this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

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It’s not that I don’t trust, but I want to understand. What is actually happening and how do these Repack thingies work?

And why are they called that 😂

Thanks in advance.

Edit: thanks so much for the replies all, I think I got it! :)

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[–] [email protected] 155 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A repack is usually a cracked release from another source that has been heavily compressed to reduce file size. They often come with a custom installer that manages the decompression process and streamlines the installation process, so you don't have to manually install patches/cracks after installation, and can skip optional content. Trusted repackers like FitGirl will also check for malware/viruses in the original crack, so you can be reasonably confident the repack is safe to install. Having said that, always take your own precautions when installing anything from the internet, i.e. virus scan and only use trusted sources.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Also, due to the heavy compression, they take longer to install than normal releases, since it takes processing power to decompress the files. If you have a fast internet connection but a slow PC, theoretically it could be faster to avoid the repack.