[topsycatt]

That's the system I work on! Please feel free to ask any questions. All opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer.

[ryao]

I imagine you need to make and destroy sandboxed environments quite often. How fast does your code create a sandboxed environment?

Do you make the environments on demand or do you make them preemptively so that one is ready to go the moment that it is needed?

If you make them on demand, have you tested ZFS snapshots to see if it can be done even faster using zfs clone?

[topsycatt]

Sorry for the delay in replying!

We actually use gVisor (as stated in the article) and it has a very nifty feature called checkpoint_restore (https://gvisor.dev/docs/user_guide/checkpoint_restore/) which lets us start up sandboxes extremely efficiently. Then the filesystem is just a CoW overlay.

[dullcrisp]

What’s ZFS? That doesn’t sound like a Google internal tool I’ve ever heard of.

[blixt]

Seconding this. Also curious if this is done with microkernels (I put Unikraft high on the list of tech I'd use for this kind of problem, or possibly the still-in-beta CodeSandbox SDK – and maybe E2B or Fly but didn't have as good experiences with those).

[luke-stanley]

I use ZFS, but isn't the situation the sandbox is in totally different? Why would it be optimal?

[hnuser123456]

Is the interactive python sandbox incompatible with thinking models? It seems like I can only get the interactive sandbox by using 2.0 flash, not 2.0 flash thinking or 2.5 pro.

[topsycatt]

That's a good question! It's not incompatible, it's just a matter of getting the flow right. I can't comment too much on that process but I'm excited for the possibilities there.

[wunderwuzzi23]

That's cool. I did something similar in the early days with Google Bard when data visualization was added, which I believe was when the ability to run code got introduced.

One question I always had was what the user "grte" stands for...

Btw. here the tricks I used back then to scrape the file system:

https://embracethered.com/blog/posts/2024/exploring-google-b...

[waych]

The "runtime" is a google internal distribution of libc + binutils that is used for linking binaries within the monolithic repo, "google3".

This decoupling of system libraries from the OS itself is necessary because it otherwise becomes unmanageable to ensure "google3 binaries" remain runnable on both workstations and production servers. Workstations and servers each have their own Linux distributions, and each also needs to change over time.

[flawn]

It says in the article - Google Runtime Environment

[jemfinch]

grte is probably "google runtime environment", I would imagine.

[fragmede]

Do you think "hacked Gemini and leaked its source code" is an accurate representation of what happened here?

[topsycatt]

I'm on the Google side of the equation. I think the title is a bit sensationalized, but that's the author's prerogative.

[enoughalready]

Have you contemplated running the python code in a virtual environment in the browser?

[seydor]

you re the hacker or the google?

[topsycatt]

The google

[Mindwipe]

Does anyone at Google care that you're trying to replace Assistant with this in the next few months and it can't set a timer yet?

(I mean it will tell you it's set a timer but it doesn't talk to the native clock app so nothing ever goes off if you navigate away from the window.)

[hnuser123456]

I doubt the guy working on the code sandbox can do anything about the overall resource allocation towards ensuring all legacy assistant features still work as well as they used to. That being said, I was trying to navigate out of an unexpected construction zone and asked google to navigate me home, and it repeatedly tried to open the map on my watch and lock my phone screen. I had to pull over and use my thumbs to start navigation the old fashioned way.

[iury-sza]

I keep reading people complaining about this but I can't understand why. Gemini can 100% set timers and with much more subtle hints than assistant ever could. It just works. I don't get why people say it can't.

It can also play music or turn on my smart lamps, change their colors etc. I can't remember doing any special configuration for it to do that either.

Pixel 9 pro

[dgunay]

I dislike Google's (mis)management of Assistant as much as the next guy, but this just has not been my experience. I can tell Gemini on my phone to set timers and it works just fine.

[ChadNauseam]

I have a rooted pixel with a flashed custom android ROM, which should be a nightmare scenario for gemini, and it can set timers just fine (and the timers show up in the native clock app)

[arebop]

The Assistant can't reliably set timers either, though I guess 80% is considerably better than 0. Still, I think it used to be better back before Google caught a glimpse of a different squirrel to chase.

[7bit]

It can't do shit, especially in some EU countries, where it can do even less shit.

Setting timers reminders, calendar events. Nothing. If they kill the assistant, I'll go Apple, no matter how much I hate it.

[nosrepa]

I just want the assistant voice. I hate the Gemini ones.

[jwlake]

Is there any reason it's not documented?

[ed_elliott_asc]

This is why hacker news is so cool

[KennyBlanken]

Can you get someone to fix the CSS crap on the website? When I have it open it uses 40-50% of my GPU (normally ~5% in most usage)...and when I try to scroll, the scrolling is jerky mess?