As far as I know, that works the same in Linux (…) I imagine many user-friendly distributions do that
None that I have used. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Tuxedo OS and now Garuda Linux all require root permissions to apply any sort of updates.
you can easily set it up so that no password prompt is needed to have the update install
Yeah, that’s part of the problem right there. I think it should be the default setting and you should be able to set it up so that root is needed, not the other way around. But, I don’t know, maybe there are distros that do this.
Sandboxed applications are very much a thing in Linux
Yeah, but they’re few and far between. What is there? The generally hated Snap, Flatpak, and AppImage. Three solutions to the same problem, each doing it differently, each having it’s own issues… One of which is that a lot of applications still don’t support them.
(I’m not sure if sandboxed is the term here, I’ll be honest. But you know the concept I mean.)
I know what you mean, yeah. And, at least in the case of Flatpak, that’s very much the correct term.
All right, so thinking in solutions here—sandboxed applications, no password prompt for updates, and a more alert-y warning when a password prompt is shown. Surely there’s a distro that does the first two things, already?
And also, if no password is needed for updates, the average user will never see a password prompt. Which would make a clandestine .sh file with a password pop-up inherently more worrying.
I’ll have a look-see at some modern distros, I’m pretty sure the no-password-updates is quite normal these days. Also, that does seem to remove some of the necessity of sandboxed applications, if all applications are installed though the official repositories.
None that I have used. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Tuxedo OS and now Garuda Linux all require root permissions to apply any sort of updates.
Yeah, that’s part of the problem right there. I think it should be the default setting and you should be able to set it up so that root is needed, not the other way around. But, I don’t know, maybe there are distros that do this.
Yeah, but they’re few and far between. What is there? The generally hated Snap, Flatpak, and AppImage. Three solutions to the same problem, each doing it differently, each having it’s own issues… One of which is that a lot of applications still don’t support them.
I know what you mean, yeah. And, at least in the case of Flatpak, that’s very much the correct term.
All right, so thinking in solutions here—sandboxed applications, no password prompt for updates, and a more alert-y warning when a password prompt is shown. Surely there’s a distro that does the first two things, already?
And also, if no password is needed for updates, the average user will never see a password prompt. Which would make a clandestine .sh file with a password pop-up inherently more worrying.
I’ll have a look-see at some modern distros, I’m pretty sure the no-password-updates is quite normal these days. Also, that does seem to remove some of the necessity of sandboxed applications, if all applications are installed though the official repositories.