this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Depends on whether you're going to install apps from the official F-Droid repository or not. Third party F-droid repos (like IzzyOnDroid) are not affected by this.
Suppose you have some app (a hypothetical Lemmy app) installed from the official F-Droid repo. You logged in an account, changed some settings. Then the developer announces an update: new features, bug and security fixes. It is published on GitHub and Google Play. F-Droid version will come after a few days, when the maintainer builds the app from source and publishes that update.
You may don't want to wait till update comes to F-droid. But you can't install it from GitHub or Google Play, because it is signed by a different key. You'll have to reinstall the app, which will erase your settings and require logging in again.
This is the hassle you probably may encounter in the future. If you want to avoid it, install official packages from the developers (from GitHub or Google Play). Obtainium can check for updates on GitHub, official and third-party F-Droid repos, and more.
Thanks for the detailed answer. It seems prudent to install from Obtainium.
I'll offer a counterpoint to all the Obtainium fans here: F-Droid is good and "middlemen" aren't always pointless.
F-Droid enforces their own inclusion standards on every app they build. This mainly ensures that all apps are built from source and are 100% free (libre) software. When you "go outside the middleman" and "go directly to the source" you lose that assurance.
I don't think it's worth it for slightly faster updates. I enjoy knowing that I have the four freedoms with every app I install.
Tell me more about these four freedoms
- What is Free Software? - The GNU Project
Thanks for the explanation.
For some it's a trust issue since they F-droid is a middleman however with reproducible builds I don't have that worry. Feels like a good thing to have the code verified twice. I have obtainium as well but had issues with some beta apps I wanted to use like organic maps. Obtainium only works if it is the way it's setup. Organic maps did not follow obtainiums way
Also to use obtainium you actually need to know the app exist, I have a lot of stuff from F-droid I would not have found without it