5 ms·
And then the calculator app, which is native, is wrapped up in some sort of isolating container that makes it take as long to start up as an electron app.
by morsch 5y ago
And then the calculator app, which is native, is wrapped up in some sort of isolating container that makes it take as long to start up as an electron app.
- schipplock 5y agoI sometimes, by accident, launched LibreOffice Calc. It launched faster than the calculator app :). I believe they changed that. The calculator app isn't shipped in a snap package anymore.
- supramouse 5y agoyou mean snap packages? I think the calculator is written in vala was pretty performant when I've used it the past
- sph 5y agoYou're using the wrong isolating container ;) There's only one that is quite slow at startup, the other isn't.
- nix23 5y agoJust imagine you need a container for the calculator.....
- sph 5y agoJust imagine getting pwned by malware bundled in a calculator...
- nix23 5y agoWhat is the connection here? Why would you install the calculator not coming from your distribution?
- sph 5y agoBecause there is a push for software developers to be able to package directly for end users. Without devolving into the usual flame war of whether it's a good idea or not, once you install any piece of software you incur some security risks. It's not like distro maintainers are a 100% guarantee there won't be a backdoor in the binary, and compiling software from source doesn't free you from risks either, unless you code-review everything you install. My point is, containerisation on Linux isn't necessarily slow—in fact it's unnoticeable if implemented correctly—and I prefer to default to having a decent amount of security by containerising as much software as I can, whatever the origin. Including, and especially software like the calculator, since it should not be able to do anything more than show a GUI and add numbers together.
- nix23 5y agoThat's not what i asked, why do you trust a no name dev more then the distro your kernel is coming from? And do you really think flatpack prevents you from running packed malware?
- wander_homer 5y agoWhy do you assume the flatpak comes from a no name dev? My calculator flatpak comes from the same people who wrote it, and I obviously trust them, otherwise I wouldn't be using their application. So why should I trust them less than my distribution?
- nix23 5y agoEver used npm?
- wander_homer 5y agoNo, and how is that even relevant?
- 5y ago
- rollcat 5y agoOpenBSD went that route, and when they introduced pledge(2) and later unveil(2), they've applied these to every single program in the base system (over the course of a single release cycle!). There's absolutely zero reason for bc(1) to accept network connections, or for grep(1) to execve(2) into arbitrary programs. But both of these programs need to process and interpret arbitrary input, which makes them potential targets for exploits. You don't technically "need" security, just like you don't "need" seatbelts... until you actually are in an accident. https://man.openbsd.org/pledge https://man.openbsd.org/pledge; https://man.openbsd.org/unveil https://man.openbsd.org/unveil
- nix23 5y agoyou really compare something like pledge and unveil with flatpack and snap's? Completely different goal's...
- rollcat 5y agoI don't think the security goals are that different, but you've asked why would I want to sandbox a calculator. Well - why would I not want that?
- nix23 5y agoLook, you gave the openbsd example, and that's the right way to do it. Flatpack's are for packaged software-deployment, those are two different things. Why the need for a sandbox if you could do it much cleaner with things like pledge? But in typical linux fashion, just put another layer on top the pile of garbage so it stop's to stink for a while. >Well - why would I not want that? Then please start with the most obvious application sometimes called kernel. Instead of rigorously integrate something like SElinux they throw layers over layers of half-backed "sandboxes", up to the point to separate applications with Xen (Qube-os), then you find out about Meltdown, and we are back in 1990.
- throwaway82652 5y agoPledge is a bad example, it isn't applied to a lot of packages in the ports tree and it's infeasible to do it for every program. In the end you'll find you end up with the same situation as Linux: another layer on top with daemons implementing blanket security policies using pledge on behalf of the programs. Kind of like... a sandbox. SELinux is also a bad example, even if you decide you're using that as the underlying technology you still need to implement a sandbox with various on top of it. SELinux does nothing without those rules.
- ducktective 5y agousername checks out ;)