website/stories/injector.html

<INJECT>cat $HOME/template/header.html | sed "s/__PAGE TITLE__/Injector/"</INJECT>
<p>
    Folders: <INJECT>cd $CURRENT && ls */ -d | sed 's/\///' | python3 $HOME/bscripts/ls_to_a.py</INJECT>
    <br>
    Files: <INJECT>cd $CURRENT && ls *.html | python3 $HOME/bscripts/ls_to_a.py</INJECT>
</p>

<h1>Injector</h1>
<p>
    <a href = "https://gitea.rustystriker.dev/RustyStriker/command_injector">Source Code</a>
</p>

<div>
    <p>
        So, I have finally made the html "injector" I wanted to make for ages before
        I could really start working on this website...
        <br><br>
        I guess it ain't really an "Injector", but rather it detects a special &lt;INJECT&gt; tag
        in html files, and replaces them in what lies between the opening and closing tag,
        so something like:
        <br>
        <code>&lt;INJECT&gt;echo Hello world&lt;&Backslash;INJECT&gt;</code>
        <br>
        will result in the text:
        <br>
        <code>Hello world</code>
        <br>
        instead<br>
        which allows me to use bash and <b>THE POWER OF UNIX TERMINAL</b>
        to auto update things on my website(like a unified header, footer and such).
        <br><br>
        It also provides 3 env variables with useful values:
        <ul>
            <li>$HOME - the start directory which the injector copies files from.</li>
            <li>$CURRENT - current directory the injector is copying from.</li>
            and
            <li>$FILE - the current file we are injecting.</li>
        </ul>
        This allows me to do stuff like injecting the files in the directory the current page sits in,
        and, because it runs the command in bash, I also get to pipe it around,<br>
        letting me tranform the output of <code>ls</code> for example, to simple &lt;a&gt; tags using 
        <a href = "https://gitea.rustystriker.dev/RustyStriker/website/src/branch/master/bscripts/ls_to_a.py">
            a simple python script
        </a>
        <br>
        and a call to python3
        (the actual commands are in the top of the source code of this page for example)
    </p>
<hr>
    <h3>But, can't it leak critical information to the outside world?</h3>
    <p>
        I am not a security expert, but you have full control over the commands,
        and they are run on the server/compiling machine during compile time
        <br>
        so unless you let random people push compiling web pages,
        it shouldn't have any risks involved.
        <br><br>
        If your website is open source(like mine) or source available,
        <br>
        well,
        <br>
        you can just use commands that are in the same directory as the compiling websites
        (like i keep the build scripts in the <i>bscripts</i> folder).
    </p>
<hr>
    <h3>Interesting notes from making it using Rust</h3>
    <p>
        Overall, it is a 188 lines main file, using 0 dependencies(apart from std),
        <br>
        I did a <i>really</i> simple arguments parser, which will prob be a pain
        for people who aren't me.
    </p>
    <p>    
            Running a command/process is really nice when using the <code>Command</code>
            struct, with fun builder functions(and easily lets you read its output)
    </p>
    <p>
        The whole <code>OsStr</code> vs <code>str/String</code> is really annoying, 
        and made me do a lot of <code>to_str().unwrap()</code>
    </p>
    <p>
        Generally speaking tho, I have 31 <code>unwrap()</code>s in my code,
        <br>
        which I WILL need to remove(at least most of them), 
        <br>
        I also have 3 <code>unsafe</code> blocks, 2 for using a static variable,
        and another 1 for lossly converting a <code>[u8]</code> to <code>&str</code>.
    </p>
<hr>
    <h3>The original plan</h3>
    <p>
        The original plan was different, I initially wanted a fully real time thingy,
        with specific items in mind, 
        <br>
        and only yesterday(10/6/22) I decided to just have simple commands,
        <br>
        which later(roughly 3 minutes after finishing the first draft)
        <br>
        I decided to make into a bash commands, to better have what I aimed for
    </p>
<hr>
    <h3>Rust can be annoing sometimes</h3>
    <p>
        Rust can be a bitch when it comes to handling strings,
        especially when you compare it to C,
        <br>
        where every string is a byte array, and you just handle it as such...
        <br><br>
        Yes, I know this is due to characters not being uniform in length when using UTF-8,
        <br>
        and I know that C can fuck everything up if you dont watch out for multiple length bytes,
        <br>
        but it's just soo easy destroying strings there and you can just manipulate a string so easily,
        <br>
        without any extra functions or allocations or anything really...
    </p>
<hr>
    <h3>Still glad I used Rust</h3>
    <p>
        I'm kind of a Rust fanboy(<i>catgirl</i>), 
        because it lets you not worry about a lot of things,
        and mostly because of it <b>STRONG</b> type system,
        so it aint a surprise I used it
        <br>
        (and glad because of it)
    </p>
    <p>
        The repetuar of my languages isn't big, it's actually kinda small,
        I know Rust well, I can do C quite easily(although I will need a lot of debugging),
        I have a lot of experience with C#, and can do JavaScript, Java(tho not really), Python
        and probably some more but very slowly.also want to rely on it less and less
        <br>
        <i>(i can also do GDScript if you consider it, as it can only run, afaik, in Godot)</i>
    </p>
    <p>
        So it is usually either using Rust, or C, since I will (<i>hopefully</i>)
        wont use python for something big(more than 50 lines of code),
        and C# feels locked away on linux(and I don't want to use it outside of work).
</div>

<INJECT>cat $HOME/template/footer.html</INJECT>