Wow.
1: https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/929#issuecommen...
It should really be considered negligence at this point. Some of this software is extremely valuable, it's how we flourish as humans. Purposely fucking with that should bear some real world consequence. We do the same in every other industry, software is just as important too.
But yes, using AI to then generate code that still causes regressions doesn't quite square with that. Given the huge amount of test-changes I'd still assume good faith by the maintainer; possibly just a bit of overexcitement paired with a dash of too much confidence into the new tools that is now hitting reality.
In any case, I hate rsync owing to how easy it is to accidentally deleting everything. From my pov I don't care if it disappears.
It's like the Matrix, with the little rant about the primitive human minds not being able to accept paradise. You wrote the perfect tool, you won, almost undisplaceable in a niche, reliable, a metaphorical household name. It makes no sense to anyone to gamble or mess with that, it's just mind boggling.
And that's still a damn obnoxious thing to do in the formal issue tracker. Bad attitude, bad faith.
Also rsync is handling copying binary data, it’s a project that’s super sensitive to hardware faults for example, which means it’s not just enough for the tests to pass.
Doesn't matter if they did it by hand or with AI.
Because everyone, including this forum, is addicted to the instant gratification of LLMs. It’s pure hubris of thinking you can scan the output and it does what you think it does.
Since this is happening in open source, what do you think about the state of the quality of closed source software? AI usage (input as a success metric) is part of what you're being evaluated on as an employee, and people are panicking at the threat of mass layoffs due to AI.
Yikes!
freakynit•1h ago
akerl_•1h ago
The amount of drive-by hate being thrown at project maintainers of an open source project is depressing.
asp_hornet•59m ago
drdrey•59m ago
cpard•57m ago
wjnc•44m ago
- programmers had problems with delivering quality long before LLM’s
- very much research and tools went into that, bringing us {Git, libraries, VSCode, reviews, …,} but the human factor stayed the same (and more pronounced imho than in other fields of engineering)
- LLMs democratized programming, enhancing a few, dropping the bottom to no skill programming
- the tools and practices created for the quality problems from the past turn out to be wholly incapable of maintaining quality in the present
The main problem behind this is that those delivering the QA tools of the past are central in the AI race. Old school engineering would separate these concerns.
butterlesstoast•50m ago
themafia•35m ago
When you do anything publicly, even something that's considered a 'public good' like contributing to open source, you are opening yourself to the full tide of humanity for better or for worse. The overwhelming majority of the time it's for the better, occasionally, and in response to unpopular decisions, it's for worse.
What you shouldn't do is take any of this personally. It's open source. You have permission to take a break, you have permission to directly ignore issues and users, you have permission to do whatever makes _you_ happy.
If your goal is to receive unremitting love and adoration from a crowd of strangers then you're going to be bitterly disappointed... no matter how you occupy yourself.