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74 lines
3.4 KiB
74 lines
3.4 KiB
4 years ago
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title = "Go problem is not the XML vulnerability"
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date = 2020-12-15
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[taxonomies]
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tags = ["go", "golang", "thoughts", "stdlib", "patterns"]
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Yesterday I posted [some comments about the vulnerability in go XML
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stdlib](@/links/go-xml-vulnerability.md)[^1] and some people said it was not a big
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deal.
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The problem is not the vulnerability in itself, though.
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<!-- more -->
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Also, the problem is just partially related the fact that it can't be reliable
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fixed. And it is not related with the "http" library had a DoS problem. And it
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is not related with the natural number functions (and specifically
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`divRecursiveStep`) had an error that put Etherium network down. And it is not
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related with the "ssh" library had a vulnerability that had to be fixed.
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The problem is the pattern.
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I'm don't expect projects to be some mythical "everything should be flawless".
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Heck, with the exception of the "xml" issue in the original post, all other
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issues are already fixed.
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But there is a pattern emerging from go stdlib that shows that little care was
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taken when building it. And, along with this pattern, we have the issue that
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this is in the stdlib. Stdlibs should, even more than just provide an
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infrastructure for bigger applications, be reference implementations. For
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example, if you want to see how the heck Python managed to add SQLite, you just
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need to check Python stdlib (FFI); you can check the source (FFI); or if you
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want to know how can sets in Python be fast (faster then everything else in
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Python, that is) you can also check the stdlib (it is written in C); or how they
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managed to make "namedtuples" create objects dynamically (`eval`). All those
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describe how you can build something that connects to something external, that
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is fast or that is magical.
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And the pattern shows that go stdlib is doing it wrong. It seems the go team
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focused too much in "adding value" and too little in "being a reference".
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Another example that there is something wrong with the language: in four
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months, the problem with the ordering could not be fixed. In half of that time,
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I can write binding for libxml2 in Python, or even Rust, even if I'm not that
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experienced with Python or Rust FFI. That means that the layer that gives the
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stdlib access to external things is taking too much control, in a way that you
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can't let external libraries use their own structures without that being messed
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up with the runtime. If the FFI had enough freedom to just expose the top
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layers, writing their own implementation of a XML parser in C and just exposing
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to the top layers would be completely doable in four months -- even without the
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use of libxml2.
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All those are patterns of things going wrong with the language architecture.
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And that's why I said that anything half-serious shouldn't be written in go in
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the first place.
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I'm someone that likes to say something controversial from time to time. At the
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start of this year, in one event, I said that any technical leader worth its
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salt wouldn't recommend go for anything. And I stand by that. Tech leaders
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should see this kind of problem appear and take steps to not be dragging into
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some hole they can't get out, and the pattern of architectural problems with go
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was emerging a long time already.
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PS: You may have noticed that I typed "go" instead of "Go" in most of this
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post. This is on purpose; I don't believe the language deserves getting a
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capital "G".
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---
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[^1]: From now on, I'll use "stdlib" for "standard libraries", the
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libraries/modules that come with a language.
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