Is there a curated up-to-date list of reasons somewhere on the internet that explains to a naive end-user why he/she should pick a given distro?
Fedora 27 released
91–100 of 150 posts
Re: Fedora 27 released
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fedy looks interesting, but I couldn't figure out how it works. Is it like another package manager, or can I use dnf to manage/update the packages it installs?
Worse, it's just a collection of shell scripts: https://github.com/folkswithhats/fedy/blob/master/plugins/an... It does no signature validation whatsoever or dependency tracking. Don't use it if you care about security or a clean system.
How is a collection of scripts for which you can easily read and edit the source code "worse" than installing a rpm package or a compiled program?
The thing about signature validation can be easily resolved with a simple text replace. About dependency tracking: as I said, it is not a package manager and it uses dnf under the hood, which already does that.
Unless you only install open source software AFTER doing a full source code audit. You are blatantly overreacting just to look as "security conscious".
For disclosure: I don't have anything to do with the project other than the fact that I have been using it for years without any issue.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand SELinux and I have not found a document that explains for the average Joe like me what it is for and why doesn't my qemu-libvirt work when it is enabled, which is the default. It took me two nights to figure out that SELinux prevents qemu-libvirt to read certain ROM files that I need. So after scratching my head, I just turned it off altogether. Other than that, Fedora has been really rock solid, g…
I am mostly on board with this, actually. The experience with machinectl and systemd-nspawn is also completely broken because there are no sane default SELinux rules for it. However in my experience so far, the defaults do not get in your way during regular usage. You typically only encounter such issues when you're also in the position to fix them. And I think in general it's a great idea to have default deny polici…
> Please don't do this. It's not worth disabling an entire security system if you can just spend some time to figure out a command to make the system work for you. Fedora even has gui tools that notify you when you encounter an SELinux issue. See stopdisablingselinux.com.
Uh, SELinux is next to useless on a typical desktop as all the applications which really concern you are running in the unconfined domain.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#94Is there a curated up-to-date list of reasons somewhere on the internet that explains to a naive end-user why he/she should pick a given distro?
That might just be the most controversial post on the internet, if indeed it exists.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Worse, it's just a collection of shell scripts: https://github.com/folkswithhats/fedy/blob/master/plugins/an... It does no signature validation whatsoever or dependency tracking. Don't use it if you care about security or a clean system.
How is a collection of scripts for which you can easily read and edit the source code "worse" than installing a rpm package or a compiled program? The thing about signature validation can be easily resolved with a simple text replace. About dependency tracking: as I said, it is not a package manager and it uses dnf under the hood, which already does that. Unless you only install open source software AFTER doing a ful…
I know plenty of folks who've ridden motorcycles helmetless for years without any issue.
It's a collection of script written in a non-idempotent manner, and run in an uncontrolled, undefined environment. The benefit of binary packages is that you have a reasonable idea that the package will consistently build in a well defined environment (the base build chroot for the OS + the defined dependencies in the package). The result is a consistent reproducible binary that means when you run version x.y.z it's the same as version x.y.z that I'm running, and the same as version x.y.z that the package maintainer is running.
When software is "packaged" via install scripts that fetch and build from the internet on the fly with loosely defined versions, you stand a lot of risk of breaking your environment. If you only spend time in toy environments playing games and looking at cat pictures, that's fine.
If you rely on the tools you work with to be stable, perform in a consistent manner, and not accidentally leak information about your environment (you'd be shocked by how many test suites will post your local environment variables out to arbitrary metrics collection points), then pre-build binary packages are a safe and reliable way to operate.
You can have fun letting the wind blow through your hair; I'll keep my helmet on, thanks.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#96Fedora has been by far the most perfect out-of-the-box experience for my thinkpad machines: t460s and e430. It is stable, lightweight and it doesn't get in the way. I mainly use for python and go development, docker and browsing.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is a collection of scripts for which you can easily read and edit the source code "worse" than installing a rpm package or a compiled program? The thing about signature validation can be easily resolved with a simple text replace. About dependency tracking: as I said, it is not a package manager and it uses dnf under the hood, which already does that. Unless you only install open source software AFTER doing a ful…
I know plenty of folks who've ridden motorcycles helmetless for years without any issue. It's a collection of script written in a non-idempotent manner, and run in an uncontrolled, undefined environment. The benefit of binary packages is that you have a reasonable idea that the package will consistently build in a well defined environment (the base build chroot for the OS + the defined dependencies in the package). T…
https://github.com/folkswithhats/fedy/blob/master/plugins/an...
I made it 10 lines into the very first plugin before hitting a point where the installer script is downloading a file over an insecure connection, and treating it as a list of trusted URLs.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I too went from Arch to Fedora and life is easier now. It's astonishing just how well Arch works, but maintaining it is still a lot of work. I'm pretty busy and spent too much time fixing my Arch machine, which outweighed the time I was saving. I still have an Arch laptop and many Arch virtual machines for playing CTFs and HAM radio stuff. Flatpak is a fine replacement for AUR in many cases, and it's more secure, too…
I'm surprised you prefer arch linux for amateur radio stuff. Hamlib, wsjtx, and fldigi are packaged and in the main repositories on fedora, but the same is not true for arch linux. What software are you using that you find easier with arch linux?
Those are all available in AUR (source packages / recipes), both latest release and -git versions.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#99Is there a curated up-to-date list of reasons somewhere on the internet that explains to a naive end-user why he/she should pick a given distro?
Pick whatever the most competent and helpful Linux-user around you uses...
The distos are pretty much all the same, just different in the details.
Re: Fedora 27 released
#100I've switched to Fedora with version 26 (from Ubuntu and some dabbling with Manjaro) and really enjoy it. SELinux gave me a few headscratchers in the beginning but once you know how to deal with it it's great to have a distro that is both a great user experience and has some nice hardening/dont-shoot-yourself-in-the-foot features. The best thing for me about this release is better support for shared folders in Gnome…
I don't understand SELinux and I have not found a document that explains for the average Joe like me what it is for and why doesn't my qemu-libvirt work when it is enabled, which is the default. It took me two nights to figure out that SELinux prevents qemu-libvirt to read certain ROM files that I need. So after scratching my head, I just turned it off altogether. Other than that, Fedora has been really rock solid, g…
>I don't understand SELinux and I have not found a document that explains for the average Joe like me
This could help: https://people.redhat.com/duffy/selinux/selinux-coloring-boo...
>It took me two nights to figure out that SELinux prevents qemu-libvirt to read certain ROM files that I need.
That is not too hard to imagine. Basically, the rationale is that if qemu/libvirt can read your ROM file, it can probably read other files too, some of which might be sensitive. So the defaults are conservative. Unless your rom file is in a standard location where it expects, it won't read even if the permissions are 644.
>So after scratching my head, I just turned it off altogether
selinux is annoying, but it is worth persisting. Nowadays, most things work well. I think things are bit more stable in RHEL/CentOS than Fedora by definition. So maybe you can try that if you are getting too many selinux related problems.