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Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

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Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#221

Post by reality_czech »

SFjulie1 wrote: post #181
_yy wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easily the most secure Linux distro. It has SELinux enabled by default (and it actually works!) and compiles binaries using most of the available hardening features, other than basically any other mainstream distro. They have an excellent testing/QA process, especially given the speed at which they're developing - this results in a very high quality.

If you call secure an OS which can crash process without giving meaningful errors. I have lost hours debugging mysterious crashes because of SELinux, and it is really not safe to have components unexpectedly crashing when they are part of your core infra. Plus I guess that like every security frameworks it runs with priviledge, it has a lot of lines of code, is hard to audit, and thus highers the surface of vulnerabi…

Wow. You literally think selinux is bad because it uses strcmp and enums? Maybe you should read a book about C sometime before you make a fool of yourself on the internets.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#222

Post by RaleyField »

nailer wrote: post #34
[deleted] wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

No consumer OS since Windows Me logs in with a system account by default. Linux Mint sucks, but I'm pretty much OK with disabling autologin to root.

> No consumer OS since Windows Me logs in with a system account by default.

About that.

> It’s important to be aware that UAC elevations are conveniences and not security boundaries.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.06.uac.asp...

>unfortunately, this is also where we run into some of the limitations of UAC. Remember, there is no effective isolation; there is no security boundary that isolates processes on the same desktop. The OS does include some protective measures to keep the obvious and unnecessary avenues of communication blocked, but it would be impossible and undesirable to block them all. Therefore, Microsoft does not consider breaches of that nonexistent security boundary to be security breaches.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2007.09.securit...

In default and probably usual configuration UAC does not represent security boundary between medium-il (user) an high-il (equivalent of linux's root). Only if you bother to run under non-admin account are you protected from escalations.

Leo Davidson then provided demonstrations of privilege escalation between those two integrity levels without triggering uac.

I haven't checked Windows 10, but at least until Windows 8 most machines running Windows had been running most software effectively under root.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#223

Post by RaleyField »

mschuster91 wrote: post #41

> Add to that, that they do not care about copyright and license issues and just ship their ISOs with pre-installed Oracle Java and Adobe Flash packages and several multimedia codec packages which infringe patents and may therefore not be distributed freely at all in countries like the US. Seriously, with the rotten-ness of the US patent/copyright/political system, it's better for mankind to just say "ok, US users ca…

> Seriously, with the rotten-ness of the US patent/copyright/political system

I've gotten this vibe on Reddit, but it seems people seem to be against copyright unless it's Youtube not enforcing it vigorously enough when it comes to small channel owners getting their content stolen. Then suddenly everyone appears to be for copyright laws.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#224

Post by RaleyField »

unixhero wrote: post #90

I realize they have not taken security seriously in designing their delivery mechanisms. However I do not care. Linux Mint solves all my problems of configuration. It is configured so nicely and with Cinnamon it comes with so many useful bells and whistles, I'm not moving anywhere. It's great. Mint will be back after this blow and I am sure it will not happen again. I use it daily and I am super productive on it as m…

> I realize they have not taken security seriously in designing their delivery mechanisms. However I do not care.

I hope then that you don't use you computer for developing software or for work or anything remotely important, because otherwise using insecure software is most egregiously unethical towards your users/customers/employers because you are consciously choosing to exposing them to unnecessary risks.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#225

Post by RaleyField »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #188

So, functionally, is there any real difference between using Mint's ISO to install-from-scratch versus using you're preferred distro of choice (Ubuntu/Fedora/FreeBSD, etc.) and installing the Cinnamon Mint desktop on top of it? I've been playing with Mint for the past few weeks and experimenting with full-Mint-on-a-VM versus Ubuntu-with-Cinnamon-desktop, and I don't really notice much of a difference. After reading a…

> So, functionally, is there any real difference between using Mint's ISO to install-from-scratch versus using you're preferred distro of choice (Ubuntu/Fedora/FreeBSD, etc.) and installing the Cinnamon Mint desktop on top of it?

No. Switch to another DE. Cinnamon is developed by the same gung-ho cowboys that develop Mint so that's a poor indication that it's managed any better than Mint itself.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#226

Post by RaleyField »

ergo14 wrote: post #180
spdionis wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also use Mint mostly because of its interface and i hate Ubuntu desktop too. Given this, what are the best alternatives to Mint GUI that offer the same level of comfort?

Ubuntu Gnome - works VERY well - if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell, it works as well as cinnamon. You can also use some other distro like debian or fedora that also provides cinnamon.

> if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell

And add minimize/maximize buttons and applications ("start") button. I have no idea why Gnome has to experiment, they have lost so many users unnecessarily. At least it's configurable to something sane. They are far from catering to the same feature-averse audience of iPad so there's no use in trying to (poorly) emulate its minimalist design language.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#227

Post by RaleyField »

DonHopkins wrote: post #118
red_admiral wrote: post #26

Starting a post with "I know this is voluntary work, pitch in or shut up and all that ..." doesn't make the quote you're attacking untrue. For what I'm paying for Mint ($0.00) and what I get out of it in terms of productivity, I find it quite a decent distribution.

Poor security is more expensive than money.

And unless you are using your computer only for media consumption it's also unethical because you are only delegating that insecurity onto your customers/users.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#228

Post by VarunAgw »

RaleyField wrote: post #226
ergo14 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ubuntu Gnome - works VERY well - if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell, it works as well as cinnamon. You can also use some other distro like debian or fedora that also provides cinnamon.

> if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell And add minimize/maximize buttons and applications ("start") button. I have no idea why Gnome has to experiment, they have lost so many users unnecessarily. At least it's configurable to something sane. They are far from catering to the same feature-averse audience of iPad so there's no use in trying to (poorly) emulate its minimalist design language.

That's why Linux Mint wins. It look completely like MS Windows. Taskbar, Icons, Keyboard Shortcuts,...everything is similar to MS Windows. As a Windows user, I find it most easier to use and that's why they are winning.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#229

Post by pferde »

jnbiche wrote: post #164
pferde wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you're downloading the signature each time you're downloading a new version of a package or iso, and its SHAs, you're using GPG incorrectly." I believe you're confusing a PGP public key with a PGP signature for a particular file (made using said public key).

Thank you, that was indeed a typo I wrote as I rushed to get out the door earlier. I obviously meant to write "if you're downloading the public key" (indeed, I referred to "download the public key of the signer" in two paragraphs up, so I suspect that was clear to most people reading). The hashes for each new version are what are signed, obviously (with the private key of the maintainer). My sentence about "trusted s…

Yeah, I figured out that you merely made a simple mistake, since rest of your comment makes all kinds of sense. :) Apologies in case I sounded like I wanted to put you down.

Re: Linux Mint downloads (briefly) compromised

#230

Post by RaleyField »

VarunAgw wrote: post #228
RaleyField wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you enable the "window list" plugin for shell And add minimize/maximize buttons and applications ("start") button. I have no idea why Gnome has to experiment, they have lost so many users unnecessarily. At least it's configurable to something sane. They are far from catering to the same feature-averse audience of iPad so there's no use in trying to (poorly) emulate its minimalist design language.

That's why Linux Mint wins. It look completely like MS Windows. Taskbar, Icons, Keyboard Shortcuts,...everything is similar to MS Windows. As a Windows user, I find it most easier to use and that's why they are winning.

> It look completely like MS Windows.

I prefer taskbar from 7+ and in my experience only KDE can mimic it, albeit clunkily. From screenshot it seems Mint is closer to XP. I think GNOME can be beaten to look more familiar and I can tolerate it. At least it now respects Windows key convention and runs its search functionality.

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