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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Which Desktop / Window Manager is most secure? (feddit.de)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I use KDE. Some use GNOME. Most other options are probably to be left out as X11 is unsafe.

Cosmic is not nearly finished, but will probably be a bit safer, as its in rust, even though not tested.

Then there are window managers like Sway, Hyprland, waymonad, wayfire, etc.

RaspberryPi also has their own Wayland Desktop.

Is every Wayland Desktop / WM equally safe, what are other variables here like language, features, control over permissions, etc?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Please do share with me what I do not understand.

A mostly read only filesystem built from a limited number of packages, with other files being in a fixed number of locations mean it is harder for malware to hide.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You can achieve the exact same thing with a normal distro if you mount /var and /boot separately of /. And if you get a root exploit it's just as harmful on either approach.

"Immutable" systems are meant for maintainer comfort not for user security.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No, you can't : in an immutable distro I can reasonably trace almost any file in the filesystem back to the package that created it, and know with a reasonable degree of certainty that the installed version of said file has not been tampered with. That isn't possible an a normal distro.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Sure it is, has been for decades. You can use a read-only root partition, there are many tools to ensure the integrity of everything on it, and tracing files back to their package is a very old feature.