Quine Relay
What this is
QR.rb is a Ruby program that generates a Rust program that generates a Scala program that generates ...(through 128 languages in total)... a REXX program that generates the original Ruby code again.
(If you want to see the old 50-language version, see the 50 branch.)
Usage
Ubuntu
If you are using Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster), you can follow these steps.
1. Install all the interpreters/compilers.
First, you need to type the following apt-get command to install them all.
$ sudo apt-get install afnix algol68g aplus-fsf aspectj asymptote \
ats2-lang bash bc bsdgames bsh clisp clojure cmake coffeescript \
crystal dafny dc dhall elixir emacs-nox erlang f2c fish flex \
fp-compiler fsharp g++ gambas3-gb-pcre gambas3-scripter gap gawk gcc \
gdb gdc genius gforth gfortran ghc ghostscript gnat gnu-smalltalk \
gnucobol4 gnuplot gobjc golang gpt groovy guile-3.0 gzip haxe icont \
iconx intercal iverilog jasmin-sable jq kotlin ksh libevent-dev \
libpolyml-dev lisaac livescript llvm lua5.3 m4 make maxima minizinc \
mono-devel mono-mcs mono-vbnc nasm neko nickle nim node-typescript \
nodejs ocaml octave openjdk-11-jdk pari-gp parser3-cgi perl php-cli \
polyml python3 r-base rakudo ratfor rc regina-rexx ruby ruby-mustache \
rustc scala scilab-cli sed slsh spin surgescript swi-prolog tcl tcsh \
valac vim wabt xsltproc yabasic yorick zoem zsh
Then, build the bundled interpreters.
$ sudo apt-get install cmake libpng-dev libgd-dev groff bison curl
$ make -C vendor
2. Run each program on each interpreter/compiler.
$ ulimit -s unlimited
$ ruby QR.rb > QR.rs
$ rustc QR.rs && ./QR > QR.scala
$ scalac QR.scala && scala QR > QR.scm
$ guile QR.scm > QR.sci
$ scilab-cli -nb -f QR.sci > QR.sed
$ sed -E -f QR.sed QR.sed > QR.spl
$ ./vendor/local/bin/spl2c < QR.spl > QR.spl.c && gcc -z muldefs -o QR -I ./vendor/local/include -L ./vendor/local/lib QR.spl.c -lspl -lm &&
./QR > QR.sl
$ slsh QR.sl > QR.st
$ gst QR.st > QR.sml
$ polyc -o QR QR.sml && ./QR > QR.sq
$ ruby vendor/subleq.rb QR.sq > QR.ss
$ surgescript QR.ss > QR.tcl
$ tclsh QR.tcl > QR.tcsh
$ tcsh QR.tcsh > QR.t
$ ruby vendor/thue.rb QR.t > QR.ts
$ tsc --outFile QR.ts.js QR.ts && nodejs QR.ts.js > QR.unl
$ ruby vendor/unlambda.rb QR.unl > QR.vala
$ valac QR.vala && ./QR > QR.mid
$ mono vendor/local/bin/Vlt.exe /s QR.mid && mono QR.exe > QR.v
$ iverilog -o QR QR.v && ./QR -vcd-none > QR.vim
$ vim -EsS QR.vim > QR.vb
$ vbnc QR.vb && mono ./QR.exe > QR.wasm
$ $(WASI_RUNTIME) QR.wasm > QR.wat
$ wat2wasm QR.wat -o QR.wat.wasm && $(WASI_RUNTIME) QR.wat.wasm > QR.ws
$ ruby vendor/whitespace.rb QR.ws > QR.xslt
$ xsltproc QR.xslt > QR.yab
$ yabasic QR.yab > QR.yorick
$ yorick -batch QR.yorick > QR.azm
$ zoem -i QR.azm > QR.zsh
$ zsh QR.zsh > QR.+
$ a+ QR.+ > qr.adb
$ gnatmake qr.adb && ./qr > QR.als
$ LANG=C LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/afnix axi QR.als > QR.aheui
$ ruby vendor/aheui.rb QR.aheui > QR.a68
$ a68g QR.a68 > QR.ante
$ ruby vendor/ante.rb QR.ante > QR.aj
$ ajc QR.aj && java QR > QR.asy
$ asy QR.asy > QR.dats
$ patscc -o QR QR.dats && ./QR > QR.awk
$ awk -f QR.awk > QR.bash
$ bash QR.bash > QR.bc
$ BC_LINE_LENGTH=4000000 bc -q QR.bc > QR.bsh
$ bsh QR.bsh > QR.bef
$ cfunge QR.bef > QR.Blc
$ ruby vendor/blc.rb < QR.Blc > QR.bf
$ ruby vendor/bf.rb QR.bf > QR.c
$ gcc -o QR QR.c && ./QR > QR.cpp
$ g++ -o QR QR.cpp && ./QR > QR.cs
$ mcs QR.cs && mono QR.exe > QR.chef
$ PERL5LIB=vendor/local/lib/perl5 compilechef QR.chef QR.chef.pl &&
perl QR.chef.pl > QR.clj
$ clojure QR.clj > QR.cmake
$ cmake -P QR.cmake > QR.cob
$ cobc -O2 -x QR.cob && ./QR > QR.coffee
$ coffee --nodejs --stack_size=100000 QR.coffee > QR.lisp
$ clisp QR.lisp > QR.cr
$ crystal QR.cr > QR.d
$ gdc -o QR QR.d && ./QR > QR.dfy
$ dafny QR.dfy && mono QR.exe > QR.dc
$ dc QR.dc > QR.dhall || true
$ dhall text --file QR.dhall > QR.exs
$ elixir QR.exs > QR.el
$ emacs -Q --script QR.el > QR.erl
$ escript QR.erl > QR.fsx
$ fsharpc QR.fsx -o QR.exe && mono QR.exe > QR.false
$ ruby vendor/false.rb QR.false > QR.fl
$ flex -o QR.fl.c QR.fl && gcc -o QR QR.fl.c && ./QR > QR.fish
$ fish QR.fish > QR.fs
$ gforth QR.fs > QR.f
$ gfortran -o QR QR.f && ./QR > QR.f90
$ gfortran -o QR QR.f90 && ./QR > QR.gbs
$ gbs3 QR.gbs > QR.g
$ gap -q QR.g > QR.gdb
$ gdb -q -x QR.gdb > QR.gel
$ genius QR.gel > QR.plt
$ gnuplot QR.plt > QR.go
$ go run QR.go > QR.gs
$ ruby vendor/golfscript.rb QR.gs > QR.gpt
$ mv QR.c QR.c.bak && gpt -t QR.c QR.gpt && gcc -o QR QR.c && ./QR > QR.grass &&
mv QR.c.bak QR.c
$ ruby vendor/grass.rb QR.grass > QR.groovy
$ groovy QR.groovy > QR.gz
$ gzip -cd QR.gz > QR.hs
$ ghc QR.hs && ./QR > QR.hx
$ haxe -main QR -neko QR.n && neko QR.n > QR.icn
$ icont -s QR.icn && ./QR > QR.i
$ ick -bfOc QR.i && gcc -static QR.c -I /usr/include/ick-* -o QR -lick &&
./QR > QR.j
$ jasmin QR.j && java QR > QR.java
$ javac QR.java && java QR > QR.js
$ nodejs QR.js > QR.jq
$ jq -r -n -f QR.jq > QR.jsfuck
$ nodejs --stack_size=100000 QR.jsfuck > QR.kt
$ kotlinc QR.kt -include-runtime -d QR.jar && kotlin QR.jar > QR.ksh
$ ksh QR.ksh > QR.lazy
$ lazyk QR.lazy > qr.li
$ lisaac qr.li && ./qr > QR.ls
$ lsc QR.ls > QR.ll
$ llvm-as QR.ll && lli QR.bc > QR.lol
$ lci QR.lol > QR.lua
$ lua5.3 QR.lua > QR.m4
$ m4 QR.m4 > QR.mk
$ make -f QR.mk > QR.mac
$ maxima -q --init-mac=QR.mac > QR.mzn
$ minizinc --solver Gecode --soln-sep '' QR.mzn > QR.il
$ ilasm QR.il && mono QR.exe > QR.mustache
$ mustache QR.mustache QR.mustache > QR.asm
$ nasm -felf QR.asm && ld -m elf_i386 -o QR QR.o && ./QR > QR.neko
$ nekoc QR.neko && neko QR.n > QR.5c
$ nickle QR.5c > QR.nim
$ nim compile QR.nim && ./QR > QR.m
$ gcc -o QR QR.m && ./QR > QR.ml
$ ocaml QR.ml > QR.octave
$ mv QR.m QR.m.bak && octave -qf QR.octave > QR.ook && mv QR.m.bak QR.m
$ ruby vendor/ook-to-bf.rb QR.ook QR.ook.bf && ruby vendor/bf.rb QR.ook.bf > QR.gp
$ gp -f -q QR.gp > QR.p
$ parser3 QR.p > QR.pas
$ fpc QR.pas && ./QR > QR.pl
$ perl QR.pl > QR.pl6
$ perl6 QR.pl6 > QR.php
$ php QR.php > QR.png
$ npiet QR.png > QR.ps
$ gs -dNODISPLAY -q QR.ps > QR.ppt
$ ppt -d < QR.ppt > QR.prolog
$ swipl -q -t qr -f QR.prolog > QR.pr
$ spin -T QR.pr > QR.py
$ python3 QR.py > QR.R
$ R --slave -f QR.R > QR.ratfor
$ ratfor -o QR.ratfor.f QR.ratfor && gfortran -o QR QR.ratfor.f &&
./QR > QR.rc
$ rc QR.rc > QR.rexx
$ rexx ./QR.rexx > QR2.rb
You will see that QR.rb is the same as QR2.rb.
$ diff QR.rb QR2.rb
Alternatively, just type make.
$ make
Note: It may take a lot of memory to compile some files.
Docker
Simply build the image and run a container as follows:
$ docker build -t qr .
$ docker run --privileged --rm -e CI=true qr
Note: You must run in privileged mode, otherwise the maxima command will fail.
If you want to check the generated files, you can mount the local directory in the Docker container (but still use the vendor directory of the container), as follows:
$ docker run --privileged --rm -e CI=true -v $(pwd):/usr/local/share/quine-relay -v /usr/local/share/quine-relay/vendor qr
Other platforms
You may find instructions for other platforms in the wiki.
If you do not use these Linux distributions, please find your own way. If you manage it, please let me know. I wish you good luck.
Interpreter/compiler versions tested
I used the following Ubuntu deb packages to test this program.
| # | language | ubuntu package | version |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ruby | ruby | 1:3.1 |
| 2 | Rust | rustc | 1.67.1+dfsg0ubuntu1-0ubuntu2 |
| 3 | Scala | scala | 2.11.12-5 |
| 4 | Scheme | guile-3.0 | 3.0.8-2 |
| 5 | Scilab | scilab-cli | 6.1.1+dfsg2-5 |
| 6 | sed | sed | 4.9-1 |
| 7 | Shakespeare | N/A | - |
| 8 | S-Lang | slsh | 2.3.3-2 |
| 9 | Smalltalk | gnu-smalltalk | 3.2.5-1.3ubuntu2 |
| 10 | Standard ML | polyml, libpolyml-dev | 5.7.1-5 |
| 11 | Subleq | N/A | - |
| 12 | SurgeScript | surgescript | 0.5.4.4-1.1 |
| 13 | Tcl | tcl | 8.6.13 |
| 14 | tcsh | tcsh | 6.24.07-1 |
| 15 | Thue | N/A | - |
| 16 | TypeScript | node-typescript | 4.8.4+ds1-2 |
| 17 | Unlambda | N/A | - |
| 18 | Vala | valac | 0.56.7-1 |
| 19 | Velato | N/A | - |
| 20 | Verilog | iverilog | 11.0-1.1 |
| 21 | Vimscript | vim | 2:9.0.1000-4ubuntu3 |
| 22 | Visual Basic | mono-vbnc | 4.0.1-3 |
| 23 | WebAssembly (Binary format) | wabt | 1.0.32-1 |
| 24 | WebAssembly (Text format) | wabt | 1.0.32-1 |
| 25 | Whitespace | N/A | - |
| 26 | XSLT | xsltproc | 1.1.35-1 |
| 27 | Yabasic | yabasic | 1:2.90.3-1 |
| 28 | Yorick | yorick | 2.2.04+dfsg1-12 |
| 29 | Zoem | zoem | 21-341-1 |
| 30 | zsh | zsh | 5.9-4 |
| 31 | A+ | aplus-fsf | 4.22.1-10.2 |
| 32 | Ada | gnat | 12.2ubuntu1 |
| 33 | AFNIX | afnix | 3.8.0-1 |
| 34 | Aheui | N/A | - |
| 35 | ALGOL 68 | algol68g | 3.1.2-1 |
| 36 | Ante | N/A | - |
| 37 | AspectJ | aspectj | 1.9.5-1 |
| 38 | Asymptote | asymptote | 2.85+ds-1 |
| 39 | ATS | ats2-lang | 0.4.2-1.1 |
| 40 | Awk | gawk | 1:5.2.1-2 |
| 41 | bash | bash | 5.2.15-2ubuntu1 |
| 42 | bc | bc | 1.07.1-3build1 |
| 43 | BeanShell | bsh | 2.0b4-20 |
| 44 | Befunge | N/A | - |
| 45 | BLC8 | N/A | - |
| 46 | Brainfuck | N/A | - |
| 47 | C | gcc | 4:12.2.0-3ubuntu1 |
| 48 | C++ | g++ | 4:12.2.0-3ubuntu1 |
| 49 | C# | mono-mcs | 6.8.0.105+dfsg-3.3 |
| 50 | Chef | N/A | - |
| 51 | Clojure | clojure | 1.11.1-2 |
| 52 | CMake | cmake | 3.25.1-1ubuntu1 |
| 53 | Cobol | gnucobol4 | 4.0~early~20200606-6 |
| 54 | CoffeeScript | coffeescript | 2.7.0-4 |
| 55 | Common Lisp | clisp | 1:2.49.20210628.gitde01f0f-3build1 |
| 56 | Crystal | crystal, libevent-dev | 1.6.0+dfsg-2 |
| 57 | D | gdc | 4:12.2.0-3ubuntu1 |
| 58 | Dafny | dafny | 2.3.0+dfsg-0.1 |
| 59 | dc | dc | 1.07.1-3build1 |
| 60 | Dhall | dhall | 1.40.2-2build1 |
| 61 | Elixir | elixir | 1.14.0.dfsg-2 |
| 62 | Emacs Lisp | emacs-nox | 1:28.2+1-13ubuntu3 |
| 63 | Erlang | erlang | 1:25.2.3+dfsg-1 |
| 64 | F# | fsharp | 4.0.0.4+dfsg2-2 |
| 65 | FALSE | N/A | - |
| 66 | Flex | flex | 2.6.4-8.1 |
| 67 | Fish | fish | 3.6.0-3 |
| 68 | Forth | gforth | 0.7.3+dfsg-9build4.1 |
| 69 | FORTRAN77 | f2c | 20200916-1 |
| 70 | Fortran90 | gfortran | 4:12.2.0-3ubuntu1 |
| 71 | Gambas script | gambas3-scripter, gambas3-gb-pcre | 3.18.0-4ubuntu1 |
| 72 | GAP | gap | 4.12.1-2 |
| 73 | GDB | gdb | 13.1-2ubuntu2 |
| 74 | GEL (Genius) | genius | 1.0.27-1 |
| 75 | Gnuplot | gnuplot | 5.4.4+dfsg1-2build1 |
| 76 | Go | golang | 2:1.20~0ubuntu1 |
| 77 | GolfScript | N/A | - |
| 78 | G-Portugol | gpt | 1.1-7 |
| 79 | Grass | N/A | - |
| 80 | Groovy | groovy | 2.4.21-7 |
| 81 | Gzip | gzip | 1.12-1ubuntu1 |
| 82 | Haskell | ghc | 9.0.2-4ubuntu2 |
| 83 | Haxe | haxe | 1:4.2.5-1build1 |
| 84 | Icon | icont, iconx | 9.4.3-7ubuntu1 |
| 85 | INTERCAL | intercal | 30:0.30-3 |
| 86 | Jasmin | jasmin-sable | 2.5.0-2 |
| 87 | Java | openjdk-11-jdk | 11.0.18+10-0ubuntu5 |
| 88 | JavaScript | nodejs | 18.13.0+dfsg1-1ubuntu2 |
| 89 | Jq | jq | 1.6-2.1ubuntu3 |
| 90 | JSFuck | nodejs | 18.13.0+dfsg1-1ubuntu2 |
| 91 | Kotlin | kotlin | 1.3.31+ds1-1build5 |
| 92 | ksh | ksh | 20230128 |
| 93 | Lazy K | N/A | - |
| 94 | Lisaac | lisaac | 1:0.39~rc1-3.1 |
| 95 | LiveScript | livescript | 1.6.1+dfsg-3 |
| 96 | LLVM asm | llvm | 1:15.0-56~exp2 |
| 97 | LOLCODE | N/A | - |
| 98 | Lua | lua5.3 | 5.3.6-2 |
| 99 | M4 | m4 | 1.4.19-3 |
| 100 | Makefile | make | 4.3-4.1build1 |
| 101 | Maxima | maxima | 5.45.1-8 |
| 102 | MiniZinc | minizinc | 2.6.4+dfsg1-1 |
| 103 | MSIL | mono-devel | 6.8.0.105+dfsg-3.3 |
| 104 | Mustache | ruby-mustache | 1.1.1-2 |
| 105 | NASM | nasm | 2.16.01-1 |
| 106 | Neko | neko | 2.3.0-1build3 |
| 107 | Nickle | nickle | 2.91 |
| 108 | Nim | nim | 1.6.10-2 |
| 109 | Objective-C | gobjc | 4:12.2.0-3ubuntu1 |
| 110 | OCaml | ocaml | 4.13.1-4ubuntu1 |
| 111 | Octave | octave | 7.3.0-1build1 |
| 112 | Ook! | N/A | - |
| 113 | PARI/GP | pari-gp | 2.15.2-1 |
| 114 | Parser 3 | parser3-cgi | 3.4.6-3 |
| 115 | Pascal | fp-compiler | 3.2.2+dfsg-18ubuntu1 |
| 116 | Perl 5 | perl | 5.36.0-7 |
| 117 | Perl 6 | rakudo | 2022.12-1 |
| 118 | PHP | php-cli | 2:8.1+92ubuntu1 |
| 119 | Piet | N/A | - |
| 120 | PostScript | ghostscript | 10.0.0~dfsg1-0ubuntu1.1 |
| 121 | PPT (Punched tape) | bsdgames | 2.17-29 |
| 122 | Prolog | swi-prolog | 9.0.4+dfsg-1ubuntu2 |
| 123 | Promela (Spin) | spin | 6.5.2+dfsg-1 |
| 124 | Python | python3 | 3.11.2-1 |
| 125 | R | r-base | 4.2.2.20221110-2build1 |
| 126 | Ratfor | ratfor | 1.05-2 |
| 127 | rc | rc | 1.7.4+97.gceb59bb-5 |
| 128 | REXX | regina-rexx | 3.6-2.4 |
Note that some languages are not available in Ubuntu (marked as N/A).
This repository contains their implementations in vendor/.
See also vendor/README for detail.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Why?
A. Take your pick.
Q. How?
A. Good news: I have published a book, "The World of Obfuscated, Esoteric, Artistic Programming". It explains how to write a quine, an ascii-art quine, and an uroboros quine like this quine-relay. You can buy my book on amazon.co.jp.
(It also contains my almost all of my (about forty) works, including alphabet-only Ruby program, radiation-hardened quine, etc., and explains many techniques for writing such programs.)
Bad news: It is written in Japanese.
I hope you can translate it into English and help me earn royalties.
Q. Language XXX is missing!
A. See the language inclusion criteria in detail. (In short, please create a deb package and contribute it to Ubuntu.)
See also
Q. Does it really work?
A.
Q. How long did it take you?
A. Are you trying to cross the world line?
Q. The code does not fit in my screen!
A. Here you go.
Q. How was the code generated?
A.
$ sudo apt-get install rake ruby-cairo ruby-rsvg2 ruby-gdk-pixbuf2 \
optipng advancecomp ruby-chunky-png
$ cd src
$ rake2.0 clobber
$ rake2.0
License
The MIT License applies to all resources
except the files in the vendor/ directory.
The files in the vendor/ directory are from third-parties
and are distributed under different licenses.
See vendor/README in detail.
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 Yusuke Endoh (@mametter), @hirekoke
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.