Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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A thought just hit me -- "Windows = The HOA of operating systems" (lemmy.one)

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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An HOA (home owners associations) can say what color you can paint your house, What you can plant in your yard, What you can have in your driveway, and some even say what color your blinds can be.

Microsoft controls your computer, they say what info is sent back to Microsoft, and they say when you must upgrade. They can shut down your computer when they want whether you like it or not.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (3 children)

You trust their repos.
With every apt update, they could push whatever code they want onto your PC.
Same as with literally any binary-based OS.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Someone definitely reads the changed code of Gentoo packages. You are saying that every operating system on the planet is untrustworthy, besides gentoo and a few other source-based distros, but let's target Ubuntu in particular.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying you need to trust the people making your OS cause no way in hell is anyone else able to audit every update they push.
Whether your OS is trustworthy depends on their history. In that regard, I'd give Ubuntu a solid B-

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

You're so nice. Here they have deserved a C- for at least the last 5 years, and declined to a D during the last 2.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Fair enough

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

Not sure why you specify binary-based OS's. Following Gentoo's upgrade guide also gets you potentially whatever they want on your systemp

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How does that work, exactly? I don't actually know. Are they compiling their own copies of the upstream code changes?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, they're taking the source code from upstream, modifying ("patching") it, compiling it, then uploading their compiled binaries to the Ubuntu repo where your system downloads them during an update.

You can technically download the source code as well, if you activate the source repo. But hardly any end user does. And the source code you get doesn't compile to the same binary you get from the repo anyway. (This would be called a "reproducible build". Some distros try to be reproducible. Ubuntu doesn't, they have other priorities.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Thank you. That makes sense why some downstream distros designed for specific purposes (e.g. gaming) might include a handful of their own repos for specific software.