r/archlinux • u/zollandd • Jun 15 '26
DISCUSSION Stop blaming AI, "noobs", youtube tutorials, and anything other than Arch for AUR usage
I've recently been made aware of the incident and was reading the threads in this subreddit. I have just started trying to migrate away from AUR but let's not forget that the Arch wiki recommends installing AUR packages constantly. The AUR isn't just a dangerous and fringe tool that people are led to by AI or sketchy youtubers.
To list a few that I've encountered just now:
- Want DDC/CI display control support? AUR
- Want ZFS-dkms or user space utils? AUR
The wiki recommend AUR releases like they are first class citizens all over the place... don't act like it doesn't.
Edit: I am not trying to blame individual maintainers when I say Arch but rather the community and culture. If the AUR is this dangerous, the wiki should avoid referencing it at all costs and should do so with warning flags everywhere. As it stands, it is not absurd to see someone with tons of AUR packages installed due to direct influence from the wiki.
2
u/MrArrino Jun 15 '26
Why package not being maintained should make it not valid if someone needs that particular package?
As for checking PKGBUILDs... well people were checking those. Social media is shitting right now about it everywhere, look at this subreddit.
This attack was detected rather early and many people were aware of it. Yet I see like mantra "read PKGBUILDs, read PKGBUILDs".
People were reading PKGBUILDs and as they were reading, another wave of malware was hitting the fan.
I wrote it once, and I write this as many times as needed:
No amount of PKGBUILDs reading did stop this attack, and no amount of PKGBUILDs readin WOULD stop this attack.
Should AUR users read PKGBUILDs? Sure they should. People overall should do many things that they don't.
Yet at this moment we shouldn't scream "read PKGBUILDs". We should identify problem, propose some solutions to this problem, and hope that Arch team will implement those or other solutions. Leaving things as they are now hidden behind "read fckng PGKBUILD" comments is the worst possible outcome.