Microsoft Still Loves Git & Continues Working On Improvements

[Danny3]

Android is open source, yet I can never get any third party ROM running on my phone due to the vendor doesn't want to open source their own kernel.
And I got tortured by watching those apps and built in mysterious code uploading my data to who knows where. I was stupid enough to buy a phone without researching.
Lesson learned, open source is not a silver bullet, you need GPL V3.

You could try Lineage OS (former Cyanogenmod) with built-in Privacy Guard app and install AFWall+ (requires root, easily done in Lineage) from F-droid to make sure no app is "uploading your data to who knows where" without you knowing it.

[bpetty]

I was reading about their virtualized git file system. It is essentially just a git-aware lazy loaded FS right? So you get the appearance of blazing fast speed... because you haven't actually downloaded anything. I like how they show their super fast clone times, but they neglect to mention their first build time.

[Danny3]

Thank for the advice.
I know LineageOS and did some research on it before complaining. And that's where the "I was stupid enough to buy a phone without researching" came from.
My device is not on the supported list. And without the vendor releasing source of their kernel, it's hard to port the os with proper hardware support.

I wasn't sure exactly what you meant by "I was stupid enough to buy a phone without researching" and I thought that maybe you have a supported phone and you don't know about it.
Sorry to hear that's not the case.
In my case, I'm used to flash my routers and phones with custom (open source firmware) like DD-WRT, Tomato and Cyanogenmod for many years, so I'm always buying only devices which support this.
I must admit, I too, was in the past stupid enough to buy 2 Nvidia GPUs (desktop and integrated) without researching the Linux support, but now I've learned my lesson in this area too.

One last advice...
Even though your phone is not supported by Lineage, if you root your device, you can still get some advantages...
For example, what I did on my rooted Samsung phone with stock rom:
1. Removed system applications from
- Google
- Samsung
- Vodafone
2. Installed AFWall+ firewall from F-droid to whitelist some applications.
Installed Xposed framework and some privacy add-ons for it to get some cool features that normally exists only on custom ROMs or newer android versions.

AFWall+ and Xposed are pretty powerful in my opinion and I think they can help you a little with privacy and security until you get a new phone.
Best of luck!

[nanonyme]

I was reading about their virtualized git file system. It is essentially just a git-aware lazy loaded FS right? So you get the appearance of blazing fast speed... because you haven't actually downloaded anything. I like how they show their super fast clone times, but they neglect to mention their first build time.

It's actually most likely faster in first build in single repo case in CI where you only need a smallish subset of the repo to build but may end up recloning a lot if your builders get recycled

[fulalas]

That's not a git problem, that's just something Windows seems to suffer with in general.

That's not exactly true. As much as I love Linux, one thing about it that drives me crazy is the dependency nightmare. Everything depends on a lots of third party libraries, and it's not always easy to solve them. I know this is not an intrinsic Linux issue, but more like a developer policy -- why don't they include everything (static link, maybe), for Newton's sake? But in practice on Windows you usually download an application and it comes with everything it needs -- lots of applications are even portable! On Linux, however, this is not the common case.

[jurgel]

I still don't get it about privacy, what do we actually lose?
For example google track our search and location to give better ads on this site. Isn't it better if we see more relevant ads?

Why people too paranoid? Even there's a phone built for privacy focus (Purism/Libre).
Or am I missing something?

[Vistaus]

Thank for the advice.
I know LineageOS and did some research on it before complaining. And that's where the "I was stupid enough to buy a phone without researching" came from.
My device is not on the supported list. And without the vendor releasing source of their kernel, it's hard to port the os with proper hardware support.

I know what you mean with the kernel source and all, but I just want to point out that a "supported list" does not always say anything. For example, the app that I used to root my tablet said that my tablet wasn't on the supported list either, but it worked anyway. In your case, it's true but like I said: it doesn't have to be.

[ssokolow]

That's not exactly true. As much as I love Linux, one thing about it that drives me crazy is the dependency nightmare. Everything depends on a lots of third party libraries, and it's not always easy to solve them. I know this is not an intrinsic Linux issue, but more like a developer policy -- why don't they include everything (static link, maybe), for Newton's sake?

Because it's a Hard Problem™.

On one end of the spectrum, the infamous DLL Hell came about because early versions of Windows allowed applications full control to manage their own dependencies without providing any kind of isolation, so they wound up stomping all over each other.

On the other end of the spectrum, Docker (the current popular solution for "including everything" for server applications) is lambasted because of what a security regression it is to bundle everything and then pass the buck by saying that any users who are relying on others to ensure their containers get security updates (as opposed to building their own) is Doing It Wrong™.

What you need is some middle-ground where applications which bring along their dependencies don't collide, but security updates can be pushed out in a unified fashion.

But in practice on Windows you usually download an application and it comes with everything it needs -- lots of applications are even portable! On Linux, however, this is not the common case.

It's being worked on. Not only is Flatpak bundled deployment for desktop apps, they have a "runtimes" concept with effects comparable to Microsoft's combination of WinSxS and Windows File Protection, allowing shared dependencies without collisions so security updates (or compatibility updates like adding Wayland support to SDL) can be done in a unified way.

[polarathene]

What you need is some middle-ground where applications which bring along their dependencies don't collide, but security updates can be pushed out in a unified fashion.

You partially get that with Docker since it uses the host kernel doesn't? So the recent vulnerabilities that got fixed in a kernel would be easy to do security update for vs multiple VMs? I definitely prefer Docker containers over managing updates/conflicts of packages on host system for various projects.

[chithanh]

The Linux fan in me loves that ntfs+git = suck. But since I have to use ntfs+git for work I would like to see the situation improve. (I should have taken the Macbook when they offered it, I'm stupid.)

Even running Linux in a VM will outperform ntfs. And working for a company that mandates running Windows or OS X? Yuck.

If I'm annoyed at the Mac/Windows users around here I am always tempted to check in two files with filenames identical except for capitalization.

I know this is not an intrinsic Linux issue, but more like a developer policy -- why don't they include everything (static link, maybe), for Newton's sake?

Because having more than one copy of the same thing is undesirable. And versions will diverge quickly. And then you have a security bug in bundled libpng, what do you do now?

No, the only solution is to have those dependencies installed and managed via your distro's package manager

Because it's a Hard Problem™.

The problem has been solved, and the solution is nix/guix.