Help with repo verification

Hi!

I found some useful tweaks for Linux, but repo seems to be new. And I am not a programmer to check in thoroughly…

Can someone please take a look if it is safe to use tweaks from that author?

https://github.com/ualinuxoid/lintweak

I am interested in MAT2, youtube-dlp and adblock from that dev (dev says that it is pure bash)…

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I asked Google:

is it safe to use code from ualinuxoid on GitHub

and it responded with

UALinux (ualinuxoid) is a long-standing, legitimate Ukrainian development team known for maintaining various custom Linux distributions (like Ubuntu GamePack) and open-source software repositories. However, just like any third-party source, the code itself is not inherently verified by GitHub for security or conformance.

Beyond that, you can review the code before downloading it to use it. Just visit the GitHub URL for each of the items in the tree. Here is the instance for MAT2:

I looked at the one script (mat2.sh) and, yes, it is bash, but it performs actions which some might accept within such a third-party script, but I myself would not, as a matter of personal discipline.

Sad but true … You should NEVER rely on opinions from people you don’t have a … directpersonal … relationship with because, otherwise, you could never really know if those unknown 3rd parties (ones offering opinions) have an undisclosed agenda.

In this modern world, it is super-critical for each individual to take the much needed responsibility of doing their own proper due diligence, even if that due diligence means working thru, or relying on, a known trustworthy agency, a.k.a. a best friend or trusted co-worker.

:slight_smile:

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Welcome to the community @jery, nice to meet you! :waving_hand:

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One use of large language models might be warranted here—you could always run the script by an LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.) to see if they pick up on any dodgy things, especially if you’re not able to read the code yourself.

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I took a peek and this stuff is shell scripts; I highly doubt there is anything sneaky in them, though I did not examine them personally; the sh file used is simply an sh, probably usable in a Bash shell.

I notice that @ericmarceau is more cautious and conservative than I am; all I can say is download it, take a look; if you do not understand it, either show it to someone, try it at your own risk, or do as Eric does and err on the side of caution!

Welcome to the community @jery

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