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To be fair, many packaged applications in popular distros are insecure (OwnCloud in Debian as one example). The developers of the applications will tell users s

To be fair, many packaged applications in popular distros are insecure (OwnCloud in Debian as one example). The developers of the applications will tell users specifically not to install the packaged version of the application, because it is out of date and/or insecure. PPAs were supposed to solve this problem, and the official line is that Snap packages are supposed to solve this problem, but better.

fulafel 11y ago
I don't remember ever seeing a ppa systematically handle security updates. It stands for "personal package archive" and lives up to its name... A rare few vendor ppas are frequently updated with the newest major version of the app for latest 1 or 2 LTS releases until they aren't, that's about the best I've seen.
ashitlerferad 11y ago
owncloud was removed from Debian.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
therealmarv 11y ago
snap is also not the silver bullet https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/42320.html https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/42320.html
- slgeorge 11y ago
  Snap packages with isolation aren't a 'silver bullet' but they are a step forward. It continues a trajectory of trying to secure desktop endusers with steps like AppArmor and kernel hardening that were don't for other LTS releases. At least in terms of package format, the difficulty with dpkg is that a) general software developers don't understand it, and b) it's not transactional in the sense you can't reverse what's happened easily. Trying to get commercial developers onto Linux is very difficult: on the desktop side they often don't see the point of such a small platform, and on the server side they feel it's super complicated and difficult. It might be stating the obvious but most developers aren't system administrators, so they really, really struggle with packaging and complain about dpkg/rpm a lot. Appstores are both tools and a process: Ubuntu did developer.ubuntu.com to provide an easy process for developers, and snap packages are another step along that way. Lets not let the perfect get in the way of the improved!

fulafel 11y ago

I don't remember ever seeing a ppa systematically handle security updates. It stands for "personal package archive" and lives up to its name... A rare few vendor ppas are frequently updated with the newest major version of the app for latest 1 or 2 LTS releases until they aren't, that's about the best I've seen.

ashitlerferad 11y ago

owncloud was removed from Debian.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

therealmarv 11y ago

snap is also not the silver bullet https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/42320.html https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/42320.html

slgeorge 11y ago
Snap packages with isolation aren't a 'silver bullet' but they are a step forward. It continues a trajectory of trying to secure desktop endusers with steps like AppArmor and kernel hardening that were don't for other LTS releases. At least in terms of package format, the difficulty with dpkg is that a) general software developers don't understand it, and b) it's not transactional in the sense you can't reverse what's happened easily. Trying to get commercial developers onto Linux is very difficult: on the desktop side they often don't see the point of such a small platform, and on the server side they feel it's super complicated and difficult. It might be stating the obvious but most developers aren't system administrators, so they really, really struggle with packaging and complain about dpkg/rpm a lot. Appstores are both tools and a process: Ubuntu did developer.ubuntu.com to provide an easy process for developers, and snap packages are another step along that way. Lets not let the perfect get in the way of the improved!