Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

forum.snapcraft.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 443 posts

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#311

Post by Zak »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #113
award_ wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are your others? I use signal alot personally and haven't had too many issues.

Not GP but I'm a Signal user and here are my gripes: - No easy way to do and restore backups on Android and impossible to do backups on their PC client - Does not support Android tablets at all (my mom loves hers) - Fails to ring on Android when you call someone or someone calls you, later serving you a missed call notification (disabled Doze/battery optimization feature on Android and tested on 3 different phones wi…

Looking at the source code, they're using the newer Camera2 API. I have no expertise in implementing said API, and a quick comparison between Signal's code and that of Open Camera suggests the Signal developers don't have a whole lot more.

It also has some questionable decisions in it like cropping to close to the screen's aspect ratio rather than using the native aspect ratio of the sensor. I never want that behavior.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#312

Post by bubblethink »

bee_rider wrote: post #310
bubblethink wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't modify it and still call it Signal (i.e., misrepresent the trademark). You should be able to redistribute unmodified binaries.

Regardless of whether you actually should* be able to, "should" and "can" don't always match. * I'm sure Signal would object to you redistributing binaries under their name, even if you claim they are unmodified, but they can't verify that fact. And honestly such an objection seem pretty reasonable.

Modification of binaries of open source projects is a common and perhaps the only issue from a trademark standpoint. Firefox and debian used to have this too until they resolved it at some point.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#313

Post by marginalia_nu »

irthomasthomas wrote: post #296
dheera wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too difficult. Their install instructions are also too complicated and involve reading about 5 lines of comments and 4 shell commands. It should NEVER be more than 1 line of shell or 2 mouse clicks to install anything. This is 2022, not 1995. It's faster to just search for "signal" in the snap store and hit "Install".

It's 5 lines. Took me 30 seconds. Well worth it for the performance gains. wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg && cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee -a /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null && echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |…

Yeah, let's teach users to paste sudo commands into the terminal. That's great.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#314

Post by rosnd »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #313
irthomasthomas wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 5 lines. Took me 30 seconds. Well worth it for the performance gains. wget -O- https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt/keys.asc | gpg --dearmor > signal-desktop-keyring.gpg && cat signal-desktop-keyring.gpg | sudo tee -a /usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg > /dev/null && echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main' |…

Yeah, let's teach users to paste sudo commands into the terminal. That's great.

What alternative do you propose?

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#315

Post by jeroenhd »

cyberphobe wrote: post #208
jeroenhd wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The application went down because of a DMCA request. The same would've happened with APT repositories and other distribution systems in that the "official" source would disappear. You could've installed it from an alternative source were that to happen to a simple repository but you still can now. I have plenty of gripes with Snap but this time the Signal team is to blame.

Signal never gave canonical permission to distribute a binary called Signal. Canonical just went ahead and did it anyway. How is this Signal’s fault?

It's Signal's fault for getting lawyers involved before communicating with the people that put the alternative up. If it's that much of a problem, asking nicely would probably have worked. They could even set up a mechanism to transfer users to the official distribution if they wanted to put in the effort to help their users.

As a side note, "Signal" is a generic English word. The logo is a generic speech bubble. Copyright and trademark law should not be piecing up language and handing it out to tech companies that decided that all app names should be no longer than two syllables. I'm sure legally speaking there's a trademark case to be made here, but ethically speaking I think it's wrong.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#316

Post by [deleted] »

brianacton wrote: post #305
mesebrec wrote: post #65

Signal Snap Maintainer here, this is because of a DMCA takedown request from lawyers representing Signal. Canonical is currently working with them to clear things up. Canonical's communication to me was initially lacking due to issues in their process, the process has been amended and I'm back in the loop again.

Correct. We spoke to our attorneys and found the breakdown in communication. We are working to rectify and reinstate signal-desktop ASAP. Sorry for the confusion.

[deleted]

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#317

Post by cyberphobe »

brianacton wrote: post #305
mesebrec wrote: post #65

Signal Snap Maintainer here, this is because of a DMCA takedown request from lawyers representing Signal. Canonical is currently working with them to clear things up. Canonical's communication to me was initially lacking due to issues in their process, the process has been amended and I'm back in the loop again.

Correct. We spoke to our attorneys and found the breakdown in communication. We are working to rectify and reinstate signal-desktop ASAP. Sorry for the confusion.

Will a similar line of communication be established with other open source distribution platforms (such as F-Droid) that would also like to distribute binaries and call them Signal?

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#318

Post by marginalia_nu »

rosnd wrote: post #314
marginalia_nu wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, let's teach users to paste sudo commands into the terminal. That's great.

What alternative do you propose?

What if there was some sort of a store of snaps where you could download vetted packages with a graphical interface. A snap store, if you will.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#319

Post by ddevault »

zaik wrote: post #278
ddevault wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very bloated and unreliable.

Have you tried XMPP? The server and client implentations are both a lot more resource efficient.

I have tried XMPP. It's not much better, but has different problems.

Re: Snap Store administrators removed signal-desktop from Ubuntu Snap

#320

Post by jcastro »

tssva wrote: post #297
galgalesh wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there is any reason for publishers to force users to download their software from the internet now that the Snap Store and Flathub exists. I've had so many bad experiences with broken third party packages or worse, "installers".

I can think of a lot of reasons why publishers of privacy and security related software would want to direct distribute their software rather than relying on 3rd parties if it is avoidable.

There's also just as many reasons to not give Signal root on my PC by installing their .deb package.
Post reply on HN