgling programmer. So long and thanks for all the info!
- gommm 17y ago
  I remember when I was a kid and didn't have a very reliable internet connection I mirrored fravia.org to make sure that I could read it when I wanted to. I was fascinated with all his writings on reverse engineering and learned a lot from him... So thanks to Fravia and sorry to see him go...
- ahizzle 17y ago
  I discovered his material at a very young age as well and found it absolutely fascinating. I learned an awful lot thanks to his writing... Is there anywhere we could properly express thanks/condolences to the family? (If not... Is that a YC startup?) :)
ableal 17y ago
I find it regrettable that Wikipedia, which has lengthy pages on cartoon and soap opera characters, feels the need to save bytes by deleting a page about a real person who publicly contributed knowledge to the community. (Google cache still has it, as of today)
- alnayyir 17y ago
  What the hell? They deleted his page? The man's papers and his +HCU crowd trained a whole generation!
  - tptacek 17y ago
    Respectfully: says who? I'm a professional reverse engineer and heard about Fravia for the first time yesterday, on Hacker News. I know brl is also a pro, and he obviously holds Fravia in some esteem, so I don't doubt he's important --- but again, says who? You need sourcing to put something on Wikipedia.
    - narag 17y ago
      "Reverse engineering" is in this case an euphemism for cracking, in the sense of unprotecting programs. Of course there are also others meanings, like reconstructing the lost code of a program from binaries or looking at its functionality. Fravia had a radical point of view about cracking and compiled practical information, including how to search for anything in the web, that he loved. There aren't any "papers" that can be cited. There are thus two reasons why it's difficult to establish his notability. One, that he was in an underground (not to say illegal) field. The other that it happened in the web, I don't say that Wikipedia should do anything, I couldn't care less, But, as a matter of fact, he was indeed well known ten years ago.
      - tptacek 17y ago
        Everything on WP is supposed to be verifiable. It's an ironclad rule. That's not to say it's consistently applied, but it does mean anybody can select a piece of unverifiable content on the WP and zap it if it isn't sourced. So if it's hard to establish notability in a verifiable way because he's underground and online, it's probably not worth the trouble to fight to keep the article in the WP; it's not appropriate for the encyclopedia.
wallflower 17y ago
> Yet my most cherished advice to all friends is the following: learn to enjoy your contingent present, don't be obsessed by the future. Carpe diem, and enjoy the current emotions: a starry sky, a fresh wind, the shells on the seashore, your love at your side in the night, a long talk in the evening twilight with a friend, the smile of your kids. Substituting that with a TV -or a computer screen- is a very poor bargain... that is one of the few things I am now pretty sure of. Gobsmacked by this. I've been starting to apply Stoicism towards my life and I'm speechless. Stoicism: This has been posted on News.YC before but this might impact you: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...
andeka 17y ago
goodbye fravia. We will miss you. I will catch you in the next life and use what you taught us to not get lost in this one.
EvanK 17y ago
as i understand it, the issue with the wikipedia article was that it [the article] was badly put together, and had no citations. rather than reverting the changes, try creating a better article from scratch. (of course, its locked until the 12th to prevent a flood of people trying to revert it, but just wait until the 13th)
statictype 17y ago
Wow, I just got heavy nostalgia after going through the mirrors of his site. His pages on reverse-engineering were my earliest findings on the internet. When it used to take days to download a 20mb file.
mgua 17y ago
Redirecting Fravia page to reverse engineering is unacceptable. He had been an expert in software reversing (which is related to software reverse engineering) and in the last 10 years devoted a considerable amount of efforts to the field Internet Information Searching. I was a personal friend of mr Ravia, and knew him for more than 10 years. He was able to build a considerable community of experts in the field around him. The article will definitely be improved now, after is untimely death. Revert back the redirect. Regards, Marco Guardigli Technical Director TomWare Group
noonespecial 17y ago
Ahhh fravia.com... One of the first things I found when joing the brave new world with my 28.8. The first thing i found on that new "www" thing that made me realize its potential, back in the bad old days when searching/finding anything on it was a bit of a black art. We'll miss you. "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
gcabeza 17y ago
fravia, ORC+, +HCU I guess that was my awakening in critical thinking. forever grateful...
paulgerhardt 17y ago
there are a series of videos of him speaking available at the internet archive: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=fravia http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=fravia
iuguy 17y ago
May $DEITY present Fravia with all the bounties $AFTERLIFE may offer him. You will be missed.
knightrider 17y ago
Such sensationalist headlines should not be encouraged on HN.
mgua 17y ago
I managed to find some more information sources about fravia (pictures of him and RMS, and a blog entry by Tommaso Dorigo, a scientist and a friend of him, and updated my own version of WP page (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fravia&oldid=288959514 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fravia&oldid=2...) . I also refined language separated facts from opinions and tried to be more objective, but it is not easy. WP Admin Matt_Crypto re-trashed again the page while I was working on it, giving a very poor explanation. I think that a better page will never come out if they dont allow community to work on it. I am available to critics and I am not hiding my identity. I am a middle age respected professional working and consulting internationally. I owe a lot to mr. Fravia, for what I learned from him since 1996. By the way I was hacking and cracking since the eighties. Given the inadequate page on WP while he was alive, I felt the need and urge of updating it, then this hell begun. I am registered in WP since 2005, and seldom made some little contributes. Seems that many of you benefited from Fravia's writings. Yesterday, at Fravia's final burial, i was blowing a dandelion in the wind. Tiny seeds flowing in the sky in the beautiful green valley. Those flying little seeds were like the many teaching he left inside many of us. a suitable picture could be this: http://photos.jibble.org/albums/Dandelions/dandelion_seeds_being_blown.jpg http://photos.jibble.org/albums/Dandelions/dandelion_seeds_b... Please help me in fixing this Fravia Wikipedia Entry. I simply think he deserves it. --Marco Guardigli
jahan_26 17y ago
I am jahan_26. I'm really sad that you're gone. I'm gonna to follow your way and make your name big. R.I.P
jahan_26 17y ago
I am jahan_26. I'm really sad that you're gone. I'm gonna to follow your way and make your name big. R.I.P http://www.geocities.com/farzad451/ http://www.geocities.com/farzad451/

126 points by ilitirit 17y ago

I find it strange how the imminent demise of another makes me reflect upon myself: I found myself wondering what I would write in the same situation, and then realizing that this is a fate that I cannot escape. I like to watch Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech, every now and again, to remind me of that fact: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA Transcribed: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

ilitirit 17y ago
> imminent demise Just in case some people don't know, Fravia passed away 2 days ago (2009/05/03)

garply 17y ago

fravia's writings were a big part of my motivation to learn how computers work when I was just a fledgling programmer. So long and thanks for all the info!

gommm 17y ago
I remember when I was a kid and didn't have a very reliable internet connection I mirrored fravia.org to make sure that I could read it when I wanted to. I was fascinated with all his writings on reverse engineering and learned a lot from him... So thanks to Fravia and sorry to see him go...
ahizzle 17y ago
I discovered his material at a very young age as well and found it absolutely fascinating. I learned an awful lot thanks to his writing... Is there anywhere we could properly express thanks/condolences to the family? (If not... Is that a YC startup?) :)

ableal 17y ago

I find it regrettable that Wikipedia, which has lengthy pages on cartoon and soap opera characters, feels the need to save bytes by deleting a page about a real person who publicly contributed knowledge to the community. (Google cache still has it, as of today)

alnayyir 17y ago
What the hell? They deleted his page? The man's papers and his +HCU crowd trained a whole generation!
- tptacek 17y ago
  Respectfully: says who? I'm a professional reverse engineer and heard about Fravia for the first time yesterday, on Hacker News. I know brl is also a pro, and he obviously holds Fravia in some esteem, so I don't doubt he's important --- but again, says who? You need sourcing to put something on Wikipedia.
  - narag 17y ago
    "Reverse engineering" is in this case an euphemism for cracking, in the sense of unprotecting programs. Of course there are also others meanings, like reconstructing the lost code of a program from binaries or looking at its functionality. Fravia had a radical point of view about cracking and compiled practical information, including how to search for anything in the web, that he loved. There aren't any "papers" that can be cited. There are thus two reasons why it's difficult to establish his notability. One, that he was in an underground (not to say illegal) field. The other that it happened in the web, I don't say that Wikipedia should do anything, I couldn't care less, But, as a matter of fact, he was indeed well known ten years ago.
    - tptacek 17y ago
      Everything on WP is supposed to be verifiable. It's an ironclad rule. That's not to say it's consistently applied, but it does mean anybody can select a piece of unverifiable content on the WP and zap it if it isn't sourced. So if it's hard to establish notability in a verifiable way because he's underground and online, it's probably not worth the trouble to fight to keep the article in the WP; it's not appropriate for the encyclopedia.

wallflower 17y ago

> Yet my most cherished advice to all friends is the following: learn to enjoy your contingent present, don't be obsessed by the future. Carpe diem, and enjoy the current emotions: a starry sky, a fresh wind, the shells on the seashore, your love at your side in the night, a long talk in the evening twilight with a friend, the smile of your kids. Substituting that with a TV -or a computer screen- is a very poor bargain... that is one of the few things I am now pretty sure of. Gobsmacked by this. I've been starting to apply Stoicism towards my life and I'm speechless. Stoicism: This has been posted on News.YC before but this might impact you: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101-a-practical-guide-for-entrepreneurs/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/04/13/stoicism-101...

andeka 17y ago

goodbye fravia. We will miss you. I will catch you in the next life and use what you taught us to not get lost in this one.

EvanK 17y ago

as i understand it, the issue with the wikipedia article was that it [the article] was badly put together, and had no citations. rather than reverting the changes, try creating a better article from scratch. (of course, its locked until the 12th to prevent a flood of people trying to revert it, but just wait until the 13th)

statictype 17y ago

Wow, I just got heavy nostalgia after going through the mirrors of his site. His pages on reverse-engineering were my earliest findings on the internet. When it used to take days to download a 20mb file.

mgua 17y ago

Redirecting Fravia page to reverse engineering is unacceptable. He had been an expert in software reversing (which is related to software reverse engineering) and in the last 10 years devoted a considerable amount of efforts to the field Internet Information Searching. I was a personal friend of mr Ravia, and knew him for more than 10 years. He was able to build a considerable community of experts in the field around him. The article will definitely be improved now, after is untimely death. Revert back the redirect. Regards, Marco Guardigli Technical Director TomWare Group

noonespecial 17y ago

Ahhh fravia.com... One of the first things I found when joing the brave new world with my 28.8. The first thing i found on that new "www" thing that made me realize its potential, back in the bad old days when searching/finding anything on it was a bit of a black art. We'll miss you. "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

gcabeza 17y ago

fravia, ORC+, +HCU I guess that was my awakening in critical thinking. forever grateful...

paulgerhardt 17y ago

there are a series of videos of him speaking available at the internet archive: http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=fravia http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=fravia

iuguy 17y ago

May $DEITY present Fravia with all the bounties $AFTERLIFE may offer him. You will be missed.

knightrider 17y ago

Such sensationalist headlines should not be encouraged on HN.

mgua 17y ago

I managed to find some more information sources about fravia (pictures of him and RMS, and a blog entry by Tommaso Dorigo, a scientist and a friend of him, and updated my own version of WP page (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fravia&oldid=288959514 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fravia&oldid=2...) . I also refined language separated facts from opinions and tried to be more objective, but it is not easy. WP Admin Matt_Crypto re-trashed again the page while I was working on it, giving a very poor explanation. I think that a better page will never come out if they dont allow community to work on it. I am available to critics and I am not hiding my identity. I am a middle age respected professional working and consulting internationally. I owe a lot to mr. Fravia, for what I learned from him since 1996. By the way I was hacking and cracking since the eighties. Given the inadequate page on WP while he was alive, I felt the need and urge of updating it, then this hell begun. I am registered in WP since 2005, and seldom made some little contributes. Seems that many of you benefited from Fravia's writings. Yesterday, at Fravia's final burial, i was blowing a dandelion in the wind. Tiny seeds flowing in the sky in the beautiful green valley. Those flying little seeds were like the many teaching he left inside many of us. a suitable picture could be this: http://photos.jibble.org/albums/Dandelions/dandelion_seeds_being_blown.jpg http://photos.jibble.org/albums/Dandelions/dandelion_seeds_b... Please help me in fixing this Fravia Wikipedia Entry. I simply think he deserves it. --Marco Guardigli

jahan_26 17y ago

I am jahan_26. I'm really sad that you're gone. I'm gonna to follow your way and make your name big. R.I.P

jahan_26 17y ago

I am jahan_26. I'm really sad that you're gone. I'm gonna to follow your way and make your name big. R.I.P http://www.geocities.com/farzad451/ http://www.geocities.com/farzad451/