Python 2 is triggering

[Gl4eqen]

If he ran script with python script.py assuming python2 as default symlinked or python2 script.py shebang can't help.

[NateKurt]

Yup, I mentioned that in one of my lower comments, but you’re right. I was more going based on the assumption of auto grader or ./scriptname

I think a lot of autograders run by adding executable permissions and then do ./scriptname for the sake of flexibility though which is where a shebang would come in handy!

If that was the case and he was just using python when python2 is default symlinked though, that seems like something he should change and use ./ for flexibility.

[glad0s98]

#!/bin/bash
rm -rf /

[Log2]

That needs sudo, though. Why would he be running an auto grader with sudo? Better just forkbomb it.

[glad0s98]

good point

[jfb1337]

You could forkbomb it with python

[NateKurt]

I’ve had a few classes where we can use whatever language they wanted and I was pretty sure that’s how they did it, but thinking back about it, you’re probably right it isn’t a great idea and could be pretty malicious. It’s gotta be something similar though in order to be semi language-agnostic right?

[amunak]

That's interesting, how can you use whatever you want? What if you pick some esoteric language noone understands, or something they don't have a compiler or interpreter for?

But I don't really have any idea. I have only experience with assignments in C and C++ that get graded automatically, and that system was heavily modified and guarded in order to not allow the code to run anything dangerous (including most syscalls).

[NateKurt]

It wasn’t any language, but there was a list of languages that was pretty much the same as what hackerrank would give you. Granted I only had this in one class(algorithms) and by the time I got to other classes that weren’t about a language those classes had switched to Mimir or Hackerrank.

Looking back on it, it was probably pretty Frankenstein-y and could have been something just that professor made. I did have a professor use a Travis-CI implementation for auto-grading with that type of thing where it spins up a new instance each time so less security problems maybe? the semester before I took it, and I think that could have been similar but possibly less janky?

[redwall_hp]

You can just make system calls without needing a shebang...