this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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The guy is trying to address the issue and he is building this in his free time. Give him some credit at least, I am sure this is consuming a lot of his free time.
I personally find this Ventoy an amazing piece of software and he also seems to be willing to address the issue and be more transparent in the future which is also commendable.
Fam, you've chosen to trust them for reasons that are unclear to me. Honestly, I don't see anything (yet) that would clear their name. For all we know, they could have ties to some intelligence agency; which the infamous Jia Tan has (retroactively) been accused of as well.
That's not the issue. I've also made plenty use of it in the past. But at what point do you start to second guess the intent behind the maintainer?
Again, arguably too little too late. They literally ghosted the issue for over a year. Then, within 24 hours of possible proof of malicious code, they appear and (perhaps) "pose the image" of putting in a gargantuan effort to resolve the issue. But, like, where were they for a year? Furthermore, the hints of justifications for their actions are simply not up too par.
Don't get me wrong. As I clearly hinted at it in my previous comment, if they pull through and provide/produce (bit-by-bit) reproducible builds of Ventoy^[Another spoiler-alert: They admitted that it would be hard. Which is fine, but could be interpreted as the first action for an eventual cop out. Only time will tell...], then I obviously have no qualms against them or their software. Why would I? But until then, I will steer clear.
What should have happened for you to be more concerned?
My problem is that a lot of people are giving a lot of shit to open source developers, who are creating great software in their free time.
Instead of enjoying their free time, they give a lot of it to the community, and then they get accused of wrong doings if the quality of their code isn't at enterprise level. The problem is that people are being toxic to them and this makes them less likely to continue doing that. I am trying to give credit as I know how hard it is to build and support some software and I want the open source community to thrive and not turn into a toxic cesspool.
Jia Tan was a big warning for everyone, I admit, but if you look at the big picture he was a single person in a sea of open source projects and honestly speaking if we are talking of state sponsored attacks, I would say that big corporations like Cisco, Fortinet, etc. would be more of a target than small open source projects. I just wish we could give the guy some credit for all his work and at least let him prove that those blobs are harmless.
I also think a big part of your qualms is the fact that he is Chinese and you are less likely to trust because of your bias.
I'll try to keep it brief/concise/short. Apologies if this makes me come across as abrasive in the process.
If I'd attempt to distill the point(s) in your reply, I'd come to:
Fair point, and I am happy that we can engage in a civilized conversation without turning toxic. So kudos for that and for your openness.
Regarding the issue of the radio silence. It might seem odd to you, but you should also understand that sometimes when you are a solo developer you need to prioritise tasks and define what is more important. Whether it is the continued development of the project and bringing new features to the table or answering the security concerns of a handful of people. He said that addressing this problem is rather complicated and time consuming and perhaps he was procrastinating on that just because he didn't want to deal or spend time on this issue.
My point is that it is better late than never and let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Because I would rather believe in the inherent good nature of people than suspect everyone of ill intentions.