Minor wtfs here. The software that everyone must use to report taxes in Hungary is a Java/Swing application, presumably to remain cross-platform. Here is a walkthrough:
Visit http://www.nav.gov.hu/nav/letoltesek/nyomtatvanykitolto_programok/nyomtatvany_apeh/keretprogramok/abevjava_install.html. The site already loads the "Java Deployment Toolkit" in a hidden <embed>
, for no obvious reason. The download link launches a JNLP app with the Java Web Start Launcher.
This application is an "installer" written in Java. It asks for three paths, one for binaries, one for data, and one for files ready to send to the server, and unzips its stuff there. Regular users already get lost here.
Now let's take a look at the shortcut the installer just created in my Start Menu.
Erm... a batch file? Let's take a look at that bin folder.
What we can see is not only a bunch of Windows batch files, but also quite some VBScript. A look into these script reveals a pleasant surprise: our old friend On Error Resume Next
. What's more, the scripts are seemingly invoked by the Java application, as I couldn't find any reference to them in the batch files but at least one of them is obviously executed during program startup. Now I didn't check whether this installer unzips a set of shell scripts when ran on Linux but this is interesting anyway.
This software is also poorly integrated. The forms you have to fill out are to be downloaded separately and imported. When you are done filling them out, the software encrypts them and saves the encrypted file in the folder you provided during the installation (if you managed to understand what the installer is talking about). Then you have to visit a completely different website, authenticate with your government account, launch another Swing-based applet, this time embedded in the website, and browse for the encrypted files and upload them.