Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Mint Security Controversy Taken Out of Proportions, Distracting From Real Controversies

Clement Lefebvre
Photo from linuxmint.com



Summary: A so-called accusation (made in a personal blog) causes a media storm which neither Clement Lefebvre nor Canonical seem to be happy about

ONE of the best GNU/Linux distros (distributions of GNU, Linux, and desktop environments, complete with general-purpose applications), based on relative measures of popularity at least, is Linux Mint. It is so popular that in DistroWatch it beats Ubuntu sometimes. Canonical, which is in the centre of several controversies (over trademarks, privacy, and request for 'licensing' of binary packages) must realise that alternatives like Linux Mint can outgrow Ubuntu. There is a screenshots tour of Linux Mint 16 [1] and the release is imminent (now in RC [2-5]).



"Neither side was particularly upset over the original remarks, so to frame it otherwise would be somewhat dishonest."Some people want us to believe that Canonical uses FUD to discourage exploration of Mint as an alternative to Ubuntu (which Mint is a derivative of). Those people, however, base their analysis on the words of just one developer [6] whose words are rebutted by the Mint founder [7] (he is also unhappy about the source of the drama, namely Muktware [8,9], which led to more such coverage [10,11,12]). In trying to judge this, the whole scenario was a demonstration of media gone somewhat rogue, hostile where opportunism lies.

We have been watching this controversy closely for a number of days and it seems like sensationalist authors did a disservice and created an unnecessary rift. Neither side was particularly upset over the original remarks, so to frame it otherwise would be somewhat dishonest. It is very different from what happened recently when it comes to trademarks. Canonical and Shuttleworth (personally) were at fault and the EFF points this out in some follow-ups [13,14,15]. It is important to keep a sober balance and only criticise Canonical (Ubuntu steward) where the company (as a matter of company-wise policy) does something unethical. Presumption of guilt only leads to noise and distraction from the real issues.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Linux Mint 16 Petra Cinnamon Desktop screenshot preview
    Linux Mint 16, code-named Petra, will be the next stable edition of Linux Mint, a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. It could be released sometime this month or early next month (December).

    This distribution’s release track record suggests that Linux Mint 16 will be released less than two weeks from today. And when that happens, it will be the first stable edition of Linux Mint with Cinnamon 2.0 desktop pre-installed.


  2. Linux Mint 16 release candidate available for download
    Today in Open Source: Download the release candidate of Linux Mint 16. Plus: Will preloads help Linux? And the top five Linux games


  3. Linux Mint 16 RC released
  4. Linux Mint 16 RC Is Out With Cinnamon, MATE Desktops
    The release candidate version is now out for Linux Mint 16 'Petra' with MATE and Cinnamon 2.0 desktop flavors.

    It's getting close to another six-month update for the Ubuntu-based Linux Mint and the big feature this time around is the Cinnamon 2.0 desktop.


  5. Linux Mint 16 RC Brings Cinnamon 2.0 and MATE 1.6
    Clement Lefebvre had the pleasure of announcing a few hours ago, November 15, 2013, that the Release Candidate version of both the Cinnamon and MATE editions of the upcoming Linux Mint 16 operating systems are now available for download, and testing, from mirrors worldwide.


  6. Ubuntu dev, media slammed over 'security' comment
    Among these outlets were the OMGUbuntu and Muktware sites, both of which only deal with Linux and FOSS stories. In that context, it was even more surprising that they carried such reports.

    Muktware editor Swapnil Bhartiya was asked whether reporter Monika Bhati, the person who filed the story quoting Grawert and contributing to the hysteria, was a Linux user and also whether she had taken a look at the Mint update utility before writing.

    His response: "She is a resident journalist and uses Windows/Linux. We got Robin Jacobs to dive into the git pages and comments in LM to see how updates are labelled."

    Jacobs also wrote a story which, in effect, contradicted Bhati's story - and both stories appeared within 4€½ hours of each other on November 18.

    The editor of OMGUbuntu, which contributed to the same idea being spread, was asked similar questions to those put to Muktware.
  7. Answering controversy: Stability vs Security is something you configure
  8. Linux Mint falsely accused of being “insecure”


  9. Canonical developer criticizes Linux Mint’s security, called ‘a vulnerable system’
    Ubuntu developer Oliver Grawert does not prefer to do online banking with Linux Mint. The reason being its unsecure handling of packaging upgrades that could leave the system vulnerable to attacks.


  10. Canonical Developer Criticizes Linux Mint's Security


  11. Does Linux Mint need better security?
    There have been disturbing reports in the media about Linux Mint having security problems. Is this something to worry about or has it been wildly overblown by the press?


  12. Lead Ubuntu Developer Claims Linux Mint is an Unsecure Distro – Is It?


  13. EFF responds: Mark Shuttleworth is still wrong"
    Though Lee was not required, by the law, to remove the logo he removed it.


  14. Trademark Law Does Not Require Companies To Tirelessly Censor the Internet
    Over the past few days, EFF and one of our staff technologists, the talented Micah Lee, have had an illuminating back and forth with Canonical Ltd over the use of the Ubuntu mark. While we don’t believe that Canonical has acted with malice or intent to censor, its silly invocation of trademark law is disturbing. After all, not everyone has easy recourse to lawyers and the ability to push back.

    That matters, because Canonical’s actions reflect a much bigger problem: a pervasive and unfounded belief that if you don’t police every unauthorized use of a trademark you are in danger of losing it. We hope that some clarity on this point might help companies step back from wasteful and censorious trademark enforcement.

    First, some background. This particular story begins in 2012, when Canonical made the disappointing and widely criticized decision to integrate Amazon results into searches conducted through Ubuntu’s desktop dash (this meant that a user searching for one of her own files would receive results from Amazon). At the time, we argued that this default setting raised significant privacy concerns. A few weeks ago, Micah published a web site—at https://fixubuntu.com—that provided users with code to disable this privacy-invasive “feature.”


  15. Electronic Frontier Foundation Goes After Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical
    The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization devoted to the protection of freedom in the open source world, has criticized Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth.




Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
 
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025