• xiii@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 hours ago

      It took 6-10 years for Android to take shape.

      On Linux, every app has full access to your browsing history, clipboard (passwords), photos with geo-tags, music, list of other installed apps, contacts. Unrestricted battery and network access – it’s a tracking paradise. And all it takes is one supply chain attack on npm install with typical 4000K dependency packages

      • timestatic@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        26 minutes ago

        Thats why flatpaks exist for those kind of apps and sandboxes are very much possible on linux (even if not widely used for normal programs)

    • Bilb!@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Just in time for them to be practically outlawed, if my gut can be trusted. I hope not.

    • ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      43
      ·
      11 hours ago

      You cannot sideload on Linux, not unless you’re some sort of mutant freak who can reverse engineer C code.

      • JustAnotherPodunk@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        9 hours ago

        Yeah we can do that. What do you think side loading means? Changing the name of an install doesn’t make it different. Back in my day we called it installing a program. Things changed. Then we called it downloading an app. Things changed. Now if it’s not approved it’s called side loading? Blow it out your ass.

        Its a program. Take the training wheels off of the Internet. I grew up when this was a cautionary tale. But up and deal with the consequences or get out.

      • cmhe@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        9 hours ago

        I guess you are joking? And mean “side-loading” as in injecting custom code via LD_PRELOAD and not the strange definition phone makers use for describing ‘installing an app’.

      • NewOldGuard@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        34
        ·
        11 hours ago

        “Side load” is just language used to mean installing software outside of the official approved vendor store. Linux lets you install software from wherever you want, you’re not locked into a vendor or manufacturer ecosystem. So in a sense all you do is “sideload,” it’s just normal non-corporate OSes call that “installation”

      • nathanA
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        11 hours ago

        How would reverse engineering c code be side loading? You can get .deb, .rpm etc and install them on your distro as long as it supports the format, regardless of who developed the app, and honestly even if it doesn’t support the format there are ways. You can even compile the source code of more Linux apps, at least the FOSS ones, with just a few commands. If anything it would be more realistic to say you can ONLY side load on Linux