I used to use a Windows firewall which basically hijacked a bunch of WinAPI calls and let me approve/deny every request. Trying to be a good secure boy I ran this setup for a while but it was exhausting. Every single action needed dozens of approval windows. After a while I removed the software. I reckon it is good situationally though, trying out a new program for first time (that isn't risky enough for a VM or sandbox), might be good to turn on a tool like this.
LittleSnitch for Linux
371–380 of 489 posts
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is such a naive view on computer security. It’s not just about spyware, which is also not exclusive to commercial vendors.
It's not, though. There simply wasn't enough malware to worry about. Why would I run a firewall when I was unlikely to ever encounter a malicious program?
I mean, supply chain attacks are a thing that could have happened even in the earlier days. Linux almost got backdoored in 2003.
Also with the number of remote code execution exploits that have occurred in Web browsers over the years it's hard to know for sure if what you installed hasn't been hijacked unless you spent all your time on gnu.org
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#373FYI: It's an Austrian company behind that software.
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you call a fallacy where it is implied that the future will be like the past?
Reminds me about schools of thought on rates of change: > ## Accelerating Change [One School] > > Our intuitions about change are linear; we expect roughly > as much change as has occurred in the past over our own > lifetimes. But technological change feeds on itself, and > therefore accelerates. Change today is faster than it was > 500 years ago, which in turn is faster than it was 5000 > years ago. Our recent past…
linear % change implies exponential change in absolute terms
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
The take on flatpaks is such an uninformed one. DMGs on MacOS come with all the dependencies bundled in, which make them essentially just as big as the comparable flatpak (minus the shared runtime that gets installed once)
Seriously, the amount flatpak misinformation that people hold onto is absolutely wild. Ex: I have had to show people it does differential updates because they don't bother to read the output.
Flatpaks are easily the best gui desktop app experience for users we have today.
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#376I know it sounds crazy at this point, but with popular YouTubers switching to Linux, gamers overall well-aware of Steam on Linux advantages and switching as well, plus popular software like LittleSnitch getting ported, 2026 can without irony be named as Year of Linux Desktop, right?
> 2026 can without irony be named as Year of Linux Desktop, right? For whom? Average desktop users? Average users don't know what LittleSnitch is, let alone calling it "popular software."
For Linux desktop users. A bit of tongue-in-cheek but that's pretty much the argument that I've heard in some circles ("it works for us and not going away anytime soon - why waste time convincing others?").
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#377I'm glad people are building stuff for Linux, but the people who actually want something like this have likely already been using Opensnitch for years. I'm certainly not going to spend $60 for something that has been doing the job for free.
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not, though. There simply wasn't enough malware to worry about. Why would I run a firewall when I was unlikely to ever encounter a malicious program?
I mean, supply chain attacks are a thing that could have happened even in the earlier days. Linux almost got backdoored in 2003. Also with the number of remote code execution exploits that have occurred in Web browsers over the years it's hard to know for sure if what you installed hasn't been hijacked unless you spent all your time on gnu.org
Yes, but the probability of the average user getting pwned was so small that it wasn't worth the constant firewall babysitting.
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
How exactly is this different from payed software?
There is a ton of software that lives on because it matters to the developer(s) . I know "but mah monetization" is huge on this forum but it's not an all encompassing rule and it does not completely reflect the existing reality.
Strong disagree on this stance. You want to use the software? Cool, pay for it. Need access to source? It's on github, go nuts. Want to change it? Sure, feel free, but whoever uses it should pay the original developer. You can even charge extra for your modifications. Don't like the terms? Too bad - feel free to rewrite from scratch.
FOSS simply isn't sustainable if you want to make a living out of it. It protects a lot of user freedoms - even those that don't actually matter to users that much - at the expense of the rights of developers. There are a lot of ways that developers could be paid and users would still be protected (have access to source and the right to modify). The only ones benefitting from the current situation are BigTech.
/rant
Re: LittleSnitch for Linux
#380I know it sounds crazy at this point, but with popular YouTubers switching to Linux, gamers overall well-aware of Steam on Linux advantages and switching as well, plus popular software like LittleSnitch getting ported, 2026 can without irony be named as Year of Linux Desktop, right?
2026 is the year of the linux phone. We need to embrace that the year of the linux desktop (2025) was successful.
What does "the year of the Linux phone" mean when half the phones already run Linux?