I just came across this website that describes everything that is wrong with Flatpak in a concise way. It is a short read and really worth looking into.
https://www.flatkill.org/
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interesting
I would not say it covers everything wrong, but it does highlight the security concerns.
It is interesting to me, as I consider Flatpaks to be generally better than Snap packages. Which just goes to show how very little I think of Snap.
Hummm...
So snap and flatpack are "bad" i dont know nothing about that, but i see in software APP (zorin store) that some flatpack have updates ( i mean automatically updates) or Im wrong?
Yeah, you'll get the latest with flat/snap, but that's not the point. You can get that as well with added PPA from official source(s) like Sporify or Inkscape.
Damn, I was not aware of those issues. Thanks for bringing them. I have migrated to Flatpaks in my instalation of Z16 cause I thought they were safer and "the next step".
But given its poor theme support in Z16 (wasnt as bad in Z15) and the issues raised here, I will go back to the good ol' PPAs where possible.
I have a couple questions though. How much safer/better are PPAs in comparison? Do they have sand-boxing?
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You really cannot sandbox most applications. Applications share object files and sandboxes will break this interdependency.
It is redundant, as well. Once past the firewall, now sandboxing. Once past the sandbox, then what? On Linux, even?
Security on Linux should be taken seriously. But really, sandboxing is hyper-reactive.
As the article above shows, flatpak is not safer or more secure. But not being so does not make PPA safer. You would say they are about equally safe.
I find PPA to be better as it has more widespread support, is well established and directly maintained when maintained.
Flatpak can bring some advantages and there are times when a flatpak may suit a users needs. For example, in a case when it hauls along its own dependencies and is a higher version.
But it being the Safer Next Step? No... It's just an alternative that does not meet its expectations and brings several new problems along with it. I consider System Breakage to be just above the Annoying Mark.
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