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The National Cipher Challenge

Bug Reporting

  • This topic has 17 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 2 weeks, 2 days ago by F6EXB_the_frenchy.
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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  • #93735
    Harry
    Keymaster

    We try hard to avoid them, but bugs are a feature (or should that be “a bug?” of coding, so if you spot anything then let us know, here or by email. If you think you have found a security issue or someone is posting info about the solutions online, then email us instead at [email protected] with the word Security in the subject.

    Thank you!

    #93966
    CodeKitten
    Participant

    Hi!

    I think I found a bug on the chapter 9 deadlines.

    It says the time slot for getting 105 points is from the 12th of December 2024 to the 8th of December 2023, and then the time slot for getting 90 points goes from 8th of December 2023 to 14th of December 2024

    Though I’m not too unhappy about having a year to try get 90 points I’m a little more concerned about having negative time to try and get 105 and whether the time travel you’re using is strictly legal, lol.

    1. Nice catch. Time travel is not forbidden under the rules, and would go a long way to solving the prime factorisation problem. Let us know how you get on with that approach! Harry

    2. Thanks CodeKitten, we have this fixed now. Harry

    #93969
    Harry
    Keymaster

    Nice catch. Time travel is not forbidden under the rules, and would go a long way to solving the prime factorisation problem. Let us know how you get on with that approach! Harry

    #94169
    nobody_special
    Participant

    the is a backslash in ciphertext 0A

    There is, we know. It’s because we put the apostrophe in and the system doesn’t like it (for very good reasons). We toyed with taking it out, but then the Grammar Police complained, so we are living with it for now.  In the competition itself, punctuation doesn’t matter in your solutions because of the way we mark them, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but thanks for pointing it out. Harry

    #94235
    F6EXB_the_frenchy
    Participant

    Hi,
    In the index page, the “last post” column is not updated correctly. For example, in the thread “programming” the last post is from viaaa, not me.

    I think this is partly because when I edit things the post date changes, sorry. Harry

    #95875
    AspiringPenguin
    Participant

    Hi Harry,
    Is it intentional the case file archives seem to have been down for (at least) the last 24 hrs? I can’t find any trace of this being planned downtime on the news page.
    2018 onwards shows “Error establishing a database connection”.
    2016 & 17 show a generic problem page, but with a title “Database Connection Issues”.

    No it isn’t! Thanks for letting us know. The Elves will dig out their toolkits and take a look. Harry

    #95926
    _madness_
    Participant

    @Penguin, in the meantime, there is an unofficial copy of the texts from past competitions at
    https://github.com/themaddoctor/BritishNationalCipherChallenge

    #96156
    gingerChickpea
    Participant

    Hi Harry,
    I found a bug on my BOSS id. It mentions that my id expiration date is 25/09/2024 but surely that has already passed?

    Thanks for the heads up. Fixed now! Harry

    #96576
    Emily63
    Participant

    The case file archives are down again. I get the message “Error establishing a database connection”

    Thank you for pointing this out. The poor old archives are getting on a bit and struggling with daily life. We will try to keep an eye on them and to give them the support they need. Perhaps we will be able to find them some more appropriate sheltered housing soon, so they can enjoy their retirement. Harry

    #96630
    _madness_
    Participant

    Harry, when you do, can we add the text files from ancient seasons too?

    That would be excellent, and I think I know just the man to help with that! Harry

    #96770
    ENTER-infinity
    Participant

    Hi Harry,

    In the forums our name is “The Code Club” but we changed our name after the messages were sent. Please could you change it?

    Thank you!!!!!

    Sorry, it would get a bit complicated updating these records so I am afraid we will have to leave this as it is. I will talk to the team about the possibility of changing the system in the future though. Harry

    #97041
    Ace
    Participant

    On mobile, the dates for the deadline overlap, and I have to currently go into desktop version to see it fully! Thanks:)

    Thanks for pointing that out, we will take a look at it and see if we can do something better. Harry

    #97448
    nobody_special
    Participant

    You switched from X to BlueSky, which may be a bug in itself, and…
    My browser says that bsky-embed.es.js has a syntax error, and maybe this is why your bsky posts do not appear on the NCC pages.
    “missing ( before catch” on line 41

    Thanks for mentioning this, but the Bluesky posts do appear on our browsers here at Elf HQ so it would be good to know wha the actual issue is. Can you send an email with screenshots and browser info? Thanks, Harry

    #97529
    nobody_special
    Participant

    It seems that bsky does not approve of my old browser.
    A newer browser does not get as much hate, but I refuse to upgrade.

    That’s fine, no-one’s judging you. Harry

    #97662
    ENTER-infinity
    Participant

    It’s fixed now! Must have not set it right…

    Enjoy the challenges!!!

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