this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
118 points (92.1% liked)

Linux

48677 readers
366 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml
nooter692@lemmy.ml
MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml
cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz
118
A thought just hit me -- "Windows = The HOA of operating systems" (lemmy.one)
submitted 1 month ago by waspentalive@lemmy.one to c/linux@lemmy.ml
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

An HOA (home owners associations) can say what color you can paint your house, What you can plant in your yard, What you can have in your driveway, and some even say what color your blinds can be.

Microsoft controls your computer, they say what info is sent back to Microsoft, and they say when you must upgrade. They can shut down your computer when they want whether you like it or not.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] superkret@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So can Canonical. The difference is, they don't.

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Some HOAs are better than others.

[–] waspentalive@lemmy.one 6 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately, all it takes is a change in the HOA board to turn a better HOA into a badder HOA.

[–] waspentalive@lemmy.one 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So far, and since I have been running Debian for a while now I don't know about Ubuntu specifically, All the distros I have used either show an update is available, or you check for updates.

You have the choice and control to install the update and can do it later if now is not a good time. Or don't install it at all, it's your system.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Obviously, yes. My point is: Do you read and understand all changes in the code for each update? You need to trust the maintainers, cause they could theoretically push out any code with the update.

[–] waspentalive@lemmy.one 3 points 4 weeks ago

This is true of any OS, The people who build the OS for you to use can build in all kinds of sneaky stuff - see "Trusting Trust" about an invisible trojan in the C compiler. An issue with Microsoft Vs. Most Any Linux is the whether the maintainer's goals and the User's goals are oriented in the same direction. Microsoft wants to get data about you for whatever purpose whereas Most Any Linux maintainer's main goal is to produce an OS that is as free of bugs and is as useful and as secure as possible.

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Or like Fedora (and I'm sure more distros) nicely asks you if you want to update in a user initiated restart or shutdown, and if you say yes it does just that and updates to restart or shut down. My memories with Windows are having to remain in front of the computer to make sure I can turn it off after it reboots multiple times to update.

[–] gregor@gregtech.eu 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Please do tell how they would do that.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You trust their repos.
With every apt update, they could push whatever code they want onto your PC.
Same as with literally any binary-based OS.

[–] tsugu@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Someone definitely reads the changed code of Gentoo packages. You are saying that every operating system on the planet is untrustworthy, besides gentoo and a few other source-based distros, but let's target Ubuntu in particular.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying you need to trust the people making your OS cause no way in hell is anyone else able to audit every update they push.
Whether your OS is trustworthy depends on their history. In that regard, I'd give Ubuntu a solid B-

[–] tsugu@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Fair enough

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 weeks ago

You're so nice. Here they have deserved a C- for at least the last 5 years, and declined to a D during the last 2.

[–] lengau@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

Not sure why you specify binary-based OS's. Following Gentoo's upgrade guide also gets you potentially whatever they want on your systemp

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How does that work, exactly? I don't actually know. Are they compiling their own copies of the upstream code changes?

[–] superkret@feddit.org 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yes, they're taking the source code from upstream, modifying ("patching") it, compiling it, then uploading their compiled binaries to the Ubuntu repo where your system downloads them during an update.

You can technically download the source code as well, if you activate the source repo. But hardly any end user does. And the source code you get doesn't compile to the same binary you get from the repo anyway. (This would be called a "reproducible build". Some distros try to be reproducible. Ubuntu doesn't, they have other priorities.)

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago

Thank you. That makes sense why some downstream distros designed for specific purposes (e.g. gaming) might include a handful of their own repos for specific software.