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Trusting compiled software isn't a big deal with digitally signed deterministic builds like Bitcoin and Tor are starting to do (http://gitian.org/ http://gitian
by tlrobinson 13y ago
Trusting compiled software isn't a big deal with digitally signed deterministic builds like Bitcoin and Tor are starting to do (http://gitian.org/ http://gitian.org/)
Unfortunately it's a huge pain to do with existing toolchains.
- kansface 13y agoHow do deterministic builds address exploits compiled into the compiler itself?
- tlrobinson 13y agoAh yes, the Ken Thompson hack. It's possible in theory, but I don't think anyone is seriously worried about it. One way to mitigate the attack: if your compiler is open source you could compile the compiler with multiple (open source and proprietary) compilers, then compile your application code using the resulting compiler binaries in the deterministic build process. If the resulting application binaries match, then either none of the compilers are compromised, or all of them are. The latter seems highly unlikely. Also, open source software compiled by the user would be just as vulnerable.