If this is not AI generated, this is well imitated (with the many bullet points in particular)
kstrauser · 2h ago
I never understand these comments. This adds nothing to the discussion. And as the editor of Linux Journal, I bet George has written plenty of bullet lists over the years. Maybe the AIs are copying him, you know?
duskwuff · 1h ago
It's an expression of concern - is this article actually an expression of someone's thoughts about a topic of concern, or did someone just ask ChatGPT to write them an article about Flatpak security?
kstrauser · 47m ago
A great way to address those concerns would be to look at the reputation of the person being questioned, who in this case is the editor of Linux Journal. That doesn't prove he'd never use AI, but it does mean it's not some random blogger trying to sell their reputation for cheap karma before anyone notices.
But really, I don't care. I'm far more annoyed with people racing to cash in with "this looks like it was written by AI" on every. single. post. Yeah, we get it. It does not make the accuser look more clever or insightful. It makes them look like a pest.
freedomben · 1h ago
Indeed, I've been making bullet point lists like that since college when I had a communications professor drive it into our heads. Yes AI loves the bullet point list, but just including one does not make it AI. This is yet another step on the overall reduction in quality of writing. Now we have to avoid bullet point lists, and inject typos and other things into our writing to make it seem more "human." It's a road to sadness and the dumbing down of society IMHO.
WesolyKubeczek · 2h ago
I can speak in listicles and use em-dashes — correctly, mind you! — using only organic neurochemistry-based intelligence of my brain.
fake-name · 33m ago
Flatpak, Snap, appimage, etc...
I have pretty fastidiously avoided ever using any of the "package everything into the image" projects, and my life has been considerably better off.
All these things serve to do is make the developer experience easier, at the cost of delivering a much worse user experience.
I can't think of any reason a user would ever prefer packaged variant of something.
WesolyKubeczek · 1h ago
Flatpak's "sandbox" is mostly theater, and it gives little when it comes to privacy. Apart from the obvious that packages sometimes come with overly broad permissions to be usable at all (but you are still given a marketing pitch about enhanced safety, granted, flatpak.org doesn't do it but flathub does), the fact that some paths are denied or some access is revoked is also a data point.
I'd like to have a system where I can choose to give any bitmap, movie, or blank screen when an application asks me for permission to use my camera. It shouldn't know that I have denied it. When it asks for my microphone, I should be able to choose to make it think I allowed it microphone access with dummy audio stream with no audio or audio of my choice. When it asks me to open a file, or a directory, it should invoke a system dialog that cannot be faked, and when I pick a file/directory for it, that directory or file should be bind-mounted into its mount namespace without giving it extra information about other files beside it, or indeed what's the full path of the file. When recording a screen, I should be able to pick which regions and which applications it should be able to see, and the system should make it think it's all there is.
All the while the application doesn't even have to cooperate. This is the important bit.
I think the pieces to do this are mostly there already (portals, Pipewire, namespaces), it's just a lot of faff to actually implement.
CaliforniaKarl · 32m ago
That reminds me of something iOS is doing (though I don't know when it was introduced).
An app wanted permission to my photos. In addition to the normal "Allow" and "Deny" options, I was also given the option to allow a subset of photos. I chose that option, and was given the normal photos UI, as if I was selecting a set of photos to share or delete. I guess in the back-end, iOS constructed a new photos library consisting of just the ones I selected.
It was cool! And it's good to see things at least one of the things you describe is being shown to a large number of folks. Hopefully that'll drive momentum to wider adoption.
Modified3019 · 49m ago
I believe this is part of what [Spectrum OS](https://spectrum-os.org/) is ultimately trying to do. That said, while it’s being actively developed, it’s not a trivial effort and is nowhere near “download the iso and daily drive it”.
bestorworse · 1h ago
I want that as well, but I don't think it's practical to do that on the Linux desktop ecosystem. Too slow, too much politics. The gist of it is done by Android though, but that required extensive re-engineering of the user space.
I would love the capabilities you describe, but I don't think it's fair to call flatpak "mostly theater." Yes plenty of flatpak apps require you to broaden their perms to the point where the sandbox starts to feel pretty weak, and there is plenty more to do on the system, but I think it's a good step forward.
AlienRobot · 58m ago
Then it's never going to happen.
Linux desktop is a huge mountain of "why this basic obvious stuff just doesn't work?"
I mean just stop to consider this. It's 2025. You are still not guaranteed to be able to close an application by moving the mouse all the way to the top right and clicking, because sometimes the X button has a margin at the top. This is insane to me. This is like such a basic thing that I have no idea how do you even manage to get it wrong.
If Linux can't even get the X button right, do you seriously expect anything else to ever get fixed?
pstuart · 31m ago
That's a desktop issue, not a linux issue.
AlienRobot · 22m ago
I don't remember installing "desktop" on my computer.
But really, I don't care. I'm far more annoyed with people racing to cash in with "this looks like it was written by AI" on every. single. post. Yeah, we get it. It does not make the accuser look more clever or insightful. It makes them look like a pest.
I have pretty fastidiously avoided ever using any of the "package everything into the image" projects, and my life has been considerably better off.
All these things serve to do is make the developer experience easier, at the cost of delivering a much worse user experience.
I can't think of any reason a user would ever prefer packaged variant of something.
I'd like to have a system where I can choose to give any bitmap, movie, or blank screen when an application asks me for permission to use my camera. It shouldn't know that I have denied it. When it asks for my microphone, I should be able to choose to make it think I allowed it microphone access with dummy audio stream with no audio or audio of my choice. When it asks me to open a file, or a directory, it should invoke a system dialog that cannot be faked, and when I pick a file/directory for it, that directory or file should be bind-mounted into its mount namespace without giving it extra information about other files beside it, or indeed what's the full path of the file. When recording a screen, I should be able to pick which regions and which applications it should be able to see, and the system should make it think it's all there is.
All the while the application doesn't even have to cooperate. This is the important bit.
I think the pieces to do this are mostly there already (portals, Pipewire, namespaces), it's just a lot of faff to actually implement.
An app wanted permission to my photos. In addition to the normal "Allow" and "Deny" options, I was also given the option to allow a subset of photos. I chose that option, and was given the normal photos UI, as if I was selecting a set of photos to share or delete. I guess in the back-end, iOS constructed a new photos library consisting of just the ones I selected.
It was cool! And it's good to see things at least one of the things you describe is being shown to a large number of folks. Hopefully that'll drive momentum to wider adoption.
Risking getting down voted but I don't want to repeat myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43255985
Linux desktop is a huge mountain of "why this basic obvious stuff just doesn't work?"
I mean just stop to consider this. It's 2025. You are still not guaranteed to be able to close an application by moving the mouse all the way to the top right and clicking, because sometimes the X button has a margin at the top. This is insane to me. This is like such a basic thing that I have no idea how do you even manage to get it wrong.
If Linux can't even get the X button right, do you seriously expect anything else to ever get fixed?