fastrace
Dev tools
network diagnostics cli
SHOW HN2025
How HN took it
1 positive, 3 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 11 critical, out of 16 comments about the project. Thread score -0.44.
Execution: 0 for, 6 againstIdea: 1 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Uses -Wall -Wextra as good practice
From 1 comment
Well I was surprised that it actually makes use of "-Wall -Wextra" as good practice. However both PVS-Studio and clang-tidy have a few complaints about the code, since it is a…
pjmlp on HN
Could help people learn and explore networking
From 2 comments
Even if it's simple or AI-made, projects like this still help people learn and explore, every start matters.
codetraceback on HNIt could be a vehicle to learn about traceroute / ICMP.
checker659 on HN
Objections
Code appears AI-generated and possibly not reviewed by the author
From 4 comments
Is this vibe coded or is it just the readme that's AI-generated?
9029 on HNI was skeptical at first, but this does stink of auto-generated code. I want to believe it is not.
checker659 on HNIt used to be that if someone released a tool that's 700 lines of C, they probably had an actual need and a problem they solved by writing that code because debugging even that…
pavlov on HNBecause it's AI generated.
roygbiv2 on HN
RTT clamping hides real measurements and was changed after criticism
From 2 comments
Honest question: why would this code clamp the reported round-trip time? By default, min = 0.05 ms and max = 800 ms [1]. ``` if (rtt < config.min_rtt) rtt = config.min_rtt; else…
raphman on HNAnd the update message has a reference to "50µs localhost responses", indicating the comment calling the code out was directly fed into a prompt: "Fixed Removed artificial RTT…
anonymous908213 on HN
Author section omits AI and prior work; licensing questions raised
From 2 comments
I take issue with the Author section. You’re the only one listed. Shouldn’t you give ChatGPT credit, or even further afield, all the developers who wrote the code and answers…
ohyoutravel on HNThe commit messages (with dozens of semi- and unrelated changes in each commit) suggest so.…
raphman on HN
Requires root and fails without it
From 1 comment
I just built and ran it. Unlike traceroute and mtr, this utility must be run as root. fastrace 1.1.1.1 fastrace 0.2.1 Tracing route to 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) Maximum hops: 30, Probes…
anonymousiam on HN
Requests
Disclose AI use and credit sources properly
From 2 comments
I take issue with the Author section. You’re the only one listed. Shouldn’t you give ChatGPT credit, or even further afield, all the developers who wrote the code and answers…
ohyoutravel on HNAnd the update message has a reference to "50µs localhost responses", indicating the comment calling the code out was directly fed into a prompt: "Fixed Removed artificial RTT…
anonymous908213 on HN
Acknowledge bug reporters in commit messages
From 1 comment
Thanks for pointing this out. If someone reports a bug in my software, I usually acknowledge the reporter in the commit message. Seems like vibe coding also allows one to get rid…
raphman on HN
Questions
Is the code vibe coded or only the readme AI-generated?
From 1 comment
Is this vibe coded or is it just the readme that's AI-generated?
9029 on HN
Why clamp the reported round-trip time?
From 1 comment
Honest question: why would this code clamp the reported round-trip time? By default, min = 0.05 ms and max = 800 ms [1]. ``` if (rtt < config.min_rtt) rtt = config.min_rtt; else…
raphman on HN
Alternatives named
mtr
From 2 comments
I wish ChatGPT could have told the author about the existence of mtr before starting this :-)
Sesse__ on HNI just built and ran it. Unlike traceroute and mtr, this utility must be run as root. fastrace 1.1.1.1 fastrace 0.2.1 Tracing route to 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) Maximum hops: 30, Probes…
anonymousiam on HN
traceroute
From 1 comment
I just built and ran it. Unlike traceroute and mtr, this utility must be run as root. fastrace 1.1.1.1 fastrace 0.2.1 Tracing route to 1.1.1.1 (1.1.1.1) Maximum hops: 30, Probes…
anonymousiam on HN