Six fatal mistakes you'll want to avoid

[Pjotr123]

I've published a web page with six fatal mistakes, which the beginner with Ubuntu should avoid. Maybe a bit controversial for some of you, but it's written from the viewpoint of a careful and cautious system administrator and aimed at the inexperienced.

Here it is:
http://sites.google.com/site/easylin.../fatalmistakes

Remember: it's written with caution in mind, mainly aimed at beginners with Linux, and of course it doesn't apply to the intrepid adventurers and experienced old hands among you....

[lovinglinux]

I agree that users should be warned about the possible implications of using third-party repositories, scripts, backports and deb files or about removing applications installed by default, but saying they are fatal mistakes is a little bit sensationalist.

The real problem is that people run commands and follow tutorials without even knowing what they do. I have helped several users that didn't even know they had a PPA repository enabled.

I particularly don't like the title of your article and the inclusion of Ubuntuzilla on your list.

Unbuntuzilla is not a script anymore. It is a repository and it doesn't replace Firefox or anything installed by default, it just installs another package with the version released by Mozilla and divert the launcher command to use the new version. It can be easily added/removed without causing any problem to your system.

Besides, Firefox (and the Mozilla engine) is such an important part of the entire operating system, that you can't simply replace it by another version.

Firefox is not "such an important part of the entire operating system". You can even remove it (although I don't recommend), if you do only clean installs of Ubuntu or make sure you re-install ubuntu-desktop metapackage before an upgrade. Some applications might depend on xulrunner, but the package manager will warn you if that is the case.

[chemamar]

I've published a web page with six fatal mistakes, which the beginner with Ubuntu should avoid. Maybe a bit controversial for some of you, but it's written from the viewpoint of a careful and cautious system administrator and aimed at the inexperienced.

Here it is:
http://sites.google.com/site/easylin.../fatalmistakes

Remember: it's written with caution in mind, mainly aimed at beginners with Linux, and of course it doesn't apply to the intrepid adventurers and experienced old hands among you....

I am using ubuntu tweak and so far I thought it was safe to do it. Please I would like to know more views.

[nanotube]

Hi Pjotr123,

Just want to second what lovinglinux has said.

I can agree that someone who doesn't know what he's doing should stick to the official repositories, but a lot of the items you have included don't really qualify as "fatal mistakes". It would be better to save that label for the really bad stuff, otherwise it will lose its 'scare power' if we apply it to everything that "may cause some trouble".

And a note about ubuntuzilla: it is now a repository, so can really be classed together with any other ppa on the issues of risk and trust. Though it really is even safer, because (1) it doesn't overwrite any official packages, and (2), the packages are directly verifiable, since they contain official mozilla builds, and the checksums can be compared directly against the contents of the tarballs downloaded off mozilla.com. both of these items are more than can be said about most other ppas.

And another note: backports are about as safe as you get. stuff gets into backports after it's been tested in proposed. the packages in backports contain newer versions of software that will /never/ make it into the official repositories for a given ubuntu release (due to the ubuntu 'security updates only' policy for the main repos of a frozen release). it's not the case, as you imply, that after some more testing, they'll be making it into the official repos. so you really shouldn't group proposed and backports together.

[Silvertones]

I needed to use some fillable pdf documents so I really needed Adobe. I did it like this, was this risky or OK.
Thanks
Try installing from the partner repository.

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources

You will need to enter your password to open this application.

Click on the Other Software tab, and place a check against the line ending with "partner"

Press the close button and then press Reload.

You should then be able to find the package acroread in Synaptic Package Manager and install.

[lovinglinux]

I needed to use some fillable pdf documents so I really needed Adobe. I did it like this, was this risky or OK.
Thanks
Try installing from the partner repository.

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources

You will need to enter your password to open this application.

Click on the Other Software tab, and place a check against the line ending with "partner"

Press the close button and then press Reload.

You should then be able to find the package acroread in Synaptic Package Manager and install.

That's perfectly safe. Basically stuff that is not open source or not free and are distributed by Canonical partners.

BTW, I would recommend gPDF extension for Firefox. It scan webpages for pdf links and set them to open with Google PDF viewer.

[Silvertones]

That's good thanks.

[Pjotr123]

Using Ubuntuzilla is not a security risk, I agree. But the Firefox version it installs, hasn't been adapted to, nor been tested for Ubuntu. Virgin upstream material, not tuned to Ubuntu... This may cause weird behaviour at times.

So Ubuntuzilla's not fit for beginners with Linux, I think. They'd better stick to the default Firefox version in Ubuntu.

You'll notice that I've described the Ubuntuzilla risk as a "yellow alert", so not very risky for the system. Maybe I should tone down the remark about the Mozilla engine, though. I'll look into it.

@Silvertones: the Adobe Reader for Linux that you've installed, won't harm your system. No worries there. The partner source is secure.

However, Adobe does a very bad job in issuing security updates for it's Linux Reader. The current version of Adobe Reader for Linux is insecure and has been so for a long time. There are exploits "in the wild". Only use it for specific purposes and not as the default pdf reader.

--edit: I removed the remark about the Mozilla engine entirely, and I added that using Ubuntuzilla is no security risk, but "merely" diminishes the stability and reliability of Firefox.

[lovinglinux]

I am using ubuntu tweak and so far I thought it was safe to do it. Please I would like to know more views.

I never had a problem with it when I used it. Nevertheless, ubuntu-tweak is not in the official repositories. I would advise to Google for ubuntu tweak problem and check if anyone complained about serious issues caused by it.

[lykwydchykyn]

You really have them handling the thing with kid-gloves here. I can see the point, but I would say telling people not to uninstall ANY of the default applications is going a bit far.

Besides, none of these are "fatal mistakes". They're "learning opportunities"