How secure is Linux?

[SteveRiley]

Thank you, kind sir.

[Qqmike]

I'd like to see more such informative-educational posts like #14, on various topics as they arise around here. Flash tutorials. Thanks.

[GreyGeek]

... I'm actually beginning to forget some Windows admin stuff, especially XP!

I AM there, DOING that! (Some of the forgetting may be the beginnings of Alzheimers or simple dementia. My wife says I'm crazy! )

I kept my Win7 partition around, but since June I've logged into it twice, merely to update MS Essentials and updates. I was astounded a month ago when I logged in for the second time and was informed that 39,000 updates (no typo!) were waiting. I expected it to take all day and was surprised when I checked it 15 minutes later and it was done.

Now, if I wan't to do Win stuff for my one grandson (whose mom insists that his computer runs Windows so she can know how to use it, even though she asked me when things get rough) I have to Google it to jog my memory.

I doubt that I will ever encounter a Win8 computer.

[Robtygart]

I have only been using Linux for about 2 years now. The last time I loged onto a Windows PC was to fix it for a firend, I was lost for the first couple of minutes.

[vinnywright]

love your post #14 @SteveRiley ,,,,,,, it makes perfect sense when you lay it out like that

VINNY

[SteveRiley]

I was astounded a month ago when I logged in for the second time and was informed that 39,000 updates (no typo!) were waiting.

Black scren, Windows logo in center, and white text below rapidly counting the application of thousands of "update operations," like this?



Component-based servicing is a multi-step process, some steps of which you normally don't see:

1. Download digitally-signed updates
2. Verify signatures
3. Unpack into a staging area
4. Perform staging operation
5. Begin reboot
6. Validate correctness of staged updates
7. Migrate staged updates into WinSxs and the registry
8. Validate correctness of merge
9. Finalize reboot
10. Display logon screen

Step 4 is the pre-reboot "Do not interrupt or power down" message while you see a count from 0% to 100%. Step 7 is the post-reboot version. Ordinarily, there is no visible indication of steps 6 and 8. But if something causes the validation to fail, updates are re-staged. In this case, the validation steps become visible, and that's the image you see above. You didn't have 39,000 update packages applied, but the batch of downloads in your case involved a total of 39,000 distinct operations. This is pretty normal, really.

[NickStone]

If Windows is telling you that there are 39,000 updates but in reality it is just the number of processes it will carry out during the update then surely that is misleading?

[SteveRiley]

The Linux equivalent of a Windows update is a .deb file that contains not only the newer binaries for the package but also several scripts that manage pre-removal, post-removal, pre-installation, and post-isntallation steps. In the case of a major OS components like, say, the .NET framework, applying the update package requires processing possibly thousands of steps: each existing registry entry has to be read, modified, and validated. Each DLL has to be extracted, verfied, copied, and validated. Installing one update involves applying many many update operations. The uncommon screen that Jerry saw is the one reporting the total number of update operations. And you'll note that's exactly what it says: "Applying update operation X of Y." Nothing misleading at all.

[GreyGeek]

That was the exact wording on the screen I saw, Steve.

BTW, Steve, I forgot to include a request in my post.

Would you be so kind as to put the information in #14 on a more permanent post in the Documentation section, and a link to it on the front page. Your post on the that topic was the most lucid and informative I've ever read on the topic.

EDIT: post#21 is another goodie. Hey, move the whole thread to "Documentation" and put a link to it on the front page!

[SteveRiley]

Done. I've created a new subforum under Documentation, called Knowledge Base. Since neither of these posts are how-tos, none of the existing subforms seemed reasonable. Knowledge Base feels like an appropriate collection place for these kinds of posts.

[oshunluvr]

Done. I've created a new subforum under Documentation, called Knowledge Base. Since neither of these posts are how-tos, none of the existing subforms seemed reasonable. Knowledge Base feels like an appropriate collection place for these kinds of posts.

Oh Goody Goody! I will be dumping some BTRFS info in there!

[SteveRiley]

Yeah, I figured in my copious spare time I'd move some posts that currently reside elsewhere on KFN into the Knowledge Base...

[Robtygart]

Great idea this will be helpfull. We need to keep the questions out of there.

Does it need to be orginal or can we Copy, Paste & Link..

[GreyGeek]

Excellent idea, Steve! :cool:

This has been one of the best and most informative threads on KFN in a long while.

[SteveRiley]

Does it need to be orginal or can we Copy, Paste & Link..

If you've already written a suitable post elsewhere, my preference would be for you to create a new post in the Knowledge Base. Give it an appropriate title, copy/paste the content, and then include a link to its original location so that interested readers can follow it.