[ros-dev] very confused

[Timo Kreuzer]

rené Tournois @mailhost.geldorp.nl schrieb:
> At 15:11 17/02/2006 -0000, you wrote:
>
> I apologize for this second intrusion, but i have some difficulties
> to really understand this:
>
>   
>> Define 'MS code'. If we're talking about leaked source code, then that is
>> true.
>>     
>
> But you said elsewhere that there was _no_ leaked source, so that
> the only problem should be with your next words:
>   
It's a comments on "...that there is still no Microsoft-Code found in ROS."
It is true that there is *no* leaked source code inside reactos.
>> If we're talking about small chunks of assembly from dissasembled MS
>> binaries, then that is what the audit hopes to uncover and remove. Once the
>> audit is complete, we can also say we know this to be true, at the moment we
>> don't know.
>>     
>
> ... and this one sounds strange to me, because i saw several messages
> talking in terms of *year* (?!), for the audit.
>
> Well, i just downloaded the ReactOS Sources, and searched for all the
> Files having an "__asm__" Statements inside, after having saved in a [...]
>   
I think this only applies to the bootsector, wich has asm directly taken 
from disassemblies in it.
> I stopped there, because i said to me that it was stupid to read that
> way, and that i was possibly missing the Files of real interrest for
> the Audit. But all i have seen does not explain to me, how it could
> ever take one year for proof-reading so few, and so small, "__asm__"
> statements.
>
> What am i missing?
>   
I think what Ged was talking about was disassemblies converted into C. 
And this can be found by looking for typical things of that kind of code:
- Magical number inside C code. Normally constants are used or the 
numbers are commented or really obvios. But when you don't know why 
there's a constant 0x2342 then you don't really know how to call it. In 
disc.c there's a constant called PARTITION_MAGIC ;-)
- excessive gotos: You would normally not use any gotos, but it can be 
hard to identify complex structures of for, if, while,... inside asm 
code, so you do it like it's done in asm: with gotos. It doesn't look 
good, but it works.