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Comment by 40four | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t the top comment, on the current #1 front page story, but

Can someone please explain this command, and why it is presumably given as a criticism of this submission?

There is an inherent skepticism about typing your password into a web form even/especially if it says it is not sent to the server. My read of this comment was on the one hand telling security conscious people how to achieve the same goal in a way that does not leave the computer, and on the other hand putting a lower bound on the complexity of the value provided by the site.

https://github.com/fukuchi/libqrencode

This doesn't look "simpler" after a quick look, and it's a hard dependency of the GP solution.

(I completely agree on the local-only guarantee that this one provides, though)

I think the point of simplicity here is that you apt/yum/yay/whatever install qrencode and then go to town.

You're on your own machine, you know the exact spec used to generate the QR, and while you're at it, you can use the same tool to generate TOTP QR codes and WireGuard configurations and a bunch of other things like links to websites or automations for Tasker (et al).

The world is your oyster when you know what and how the "magic" works, and while you're at it, you aren't risking pasting your WiFi passwords into some random website.

I didnt read it as a criticism necessarily. Qrencode is just awesome. I like that someone made a UI for this though so non-ghost-in-the-shell folks can get down with this awesome use of QR code dopeness :^)

As other comments have pointed out, the tech stack used here is excessive for what it is trying to do. The author has said it was a project to learn some specific technologies. There is a lot of mirth for overcomplicated contraptions mucking up otherwise simple tasks (and rightfully so, IMO), hence the retort of a one-line console command.

It's not excessive. The linked post is way easier to use and doesn't require a terminal or installing packages manually. I wouldn't even know how to get the cli version to work on windows.

The only downside IMO is that you are entering your wifi details in to an untrusted website.

The command-line app is effectively eternal as long as it's mirrored and the runtime interface doesn't change. Can we count on this link to still be there when we need it?

Do you know how long most "Show HN" links still work after a year or two?

You can just fork/clone/whatever it, it's right there.

Ok, great. If it goes down now one has to host it or remember to start it via the command-line. So we're back to square one...

It's literally a webpage with some javascript, so if you save it along with the asset files, you can just open the page in browser from your filesystem, no need to specially host it or start anything.

But yes, I agree running a command like qrencode from terminal is easier in the long run.

Saving a webpage and expecting your browser to render this the same way in a few years is only possible if you are saving the browser version with it.

The command line tool will have a longer life

You could just use google to find the same thing in a few years. The project is so simple I could replicate it and have it hosted in a few hours.

"so simple" ... "in a few hours"

The project is so simple that it would be easier to rewrite it from scratch in that time frame. But the qrencode CLI allows to just avoid that.

Does that work for node.js apps?

Yes, but it depends if the node.js app has the option of generating a fully static site. But it will also need to generate relative links for the browser to be able to directlyy load the site

I don't think we should always see a reply as criticism. It makes the discussion unnecessarily contentious.

Even this reply - this is intended as conversation.

The site requires you to put in your WiFi Network and Password even though it did not have to. (However nothing is actually sent to the server)

> even though it did not have to

How could it work if it didn’t?

By generating the QR code locally via JS. You can check the source code https://github.com/bndw/wifi-card/blob/master/package.json#L...

I’m not sure what you think I was asking the previous commenter. This makes no sense as a reply.

I thought you were asking the parent how the QR generation worked, if it didn't send something to a server.

But... that's exactly what it does though?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com