[exelist] Re: Wanted: Mess 1.20 & 1.29

[PP Spiertz <pspiertz@...>]

Haya,

On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, Oleg Prokhorov wrote:

> Could anybody mail me Mess 1.20 & 1.29?

I'll send them to you personally soon, though I need to browse through my
old archive.. :)

Let's use this message to start a discussion on the exelist.

I haven't actively coded on HackStop 1.19 for the last half year. The
coding on HS was the main reason why I didn't release the full sources on
Mess 1.31 (available at www.suddendischarge.com and the usual sac ftp
mirrors). In the meantime, I have been pretty busy with my education in
Computer Science here at the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Is it useful to start a discussion about the release of source code of
exe crypters and unpackers? Many of these are discontinued, for the good
reason that executable protection highly depends on the operating
system that is being used. Anno 1999, people are not using the old DOS
format anymore. (Btw, I was happy to notice the names of Ben Castricum and
Solar Designer in some messages by the Linux kernel development team!)

First, let me doubt the fact that any of Mess code will be useful. The
ideas behind programs like Intruder are more important than their actual
implementation. However, code that detects bugs in the emulation of a
debugger could be quite useful. The Mess EXE decryptor contains at least
four checks on major bugs in the TR emulation engine. As an open-source
product, TR could be useful on platforms like Linux, and the Mess sources
have value because they contain "secret" information about bugs in TR.

Next, I should realize that I am giving up the whole idea of DOS
EXE protection. I think I can't open all Mess sources before asking
for permission to Ralph Roth - Mess and HS share quite some anti-debugging
tricks, and opening up Mess would destroy some of HS' market. (Not that HS
has had that many registered users, but it's a fact that the program is
shareware. Btw, I never received anything anyway.)

I invite you to think about opening up more sources. I currently own the
sources of, for example, UPC 1.10b2. But I can't open up them because it
would not be fair to the person I got it from.

It is about time to end the holy war between, for example, Mess and Trap,
and actually do something with the code. For example, using it to 
improve other programs that ARE being used.

Regards,
Stonehead