I’m especially concerned about it being somehow broken, unwieldy, insecure or privacy-invasive.
Case in point; at times I have to rely on a Chromium-based browser if a website decides to misbehave on a Firefox-based browser. Out of the available options I gravitate towards Brave as it seems like the least bad out of the bunch.
Unfortunately, their RPM-package leaves a lot to be desired and has multiple times just been awful to deal with. So much so that I have been using another Chromium-based browser instead that’s available directly from my distro’s repos. But…, I would still switch to Brave in an instant if Brave was found in my distro’s repos. A quick search on repology.org reveals that an up-to-date Brave is packaged in the AUR (unsurprisingly), Manjaro and Homebrew. I don’t feel like changing distros for the sake of a single program, but adding Homebrew to my arsenal of universal package managers doesn’t sound that bad. But, not all universal package managers are created equal, therefore I was interested to know how Homebrew fares compared to the others and if it handles the packaging of the browser without blemishing the capabilities of the browser’s sandbox.
P.S. I expect people to recommend me Distrobox instead. Don’t worry, I have been a staunch user of Distrobox for quite a while now. I have also run Brave through an Arch-distrobox in the past. But due to some concerns I’ve had, I chose to discontinue this. Btw, its Flatpak package ain’t bad either. But unfortunately it’s not official, so I choose to not make use of it for that reason.
I’d advise against using Brave, but that’s a different topic.
Just use the Flatpak. Do not care if it’s official, most packages in traditional package managers are not packaged officially, yet we use them all the time. Check the Flatpak repo instead to see if there’s something wrong.
Maybe check ungoogled chromium too while you’re at it.
most packages in traditional package managers are not packaged officially, yet we use them all the time.
While there’s definitely truth in this, aren’t we already trusting the repos of traditional package manager by choosing to use the associated distro? So, by e.g. choosing to use Debian , you’ve already (somehow) accepted their packages to be ‘thrustworthy’. We already trust the developers of the apps/binaries we use. Therefore, we have two sets of parties we trust by default. I would rather not increase the amount of people I have to trust for software, but I can understand why others might differ on this.
Yes, the main source of trust is in the repository and its maintainers when choosing a distro.
If you think that Brave is the best option, look up what a scumbag Brendan Eich is and the shady monetizing practices the company introduced.
Fun fact: the scumbag Brendan Eich who made Brave is the same scumbag Brendan Eich who made Javascript!
Yay!
The bad practices of its CEO doesn’t inherently write off the software, instead the software’s merits should do the talking. Which Chromium-based browser would you recommend based on its merits?
The bad practices of its CEO doesn’t inherently write off the software
Ah yes, the CEO with his little influence on the products from his company…
Which is Brave collection “donations” and then keeping them, then? Is it a CEO bad practice or a software bad practice?
instead the software’s merits should do the talking.
You’d get a Shawarma from a Hamas-run restaurant, right? Sure, they swear death to all infidels but their cooking is so authentic and great… Who cares that the restaurant funds them!
Which Chromium-bases browser would you recommend based on its merits?
Opera, Vivaldi, ungoogled-chromium, and some others don’t pull the same shit.
You’d get a Shawarma from a Hamas-run restaurant, right?
Honestly, I would seriously consider it if it was the best Shawarma in town. At least to try it once.
Opera, Vivaldi, ungoogled-chromium, and some others don’t pull the same shit.
Honestly, all of these are inferior based on merits. But thanks anyways!
…why would you use homebrew on linux?
You already use an arch container that has access to the AUR, which has literally every package, available on linux.
Also, if anything, flatpaks are THE official (universal) packaging format for Linux, it’s the most widely adopted and most well integrated of the universal packaging formats. I’m not saying that homebrew is bad, just why bother with it when you’ve got 100 other packaging formats that are all better…
You already use an arch container that has access to the AUR, which has literally every package, available on linux.
if anything, flatpaks are THE official (universal) packaging format for Linux
I don’t deny that, I make good use of a ton of flatpaks on my system. I also believe that it’s the best we have. And I would literally switch to Brave as a flatpak if it would satisfy the following:
- Be official and thus maintained by Brave itself.
- Not having to forego its own more powerful sandbox due to (hopefully) current restrictions of Flatpak. Yes, you read that correctly; while flatpaks are arguably the safest way to consume most applications, this doesn’t apply to apps that actually have stronger sandboxes which had to be ‘slimmed down’ when packaged as a flatpak. Thus, currently, for maximum protection, one simply can’t rely on flatpaks for their Chromium-based browsers. If you choose to do so and it has worked out for you wonderfully; that’s awesome, I’ve been there and enjoyed the experience as well. But, I can’t justify it for myself any longer.
I rely on flatpaks for all non-firefox browsers and haven’t had any issues with them, I’ve used the brave flatpaks specifically for almost a year now and no issues…
it’s still factual that flatpaks sandbox is weak by default, especially compared to what chromium provides on its own.
The web process sandboxing is basically the same inside and outside of flatpak.
Would you mind elaborating? First time hearing this and a quick search didn’t resolve it.
https://github.com/refi64/zypak
It lets Chromium use flatpak sub-sandboxes and is basically identical to its normal sandbox in terms of permissions.
I am thankful that zypak exists so that Chromium-based browsers and Electron apps don’t have to explicitly flag
--no-sandboxto continue functioning. However, it doesn’t undermine the fact that native Chromium’s sandbox is more powerful than Flatpak’s sandbox. As such, if one desires security, then one should gravitate towards the native installed one.It lets Chromium use flatpak sub-sandboxes
I think I already addressed that point with
If you choose to do so and it has worked out for you wonderfully; that’s awesome, I’ve been there and enjoyed the experience as well. But, I can’t justify it for myself any longer.
If you meant something else, then please feel free to correct me.
Last time I checked, homebrew on Linux only included cli apps. GUI apps are only available on mac. So you couldn’t use it to install a browser anyway.
Unfortunate. Thanks for the headsup :D !
Brave is worse than Chrome. Affiliate link auto injection, unauthorised selling is copyrighted data, their own unblockable ad network, etc. Use Firefox.
Their business-practices sure do leave a lot to desire, which actually does hurt their trustworthiness; arguably their most valuable asset as a privacy-first browser. Hmm…, good food for thought, thank you!
Use Firefox.
I mostly do already 😅, from OP: “at times I have to rely on a Chromium-based browser if a website decides to misbehave on a Firefox-based browser”.
You can try ungoogled chromium. That is what I use when librewolf won’t work.
Thank you for mentioning that! I had dismissed it due to alleged shortcomings of its security features. While the allegations are (still) there, I’ve never heard any rebuttal or anything else of that matter. Would you happen to know anything in this regard?
Sorry no. I just use it once a month or so for one website and I think it works with FF now.
Thanks anyways!
My only experience with homebrew is on macOS and I’ve switched to MacPorts there. Homebrew did some weird permissions things I didn’t care for (chowned all of /usr/local to $USER, if I’m remembering right). It worked fine on a single user system, but seemed like a bad philosophy to me. This was years ago and I don’t know how it behaves on Linux.
I also prefer Firefox, but when I need a Chromium alternative for testing, I opt for the flatpak (or the snap) version personally.
Homebrew did some weird permissions things
I should look into this. Thank you!
check Nix instead.
Nix is definitely cool and I already have it installed on my system. Unfortunately, even Nix has trouble with keeping Brave up-to-date at all times. It’s still on 1.59.120, while Brave has had three releases since. It took about 3 days after the release of version 1.59.120 for them to release it on their repos. As you can see, it leaves a lot to desire.
It’s a community maintained repo. The possibility of updating it yourself is possible. The master branch is updated to the 1.59.124, which came out a week ago. And was updated around the same time. 1.60.110 was just released 1 day ago. You can update it yourself. After all, it’s supposed to give you a great default state to fall back to, not keep you on the bleeding edge of releases.
Edir: how to do it yourself and contribute to the community. https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Update_a_package
The master branch is updated to the 1.59.124
Brain fart on my side, thanks for correcting me so respectfully 😊!
Hmm…, maintaining it myself is an interesting thought. Perhaps I should take a look at that, thanks a lot for your input. Much appreciated!
Minor version bumps should be mostly trivial: Change version and hash, package that into commit+PR (ckeck guidelines on that!) and that’s it most of the time.
The harder part is QA; ensuring it still works as expected. Therefore, even just testing update PRs as they come in would be a great help.
If the code change is trivial and a user of the package said it still works for them, a commiter coming along is likely convinced of the PR’s quality and just merges it.It’s super easy to contribute to Nixpkgs in a meaningful manner :)
Not sure why you would want to.
Linux package managers are state of the art.
Not sure why you would want to.
😅, it’s explained in OP.
Linux package managers are state of the art.
I wonder if Nix-users would agree 🤔.
what is a package manager
I feel a bit lazy at the moment, but Brodie does IMO an excellent job at explaining what a package manager is within the context of Linux. I’d recommend you to watch that instead over here; it’s already set to play at the correct time*.
Utilities that manage packages on your system.
Graphical ones include Pamac and Synaptic.
The command-line ones are more known: apt (debian), pacman (arch), rpm (fedora), and yum (suse)
You can also use AppImages. The appman and am script is handy way download and update apps. Have a look at the following website for details:
https://portable-linux-apps.github.io/
It has up-to-date brave.
You can also use AppImages.
I’m not necessarily opposed to it, as I do use them if they’re inaccessible to me otherwise and if it’s official and up-to-date. But for security-sensitive apps (like a browser) I would rather not rely on it. Furthermore, it seems it’s unofficial anyways.
This is a cool resource. Thank you!
Brave homophobic though
It is the best Chromium based browser, in a sense, unfortunately…
Brave homophobic though
Its CEO; yes.
It is the best Chromium based browser, in a sense, unfortunately…
Agreed.
Check thorium
