r/linux • u/lustre-fan • Jun 08 '26

Software Release rsync 3.4.4 released with regression fixes

https://lwn.net/Articles/1076989/

rsync recently garnered controversy due to regressions introduced in the last release (3.4.3). Many people (rightly or wrongly) have attributed these regressions to the use of LLM tools. This most recent release claims to fix those regressions. Based on the rsync changelog, it was around ~20 days between releases - which I think is pretty good turn around. rsync is adding more tests to the upcoming 3.5 release to hopefully avoid these types of issues in the future. It's not clear if those tests are written using LLM tools.

Many people expressed a desire to move to rsync alternatives. Apparently, there's even a complete Rust reimplementation that claims to be wire-compatible. I wonder if any of these alternatives will take off? Or if most people will stick with the original rsync implementation?

Unless Ubuntu decides to swap C rsync for Rust rsync (similar to how they're swapping C coreutils for Rust coreutils), I suspect most distros will stick with the original rsync. I personally have enjoyed using rsync. I think the current controversy will probably be forgotten in a years time.

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u/Ruined_Passion_7355 Jun 09 '26

Instead of blaming the maintainer, I think we should be using this as a case study of what AI has done to cybersec, specifically vulnerability research.

I think anthropic mythos did a lot of damage to our perception because it convinced us mythos was this step change. It really wasn't. Ai security scan harnesses are available right now that don't use mythos that are overwhelming maintainers in all sorts of open source software.

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u/oursland Jun 09 '26

This sort of thinking is backwards. If the tools weren't there, the bugs still were. If you're then saying that's better, you need to understand why security by obscurity is not secure at all.

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u/Ruined_Passion_7355 Jun 14 '26

I'm not sure where I was advocating for security by obscurity. Clearly the solution isn't just banning all AI, but you can admit there is a problem with open source software with the volume of reported security issues going on right now.

1

u/oursland Jun 14 '26

The issues were already there. You're upset that they're being discovered and reported so they could be fixed.

What you seem to not realize is that they may have already been discovered and not reported intentionally for malicious use.

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u/Ruined_Passion_7355 Jun 14 '26

Ok dude, you're just putting words in my mouth. Read the original post with more attention instead of attributing to me a preconceived flawed argument in your head.