https://mullvad.net/en/help/install-mullvad-app-linux
Trying to install VPN and these are the instructions Mullvad is giving me. This is ridiculous. There must be a more simple way. I know how to follow the instructions but I have no idea what I’m doing here. Can’t I just download a file and install it? I’m on Ubuntu.
Yes and with good reason. To prevent people like yourself from downloading and running malware.
Horseshit. Why do people endlessly promote Linux only to turn around and express smugness, gatekeeping, and hostility to new users?
You’re not even correct. The Everything as a file philosophy isn’t an antivirus program. Like it’s impossible to get malware by blindly pasting script into a terminal.
This attitude is a bigger obstacle to adoption than games compatibility.
Because you chose to phrase it as an insult. “To keep people like you from doing X” has a very different connotation than “this is a security feature that helps protect inexperienced users from malware.” One is helpful, one is demeaning.
You are reading too much into the comment.
Because that’s your typical neck beard Linux douchebag. Linux is not intuitive, it runs well, but it’s not intuitive at all for new users.
It’s often not intuitive for *Windows users.
Even then, most of the time it actually is.
Yes, this could’ve been a script (I hate when install instructions use curl+sh) that does who knows what and maybe 5% of users would bother to crack it open. Adding the repo and key means a hacker would have to replace at least two things in order to slip in malware.
Is malware specifically a problem on Linux then?
Specifically, no. Far less malware on Linux. But it’s still a computer system that can execute code.
It’s a problem anywhere, centralised software repositories help combat it to a degree.