Search Engine Sucks

pand0ra

Just a little feedback. I try to do a search on FTP and the stupid search "feature" prevents that. Please fix this.

alexcrist

Hello pand0ra,

This is how the forum software works (and I don't think it can be changed). The reason why you can't search "FTP" is because this word is too short.

The search engine cannot search for too short words, or words that are too general (like "html"), because that would return too many results, and that:

- doesn't help you find anything

- (probably) can't be managed by the software correctly (I guess it has a Result limit, and returning too many results will just cause a buffer overflow).

Just search for other similar terms, like "File Transfer Protocol".

Cris.

pand0ra

Hey Cris,

Thanks for the response, I know the 4 character limitation, and returning too many results will not result in a buffer overflow. If that was the case every search engine would have some huge issues. I do IT security for a living and there is no security reason that jumps to mind for this. This message board is a common application (Powered By href='http://www.invisionboard.com) that BD made the search restrictions to.

"A buffer overflow is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to store data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer. The result is that the extra data overwrites adjacent memory locations. The overwritten data may include other buffers, variables and program flow data and may cause a process to crash or produce incorrect results. They can be triggered by inputs specifically designed to execute malicious code or to make the program operate in an unintended way. As such, buffer overflows cause many software vulnerabilities and form the basis of many exploits. Sufficient bounds checking by either the programmer, the compiler or the runtime can prevent buffer overflows."

Hello pand0ra,

This is how the forum software works (and I don't think it can be changed). The reason why you can't search "FTP" is because this word is too short.

The search engine cannot search for too short words, or words that are too general (like "html"), because that would return too many results, and that:

- doesn't help you find anything

- (probably) can't be managed by the software correctly (I guess it has a Result limit, and returning too many results will just cause a buffer overflow).

Just search for other similar terms, like "File Transfer Protocol".

Cris.

alexcrist

I know what a buffer-overflow is. What I don't know is how the forum software works. If the results array has a limit, returning too many results might cause a buffer overflow.

But that is exactly why I said probably in my previous post. I don't know how it works, and I was just assuming something. If my assumption is incorrect, I apologize.

But one thing I know for sure: other forums that use this software have the exact same restrictions. So either these restrictions are built-in, either they are the default settings.

Either way, having a huge list of results doesn't help you with anything. You might as well look directly in the topic list.

Cris.