Subj : Re: macOS 26
To   : apam
From : Nightfox
Date : Thu Sep 25 2025 09:36 am

  Re: Re: macOS 26
  By: apam to Nightfox[U on Thu Sep 25 2025 03:57 am

 >> He said he thought that since Linux is open-source, anyone could probably
 >> go in and put malware into Linux; on the other hand, Windows is developed

 ap> Well people have done exactly that. It's why they have code reviewing
 ap> processes by maintainers, but there's nothing stopping people trying, and
 ap> they have succeded, just look at the XZ issue a while ago.

 ap> I also remember a university deliberatly submitting patches to the kernel
 ap> to introduce malware - it was for "research purposes" I guess to see if
 ap> they could. They got caught though and banned from submitting patches.

 ap> Your interviewer isn't wrong, as most people don't have the time or
 ap> skillset to audit opensource software, so I guess it comes down to trust.
 ap> Who do you trust more?

I thought there were a lot of people working on Linux, including reviewing code submittals (which should be part of the process).  I didn't know any of it got through, though as you said, that university you mentioned tried to submit malware and failed..  At any rate, Linux has been relativly successful and is used by many servers on the internet; I think something is being done right with it.  There must be enough people around the world who have the time who are working on it..

Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
 * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)

.