In the Free and Open Source communities we are proud of our 'bazaar' model, where anyone can join in by setting up a project and publishing their programs. Users are free to pick and choose whatever software they want... provided they're happy to compile from source, resolve dependencies manually and give up automatic security and feature updates. In this essay, I introduce 'decentralised' installation systems, such as Autopackage and Zero Install, which aim to provide these missing features.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-09-17
Why can't the directory name be the program name (as opposed to the URL)--i.e. gimp-2.3-- so it can be installed off of CD? I don't understand what about making the folder a hash makes it more secure than, say, storing the hash information in a separate protected file within the program's folder.
OK, so Alice puts a CD in the drive with 'gimp-2.3.tgz' on it. How can the system know that it's genuine? Anyone could make such a CD. The system can't tell, so it can't share it with Bob.
But, if the CD contains an archive called 'sha256=XYZ.tgz', then it can be put in the shared directory. The system can see that it's correct just by comparing the archive's contents to its name.
Member since:2005-07-06
Hmm... while your solution does sound perhaps a bit more elegant, I still don't see why the system couldn't extract an identifier text file from the archive and then compare it to the archive's contents. Also, just to be clear: comparing the hash to the contents wouldn't do a thing to ensure security all by itself; it would also need to be compared to the hash at the project's website, right? Otherwise anyone could create malware and provide a hash to match it, but make it look like normal software. Furthermore, don't the archive contents have to be re-analyzed every time you want to verify their authenticity? So given that the website needs to be accessed and the hash needs to be recalculated in any case, couldn't we just skip the step with the local copy of the hash?
To rephrase: The hash being stored in the local filesystem does very little to ensure integrity of the program. Only by checking the folder's contents against an online hash of its contents can ensure the program's security, which effectively renders the local copy of the hash useless.
Or am I missing something?
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.Google added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
"Android and iOS, the number one and number two ranked smartphone operating systems worldwide, combined for 92.3% of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013 as Windows Phone crept past BlackBerry for 3rd place. According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android smartphone vendors and Apple shipped a total of 199.5 million units worldwide during 1Q13, up 59.1% from the 125.4 million units shipped during 1Q12." Windows Phone doubles from a few to twice few, iOS loser market share as its growth is slower than that of the overall market. BlackBerry continues slide into irrelevance."According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits." Wow."During its Keynote today, Google announced new features coming to its flagship search function - you know, that thing we all started using Google for. VP Amit Singhal spent some time discussing what Google's search functionality will eventually morph into. Google's strategy is summarized by three words: answer, converse, and anticipate. Singhal explained that many of the pieces of these upcoming changes can already be seen in products that Google has recently introduced - namely, Google Knowledge Graph and Google Now, with perhaps a splash of Google Glass, too." I hold on to my hat every time Google changes Search. It's such a vital product in my daily life.
Member since:
2005-07-06
I should have been clearer: the installation system does this on behalf of Alice. It gets the hash from the XML file describing the Gimp; all Alice has to do is find the link to the XML file.
Aha ok. Although I still feel like having some sort of real-name identifier there would help the administrator find the folder in case of a problem. Why can't the directory name be the program name (as opposed to the URL)--i.e. gimp-2.3-- so it can be installed off of CD? I don't understand what about making the folder a hash makes it more secure than, say, storing the hash information in a separate protected file within the program's folder.
Right. Ideally, there should be multiple feeds for this information. Currently, there's only mine, which is "unreliable" because I don't have the resources to check out people's keys or offer any compensation if I'm wrong.
Aha. Cleared up, although as it is now it's clearly not a long-term solution. My only gripe with the model is that in an office setting, users might not be able to install any software they wanted, since they would be probably be locked into a list of software on a predefined whiteboard server. However, I suppose that the problem of "missing software" would probably be much scarcer than in today's repository model, since hosting such a whiteboard server that certifies URLs rather than individual versions of programs is undoubtedly much easier than having to package and test every new iteration of software by hand.