# Mini-contest: try to crack this snippet ("Happy 2007!" Ruby

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [January 6, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292 "2007-01-06T21:02:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/1 "2007-01-06T21:02:11Z")

</div>

[http://eigenclass.org/rubychallenge2007](http://eigenclass.org/rubychallenge2007)

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the secret  
message  
hidden in a Ruby script, follow the instructions to generate the code  
that  
will prove you’ve found the message, and report it via [eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org)  
(more  
details at the above address).

This script works with Ruby 1.8.5 (also tested with -p12); alternative  
versions for Ruby 1.8.2, 1.8.3 and 1.8.4 are also available.  
If you want to try to crack the script, it’s safer to download it from  
[eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org/rubychallenge2007) (cut&paste fails too often…)

One request: please don’t publish your hints/solutions — let’s try to  
keep  
the challenge interesting for future readers. Thank you.

The script must be saved as happy2007-eigenclass.org-1.8.5.rb (exactly)  
and  
run with Ruby 1.8.5, without RubyGems:  
$ RUBYOPT=“” ruby happy2007-eigenclass.org-1.8.5.rb

I hope you have fun.

#OrNYAMv67ABbqnK01lSLaHsKlmOBIwcFqzuEXezq5cAYnu6IFvAF8IBXMDCp8R7NheeL13UiFV39S  
“02312ZqeVxtl3gw6NVawApA9bwn9LLGBfE/66UCuABlSFVRSr00stZa7YkchPYzsaMdQcLWp5xKCd  
0BUpoXvq5vnxVMgz29HvqTrnZVpDfDpWKB3m0uCcBY4rKSFoQ3rWDi8lArMyig2/nPObKuucdhlQjt  
OkQMgNXiH9l+bOmeMpiNTN8PIZoEcFFl0YwtcSXGOo4Tam21XPf7N9izo/7LAemLSG3mZ55cAgLegq  
+XJoRGtDMLrDj Ho7b9Q  
I/IeCa60CPfzR2rTh2Ng9aNLsxYLxBUS+ZnRJHQmmjGo6v4FfBnIVZx  
h0XTyv0X4+jcA wmWsmS  
4cpRZ1ev7zmwvbWMFG5KZlDPoBLlgWoqe2FoDKx3q3n/UDmi6beIMdO  
nz4VAxdGERKv3 cki9FT  
O8aHKbLlx/BlP4hcD+63B+eRpAgK58DnV4sUKvo9BCuwQqM8k6WcDqS  
WP7ZNGiW8eA4y UIfsyd kX1v mUI Z FCsr A EUS ao47J  
GMlefa8WAd0b0UN  
YsfAiDTOmWugK 9MDpTe gqE cz/7 cy l1 86M kf P6n TLf  
bxh5zibUMKyMmmGx  
8OK5/1KjPRq1X aFUZkijk Qo Lx/Y 8R 7P38 WV ZL0  
6Spf3M+okFpRQg2G  
UpfuWbtyB06BH 2Eu/vZ tbS AW 8kGx It 8VEl JP UZ2  
8zosYQvGPPiDJmwU  
BpD+lkFRe/Piu 3kydXF Ij oHL5 ud mbSy Ti 6bwe daK a  
HYPybXbENNQlJoSGr  
CMCxXR3KlonNk NOCefm +4 fq6H 9o Yi0S vk +a1W AWx S  
AT5p/7w4YkUrFIxo/  
TESZLgRi1KIkw Nz4c8t NV yVB E5 eU E/h Av hev6v  
vd5lgvX4xykKm2PzV  
EvGksbbXFjezU Ennwvv FtT K 2y J c8h+ / 8NaJwN  
VbFruIzmZ6A9GomBIV  
1nN0eUMI5vdwTBD/034y6pP3gO9+tgY/Z+u D5oBVQlu jNK/74Mua6i  
RAmHBnc7jSxvMB9os7  
OE0v5q0/qNXYL7jfOZJ0Pgbnvih4ViB6ZWW LGu13Bdl fV3pNN49KZ  
Ra1rjx0Vtd6bbnVVFyO  
uzaad8w90GXhl52Q4hIkcKYeiT6TJ1O05ir eODiQFTS JRdOZ70m  
PhyljHwB/FPzjJvSseqW  
tJab3eZ+6uRFmEwsYCc37P2/24slUQ1f7d9eDpZ4NS4rVlaeIx5qH1fvZis8SUTGi3qT4BuK/wwGJb  
Dfw3dLu2uzIF4LbRzEl59Ni7EC0q/Pj0FUlY25CESpCiX7Tn8VhzJP7ObzONwpB1IptdshseudGY2F  
jeivpdahI26bvOWlPzb h1f+9T IK6oAn TerM  
3DRb4S3gk+PjoejtttW6Ee  
PcnmtNVDNCAcOB9NV5 FWRh 38FS tp 7KCq 1k 6M4yO6ILq  
xVRpWPwqzICh9sav/u2Pnp  
MHxn4RF3UPxPtMnRc6XxvZHX it ld1g c/u l8v5 1j7p6vM4  
ltqOtjAetny2g14uvLGKYC  
fAKn38RogjLz50xMtrw4aPl3 Gt 1J6e tr of90 0j35GGQ  
vv+TvjX4SeKRn1HPfGS8mjV  
utf/Mh4BFfMdnT8xsCqPMdy IW vb0L pm KgON w0clVkY  
PlyjUZVqIN2spadEG40Zib7  
geEI0WDd12Wfv45sont9TAE L5m BpSO 6w NfW5 Js9hP8  
+UTtyV7vM75mIpxomFHjHWFT  
yNDKGiMk3lJmW3RbGBmTyk c8bJ /kEZ /J cvad O3JCFi  
TvOhTHvMkcEkG7Rto/vzg1TD  
ThuG4tBCTsMrV4enitht+ ITOE4 2Fr5 sa v9ag 7lIZw  
EYHMdZFbRlO8blKy1q1tOQtxZ  
2hQwARL2xBVaMQayxKry FzHVyZ xCS5 go DAcn jKXp/  
tkWXIhFV3uDGDgXBfPGJZ69qS  
hfGaODSze+D/ixRRfeL yRMMFlkE mt t0Ig Mm fWqbV  
gXMbbZ7UN3GelWTpEbAsKa12W  
bqDUMPbQLy16Da85we jnb/ qayEBP Jt5kDC  
foIihFX3rGmjv8H35nLt4bwKg7  
SV2t9d9QPLEGEBIexr69FqX3fLii4UUouUUfs8RLJAHgWEoztt1tloZ8I7TsBpGtfTJntGyZdwcKEW  
NW7BTaYhVj70niCV4Ws407gIjZN5gIW1XeplrvpKEOGzuN9vmynojJOdgVfVV2hgJISHMCZHYehge0  
jzGCFECNwaUmxJiP80PRWWwjBY7hKnjhQjvyvhtGcNMEZAQPKYPYJcYQFIrCVjzDQmZUnZXNBu7SIy  
qneV+2/f4rOxDgu56FqYA39CAgtCVQTwmrWkpFt1M1ACFnacRf9ypJgS1kEURs3xx2/dngv0YGiSZG  
tiLXL3PyxR8mv21RsVCD2wA00400eNo1kFtLAzEQhd/zK8YiVKENVRBFEKEIPpWK1Ic+Zjezu6O5LJ  
mEdf+9k8U+5TLnO2dm9sfj4QqUOscClmxYZ7DYFUbIA0ITfQNtTAnb7Gat3sjCLEofLXXzIhlT7JPx  
EBMkDMYjUH6F0wWeyDnA39FFK5VuoW2UGOVNoLE4kysBrUkS69wMN/IyjuOFYpgGDP/gBkyGTB55Ay  
L5LpwhlaAq0xsKUEImVw15iBMvHUqON5liuNXqYH4QuCSsfms5BA4U+kpMlAf4LM0Md/pJPwhnQbqq  
KylcNbX2jp43SjQlMOa8fH/tz8eP07OC68v9ZbUSZ1ENZhzn+93ucYvUY2idYdYx9dslQqdGqboqxj  
ZhBhmLTS/7kJkNLead7LWOToHJotZa/QG9gJR7nNQde2XvHS8rqELruQqnMCQYPOvJepTOCl79AioL  
“.instance\_eval{|$x|def h(q)q.unpack(“m\*”)[0]end;def  
k(z);Zlib::Inflate.inflate(  
z)end;require’zlib’;rr=eval k(h(File.read($0)[-605…-2]));ps=false;puts  
rr if ps  
begin;class\<\<$\<;class\<\<self;class\<\<self;def f;end;f;end end end;rescue  
NameError  
p=lambda{rr=(rr.to\_i\*214013+2531011)&(2\*\*32-1);(rr.to\_i\>\>16)&0xff};begin  
v=$x.  
gsub(/\s+/,””);v2=“”;h(v[5,k=v[0,5].to\_i]).each\_byte{|b|v2\<\<(b^p[])};eval(k(v2)  
)[$x];rescue Interrupt;rescue Exception;puts  
k(h(v[10+k,v[5+k,5].to\_i]));exit(  
42);end;else$W||=SCRIPT\_LINES\_\_={};class\<\<$\<;class\<\<self;class\<\<self;def  
self.x;  
end end end end; load($0) end};exit

# Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Mauricio F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

# [http://eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org)

# Get the hidden message and claim your prize at [eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org)!

**END**  
eNpVUVtr2zAUZo817D+IYBOp2RSnS9ouqh/cxQ2GxYEmbLAsCFk+zbw6tifJpeTy36c4g1G9SDrn8N1O  
3RjdnURf5pM4mVJKUTxN5o8RmkWLRTiNFug+ejj9wySehct4nnSZgj9NrgB1s3wD2vS32ajruN+ix/v5  
IkIoQGVeOCZ4yAugCkSGXZ8wPPB9v6dEmeGR7xNCTb4FvU9hk5dMfEgDPKD0itCtqPftlKE63wE5Ul0p  
w+BFFNisBKXp+tJinZGuLBCxerRsAEWvEmqTVyWDMjs6jstFsFozDYYbJSTwp6aUqFaV3B8uBT/Y/t0d  
FpxmUIABLgweEiY4OTLXBJNwGbITCXv/FgFbd4TJQmiN5ulvkIY1ZQZPfAvmV5WhcY3+CbKDyEphtol3  
QefTYDi6Ho461nrFc8YmbXrj8WwyoucksZV0auqeFEUB6vx2O3SjoMZ9qlK3T85Fz/vpac87XZnncf41  
TiLOe9g1tK50gL3/58zXe7MOqqUosacuVuHHH2tMyfLdBWkDt97bKQv1/XDYHwm1yTegV/66Zbaba8pa  
yGfcSTrEVpGHrm8G/u3tzefWLdo5fwFjGbgl1

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/2 "2007-01-07T15:01:31Z")

</div>

Mauricio F. wrote:

> [eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org/rubychallenge2007) (cut&paste fails too often…)  
> #OrNYAMv67ABbqnK01lSLaHsKlmOBIwcFqzuEXezq5cAYnu6IFvAF8IBXMDCp8R7NheeL13UiFV39S  
> BpD+lkFRe/Piu 3kydXF Ij oHL5 ud mbSy Ti 6bwe daK a HYPybXbENNQlJoSGr  
> MHxn4RF3UPxPtMnRc6XxvZHX it ld1g c/u l8v5 1j7p6vM4 ltqOtjAetny2g14uvLGKYC  
> jzGCFECNwaUmxJiP80PRWWwjBY7hKnjhQjvyvhtGcNMEZAQPKYPYJcYQFIrCVjzDQmZUnZXNBu7SIy  
> p=lambda{rr=(rr.to\_i\*214013+2531011)&(2\*\*32-1);(rr.to\_i\>\>16)&0xff};begin v=$x.  
> IkIoQGVeOCZ4yAugCkSGXZ8wPPB9v6dEmeGR7xNCTb4FvU9hk5dMfEgDPKD0itCtqPftlKE63wE5Ul0p  
> w+BFFNisBKXp+tJinZGuLBCxerRsAEWvEmqTVyWDMjs6jstFsFozDYYbJSTwp6aUqFaV3B8uBT/Y/t0d  
> FpxmUIABLgweEiY4OTLXBJNwGbITCXv/FgFbd4TJQmiN5ulvkIY1ZQZPfAvmV5WhcY3+CbKDyEphtol3  
> QefTYDi6Ho461nrFc8YmbXrj8WwyoucksZV0auqeFEUB6vx2O3SjoMZ9qlK3T85Fz/vpac87XZnncf41  
> TiLOe9g1tK50gL3/58zXe7MOqqUosacuVuHHH2tMyfLdBWkDt97bKQv1/XDYHwm1yTegV/66Zbaba8pa  
> yGfcSTrEVpGHrm8G/u3tzefWLdo5fwFjGbgl1
> 
> –  
> Mauricio F. - [http://eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org) - singular Ruby

> Mauricio F. - [http://eigenclass.org](http://eigenclass.org) - singular Ruby

Nice one 🙂

I guess I must have a built-in Ruby interpreter in my brain. I didn’t  
even need to read the code, let alone write any, to get the solution  
🙂

Vasudev Ram

> **[dancingbison.com](http://ww38.dancingbison.com/)**
>
> Learn Python Programming

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/3 "2007-01-08T01:52:32Z")

</div>

On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 11:00:21PM +0900, vasudevram wrote:

> I guess I must have a built-in Ruby interpreter in my brain. I didn’t  
> even need to read the code, let alone write any, to get the solution  
> 🙂

Impressive! I myself can hardly decode base64 in my mind, let alone  
zlib-decompress it or … 🙂

I can see lots of “GET /rubychallenge2007/Happy2007 HTTP/1.1” and  
similar in  
the logs, but AFAICT only 9 people have cracked the code out of 206 so  
far.  
10 including you 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 10:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/4 "2007-01-08T10:10:53Z")

</div>

Pfff. I fail to see Zed on the list.

Evan W.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 7:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/5 "2007-01-08T07:21:51Z")

</div>

On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 11:00:21PM +0900, vasudevram wrote:

> I guess I must have a built-in Ruby interpreter in my brain. I didn’t  
> even need to read the code, let alone write any, to get the solution  
> 🙂

Zed S. did it blindfolded, hands tied, with a cigar in his mouth. He  
didn’t  
even have to say anything. A bit of that white-and-green tractor-fed  
paper  
spilled out of a crease in his forehead.

\_why

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 1:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/6 "2007-01-08T13:35:28Z")

</div>

On 1/6/07, Mauricio F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> the challenge interesting for future readers. Thank you.  
> I’m curious about this - I’ve seen a few of these on the list now - can  
> anyone point me towards a general how to on how to crack these?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@tulkas](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tulkas)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mini-contest-try-to-crack-this-snippet-happy-2007-ruby/81292/7 "2007-01-08T15:05:42Z")

</div>

On 1/8/07, Evan W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Pfff. I fail to see Zed on the list.

He’s too modest

Evan W.

> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).

Robert

–  
“The real romance is out ahead and yet to come. The computer revolution  
hasn’t started yet. Don’t be misled by the enormous flow of money into  
bad  
defacto standards for unsophisticated buyers using poor adaptations of  
incomplete ideas.”

- Alan Kay