Comment by grim_io
8 days ago
Authoritarian communism is not a race.
Just because a compiler binary compiles program A without a backdoor, it does not prove it won't add a backdoor to program B.
8 days ago
Authoritarian communism is not a race.
Just because a compiler binary compiles program A without a backdoor, it does not prove it won't add a backdoor to program B.
One could always, you know, reverse engineer it to find if there's anything off.
You cannot. See the sibling commenter's link to "Reflections on Trusting Trust".
I don't see how that applies here. In that case it's 2+ potentially compromised things working in tandem to propagate the malicious effect. In this case I'd think someone reverse engineering a compiler to see if it's compromised would ensure their tools are clean enough (use known clean sources or build their own). And if there's no way to ensure a minimal cleanness then the world is already irrecoverably lost.