Should automatic updates be "forced" in Linux distros reaching EOL?

I know Microsoft shoving updates down consumers' throat (+ forcefully rebooting) is a very controversial move, and I get it. However, what if distro maintainers put out a prompt to upgrade their system to the next supported version or the latest LTS (if there's an upgrade path for it) once the OS is close to reaching EOL (or a watermark notifying them about it)? That way, the user wouldn't have to worry so much about being secured. They can, of course, opt-out if they wish to, but at least they'll understand what's up.

As a person who works & lives with people that are not tech-literate, updates are the last thing on their minds, and they tend to ignore it. I've got coworkers coming to me just to update their system from Windows 7 to 10 because they've left it alone for so long & only found out about 7 being EOL when I was swapping their computers with one running on Windows 10 & informed them about it.

My dad is probably the most closest example I can think of. He currently uses Ubuntu on his desktop, and I maintain his system from time to time + added Canonical's livepatch. I did teach him how to update his system using the GUI, but there was a time when I left it alone for about 3-5 months (maybe more, I lose track of time) and it racked up a lot of updates.

Linux Mint recently shared a blog post about roughly 5-30% of their users still using version 17, and I'm guessing its because those users are the normies who have updates as the last thing on their minds. My dad would be in the same position if I wasn't there to do it for him.

I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Edit: I just want to clarify I'm asking this question with the "regular"/"general" user in mind, not the ones who know what they're doing.

Edit 2: this question only apply to consumer desktops, and not the corporate world (thanks /u/high-tech-low-life) + the option to opt-out (thanks /u/tmk).

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Linux Logo (1996)
https://lkml.org/lkml/1996/5/12/136

https://redd.it/lp20eb
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spotify-qt: A lightweight Spotify client in Qt/C++
https://github.com/kraxarn/spotify-qt

https://redd.it/lp36uq
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I wrote the BIPLAN programming language, on linux looks 1370 times faster than python
https://github.com/gioblu/BIPLAN#code-example

https://redd.it/lox5yw
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Is ONLYOFFICE a web-app ?

Hi friends,

I was watching a video from TheLinuxExperiment about ONLYOFFICE and I've heard him say a couple of times that it's actually a web-application rather than a full program. (This video : https://youtu.be/0ixu62598Mk)

This made me think a bit, because I always thought a web-app was just a website designed as an application but was still running within a browser and required internet to work (since you don't really install anything).

But in the case of ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors (and not the one used within a cloud) requires an installation on your machine and actually works offline without a browser. Which makes it more like LibreOffice than Google Docs and Office online (which are from what I know, actual web-apps).

Is there something I didn't understand about web-application ? Or is the person in the video simply making a small mistake about web-applications and programs ?

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r/linuxwifi: A subreddit for WiFi-related GNU/Linux discussion & support

Hi

One of my hobbies is Wireless Networking in Linux, and one of the things that bothers me is that there is no place on reddit for Linux WiFi-related support, and it seems to have been spread across different subreddits such as r/linuxquestions, r/linuxhardware, r/linux4noobs etc.

I have created a new subreddit, r/linuxwifi, in the hopes of organizing a community to support & discuss Linux Wireless Networking and provide support to those who have issues in installation, operation etc.

We have created multiple troubleshooting posts which go through the main troubleshooting steps in debugging a failing network card in Linux, and we plan to create a Wiki. We would also greatly appreciate any of your contributions. I am posting this here to raise awareness of the subreddit in the hopes we can provide greater support for the Linux Wireless community.

Thanks!

r/linuxwifi moderators

https://redd.it/lp76og
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pfs | Parsing the Linux procfs

Finally finished writing the first version of my newest library :)

A C++ library for parsing the Linux procfs: https://github.com/dtrugman/pfs

I thought it might be interesting to write about the decisions I've made while writing it, so I also wrote a short blog about it: https://dtrugman.medium.com/parsing-the-linux-procfs-f7343931d864

Let me know what you think about it, I would love to hear some feedback!

https://redd.it/lp7439
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Writing Bash Scripts that are not only Bash: Checking for Bashisms and testing with Dash

Not every shell is Bash or Zsh. Here is a checklist I use to keep tabs on my own noscript writing. Does my noscript:

1. Avoid double-bracket tests [[ ]] and instead use single-brackets [ ]
2. Use printf instead of echo -e when newlines '\n' need to be printed
3. Use no other read flag other than -r, as in read -r
4. Avoid Bash's convenience redirects: use >myfile 2>&1 to redirect stdout and stderr to a file rather than &>myfile
5. Test accurately with dash shell or posh: Policy-compliant Ordinary SHell
6. Only use standard flags and options with common utilities such as sed, grep, cut, test, and others
7. Avoid issues discovered by checkbashisms
8. Avoid issues discovered by shellcheck

I expound upon the above here

By the way, a convenient way to get a dash sandbox without the painful lack of line editing:

docker run -it debian sh -c 'apt update && apt install -y rlfe && rlfe dash'

(Podman works, too, if you prefer that tool to docker.)

Or the same, but with posh:

docker run -it debian sh -c 'apt update && apt install -y posh rlfe && rlfe posh'

And I can't say enough good about shellcheck. It may be even more useful for testing than a POSIX-compliant shell.

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Linux as a step towards better Online and offline privacy.

Hey all! I hope this post is okay here I know there is linuxquestions but this isn't a troubleshooting post so I thought it might be okay here?

So recently I have become a little more aware of my privacy on the internet, and so over the past few weeks I have been slowly going through the laborious process of deleting all of my accounts on the internet, with reddit and google being the last survivors as I'm still using them.

And I thought the next step would be to make the switch to linux, however I'm not sure if I fully understand what linux has to offer in that respect, it might be that I am over my head a little as I don't know how to code, so I want to make sure linux actually offers what I am looking for if that makes sense.

Obviously the biggest advantage of using linux is that its open source, so no bloatware/spy-were, there is also a huge community (like this one hey!) of people who make free open source software for linux which I would trust much more than some over random company, I can update things exactly when I want to no forced updates, and I know you can set up vpn's that are supposedly better because they communicate directly with the router (or something?) but as you can see that Is about where my knowledge ends, appart from that I don't really know what else linux has too offer in terms of my privacy so if anyone that uses linux for this purpose maybe you can fill in the gaps for me.

​

As a bonus if someone could tell me about maintaining my anonymity online that would also be great I know basic things, like if you need an account on a platform use an email that isn't attached to anything else, a good vpn, tor browser, but apart from that I don't know. I know this isn't really the place but I don't really know about any internet privacy subreddits that are bigger than 1k.

Thank you for reading all.

Edit: (that community isn't 1K its 1M my bad... ill post something there.)

https://redd.it/lpb1pt
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Does it seem like everyone loves KDE Plasma?

Just sort of a passing notice that there is a lot of love for KDE Plasma out there and that a lot of the Linux related stuff i watch and listen to (Youtube and Podcasts) seems to be filled with a lot of Plasma fans and users. Are they a vocal minority or do you all think KDE Plasma is probably the most popular DE?

https://redd.it/lp785x
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Night Theme Switcher GNOME Shell Extension

https://redd.it/lpdpz1
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Is having Linux and Apple ok?

Hi, I have an iPhone and an iPad which I have a great use already. Banking, content consuming and other stuff.

I have this Windows notebook which isn’t fitting in my routine anymore and became basically a desktop. However, there a few applications which I use sometimes, so I can’t get rid of a major OS yet.

I was wondering replacing it for Mac Mini, but I really love Linux. I used Slackware from 1999 to 2011.

Now my heart wants Linux back, but having two Apple products makes it sound strange.

Can you guys shed some light into it?

https://redd.it/lpdlq0
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Linux Kernel 5.4 is Rolling Out Via Windows Update

The new WSL 2 kernel based on the 5.4 branch is rolling out. To get the latest WSL 2 kernel updates via Windows Update you need 'Receive updates for other Microsoft products when you update Windows' checked in Windows Update Advanced options.

https://preview.redd.it/7mro7xg3izi61.jpg?width=814&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e5ad6543d15c03ba63521739622f92206984e767

https://redd.it/lpieag
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Open Source video watch party setup

I was frustrated by having to use closed source tools or services to do watch parties with friends, so I thought I would put together a vm that I could stream to more-or-less any video conferencing platform.

Video is on LBRY/Odysee.com: https://odysee.com/@nicktrains:b/100-open-source-video-watch-party-setup:a?r=Do3J3H2MYw7duM9sfXsVREfiyANjdTgy

or youtube: https://youtu.be/rhSfWyps8Sc

https://redd.it/lpjfbq
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Not able to install Tensorflow on Ubuntu 20.04

I tried to install Tensorflow on Ubuntu 20.04 using pip3 install tensorflow Error: could not find a version that satisfies the requirement tensorflow (from versions : None) no matching distribution found for tensorflow. Kindly someone guide me through this.

https://redd.it/lpk3rl
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Rhythmbox’s Much-Needed Makeover Might Not Be Happening

The sad state of Linux music players. 14 competing music apps all with major flaws and the 15th just around the corner. I wish rhythmbox would see some momentum. Lots of plugins have been broken at times. The feature requests pile up. But the devs seem to be fine to just keep it as it is, not even allowing new ideas and motivated devs into the process. It is frustrating.

https://redd.it/lplc92
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IgniteOS a tiny (LFS & MLL based) OS

Hey!

As the noscript says, I would like to share a project I'm currently working on. IgniteOS is built on top of MLL and the LFS guides. It's focus is speed and weightlessness, currently it idling uses less than 1% of my I5 7200U cpu. Spark is another project that is in the works for Ignite, its a small package-installer/auto-from-source-builder which will help automate many tasks and lessen the size of the iso greatly.

What works?
Well, at the moment it can boot from bare-hardware, can connect to the internet, installs applications from static-get as well as Spark being merged into it (should be available in the next release once I fix the OpenSSL issues). Installing the Ignite on a system works as well but requires another OS for the utilities (We will add all of the utilities to Spark as to remove the need for this). Tmux, Links, Vim, Nano, Python, Java as well as a few other applications/utilities work as well (For the full list please refer to either the fire_overlay/bundles/ directory or the README in the main directory of the repo).

What's in the works?

At the moment I am adding Xorg, Ninja and other utilities required for running the x server. Once I'm done with that I will move to adding more packages to Spark, we aim to reach about 1000 packages (including their dependencies) by the end of the year.

We need YOU!!!

At the moment our team has 3 developers with 2 of us working on the package manager for it (more like an auto-builder for different applications). I'm looking for any advice, ideas and testers. Anything helps!

OS GitHub link: **github.com/huski3/igniteos**

Spark GitHub Link: **github.com/huski3/spark**

https://redd.it/lpmimq
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No regrets

I wanted to share my experience, as a first time Linux user. I'm a CS student and my laptop is old and slow. I decided a month ago to try Linux Mint as it runs faster than Windows and Linux is often used in CS classes. I absolutely don't regret it, it runs super fast, Linux Mint is pretty customizable. Installing it via Rufus was very smooth. Typing commands instead of using the interface saves a lot of time (and it's satisfying) I'm definetly not going back to Windows for work laptops. Loving it !

https://redd.it/lpnred
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Nextcloud Hub 21 released with up to 10x better performance, whiteboard and more collaboration features
https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-hub-21-out-with-up-to-10x-better-performance-whiteboard-and-more-collaboration-features/

https://redd.it/lpnsph
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Building Your Mouseless Development Environment

Hello everybody!

One and a half year ago, I was wondering: would anybody be interested by a book describing how to build a system where the Linux shell would be the most important tool, from an empty hard disk to a complete development environment? Would anybody like some guidance to build their first Linux-based "Mouseless Development Environment"?

I began to poke around and I realized that, indeed, many were interested by the idea. But I was working full time and I also knew I wanted to travel, so I put the project on hold.

After some good old burnout due to my job, I began to travel in Asia in January 2020. And then... you know what's coming.

Covid hit. I had to come back in Europe without any flat (I was subleasing it to other people for 6 months). With difficulties and luck, I ended up with my girlfriend in a temporary flat. I didn't have any job, only the computer I was traveling with (Lenovo x220 for the win!) and some clothes.

Is there a better moment to write? :D

I want to write a book since I'm 10. And now... my first book is out for two weeks already, and I just shipped its first free update this morning! I'm so happy to write that, you have no idea.

Its lengthy name: Building Your Mouseless Development Environment, powered by amazing tools like Arch Linux, i3, Zsh, tmux, and Neovim.

I wasn't alone: I had the support of my family, my friends, my girlfriend, and the amazing subscribers of my newsletter. I shared with them, during the 8 months of intense writing, the process, the doubts, and the ideas I had for the book. They helped me a lot and provided the motivation to keep going. They even helped me proofreading it (I'm not a native English speaker, as you can see).

Long story short, you can now look at the result:

The [book's page](https://themouseless.dev/).
A sample of the book with the entire table of content.
A [quick video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67lbLKTm91U) explaining a bit the Mouseless Development Environment we build throughout the book.
The "behind the scenes": what tools I used to write this book.

This book is not free or open source. If you want to know why, I wrote a bit about it.

https://redd.it/lpnhub
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CubeGet - Portable package manager for Ubuntu/Debian
https://redd.it/lpmvsw
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