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What would you use if you couldn't use your current distribution/operating system?
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
This will be a memorable month -- no matter how hard you try to forget it.
(Score: 3, Touché) by janrinok on Wednesday February 25, @08:18PM (14 children)
Or perhaps you would prefer "Sorry I was unclear. "WTF?""
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, @03:49AM (13 children)
Yes, you brought up taking over site administration. A rather odd offer or whatever, it did not seem sincere. So WTF with all that?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 26, @04:56AM (12 children)
Something, either a person or perhaps AI, has to have control over the system. Usually it is a system administrator. He is responsible for configuring the system, for giving the access to those who assist with site administration, for ensuring that the data is protected from unauthorised access, backing up restorative copies of the data, etc.
How does your proposed new OS achieve this without an administrator, or even with multiple "authenticated" administrators? Whatever safeguards are implemented by him or someone he has authorised to assist him can just as easily be circumvented by him. If you don't have trust in the administration then you really shouldn't ever be using such a site.
Your suggestion that I have quoted above can be achieved today by disconnecting from the internet and never switching your computer on. Otherwise you might as well be asking for an OS that requires no power source, operates in any environment without maintenance, and which works by manipulating a mixture of stardust and Unobtainium to calculate instant results.
Now, I will assume that you have something better in mind. Please explain in terms which we can all understand what your concept is for the new OS. Most of us are far more practical about such things and, I for one, cannot imagine how you conceive that such a system would work. If you do not have such a concept then the entire premise of your original comment contributes nothing to an intelligent discussion.
Your flippant remarks such as "OK?" and "WTF?" suggest that you are blowing gas out of your ass. However, I am prepared to join in an intelligent discussion if you can provide your half of it. Otherwise the community will probably moderate you appropriately.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, @10:08AM (11 children)
Just to chime in here, I think it should be possible to set up a system like that using blockchain and signing. An admin might be able to delete or alter stuff, but it would leave a massive hole in the data and be really obvious because it would break the chain.
I don't believe that sort of effort and overhead is warranted for a discussion site like this, I think most of us are happy with how things are run.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 26, @11:18AM
It is certainly possible, but it is a lot of effort to prevent an admin managing his site(s) for fear that he might be doing something that he shouldn't. Unwanted changes could be detected - but why would any admin want to do that? In any event all of our code is released for the whole world to see. If the idea is to prevent unauthorised access then it is more of a security matter - nobody should be able to access running code or personal data which they should not be accessing.
The database is constantly changing. Every comment, journal, moderation, even page accesses are recorded including UserID, time, the event itself, .... etc. So a blockchain would be of no use there. The daily backups are encrypted and stored on separate servers, both locally and remotely. No blockchain could prevent the deletion of a backup or even just pulling the plug on a server.
The original AC suggested a new OS but seemingly is now reluctant to explain exactly how or why the proposed changes are necessary. While he might be directing his comments at this site in particular, he is suggesting that a new OS would be his ideal. Why? A new OS would not make supporting the perl code any easier. If anyone wants to rewrite it then they are more than welcome to give it a try. kolie has extended the APIs so that we do not need to change the perl code to achieve many new functions - just knowing where to hook into the API is making many enhancements much easier than they once were. Additionally, many have decried the use of Docker containers but they are much more reliable than the previous configuration and the problems tend to be where the original Rehash code was hacked but insufficiently tested before being widely used.
So I don't think that he is directing his comments to this site. But if not, then which sites does he believe his new OS would be better suited than existing ones?
For repos such as those for different languages (Python etc) then a block chain would certainly identify that a 'change' had taken place, but I am not sure that it would accurately identify exactly where and, more importantly, what risks the new code poses to its users. Some have gone to great lengths to obfuscate the real purpose of their code changes and if a block chain could solve all the problems I wonder why nobody has yet introduced such a system for their repos. Perhaps they have, I do not pay much interest to blockchains etc so this is an area about which I know relatively little.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, @01:33PM (9 children)
Great comment!
"I think most of us are happy with how things are run."
That is the rub. What if there are alterations you do not know about? A techie discussion site is low stakes and truly egregious violations would be noticed eventually, so who really cares? Do we need or even want a high level of trust in public forums?
It is a theoretical problem that someone is taking way too personally. Your solution is interesting but would definitely take some effort.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday February 26, @03:44PM (8 children)
Well that comes back to the trust issue. I do not use any other social media because I have seen how they change the rules at will and bury any information about the changes in very small print, if at all.
They will quite happily share my information (which is illegal in the EU without my express permission) because it is seen as having some monetary value.
If you mean what happens if the code that we are running is changed maliciously, then the blockchain idea might be useful as a flag, but then you would have to diff everything with a known good release and try to find what the changes are. But that makes the role of the administrator more important, not less. If someone has managed to get into your own code base and make changes to it then there is a permissions issue that is wrong. But using our own case as an example - they would have to know also how to build the entire site into containers, how to access the database itself, how to access the various servers that we use etc.
I agree.
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, @06:32PM (7 children)
Blockchain would make it simple to run a verification on the database. Every byte of content added creates a signature, so uf someone changes a few bytes then the signature changes. Your current situation would require a complete diff against a backup.
(Score: 3, Informative) by janrinok on Thursday February 26, @08:18PM (6 children)
The database is continually changing. There are internal tasks running all the time which leave results in the database. Records are created in the database when a users is accessing pages, making comments. creating journals, moderating, searching, etc. They all create new data that is saved in the database, some temporarily and some permanently.
At which point should the blockchain be updated? And why compare it with previous backup? What are you expecting it to tell you?
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 26, @11:17PM (5 children)
Your questions would be an important part of the project management and development pipeline. Give me a call if you would like to hire a consultant.
The last question is the most important. It would tell an auditor when unwarranted modifications have been made. I thought that was clear from the beginning, but this thread has involved a lot off tangential and off topic nonsense due to, umm, something.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday February 27, @12:15AM (4 children)
A blockchain of the database would tell us no such thing. You would need a blockchain of the source code to identify changes to the source code.
What exactly are you trying to prove again?
This, I assume, is AC's little joke? What is your AC phone number, or your contact address? How exactly does one hire Mr Anonymous Coward?
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 27, @01:33AM (3 children)
Feel free to discuss with people you may actually listen to.