this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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I use Arch btw


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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Do you really need to download new versions at every build? I thought it was common practice to use the oldest safe version of a dependency that offers the functionality you want. That way your project can run on less up to date systems.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Most softwares do not include detailed security fixes in the change log for people to check; and many of these security fixes are in dependencies, so it is unlikely to be documented by the software available to the end user.

So most of the time, the safest "oldest safe" version is just the latest version.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

So only protects like Debian do security backports?

Edit: why the downvote? Is this not something upstream developers do? Security fixes on older releases?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Backports for supported versions sure,.

That's why there is an incentive to limit support to latest and maybe one previous release, it saves on the backporting burden.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Okay, but are you still going to audit 200 individual dependencies even once?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That’s what the “oldest safe version” is supposed to address.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Because everything is labeled safe and unsafe, right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Your snark is tremendously conducive for a conversation. Go touch some grass.