[ubuntu-studio-devel] Antivirus, code / app content scanning.

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Thu, 6 Oct 2016 12:33:02 -0400, ProSysAdmin wrote:
>I have had positive malware scans after installing everything in the
>past, using the av included in the Ubuntu studio distribution. It
>appeared to be part of a worm but incomplete, found on an app
>directory.  Maybe a false positive back then

Why don't you post an output of the scan?

>To help push use of Ubuntu studio distribution as a desktop computer
>replacement for Windows

That's not the aim of any Linux distro I know, including Ubuntu Studio.
Linux is an operating system that is that different to Windows, that it
cannot replace Windows.

I'm using Linux only for around 13 years and it never was a Windows
replacement for me. The Only exception are Windows in a VM to run iTunes
and iOS for a tablet PC, simply because Linux cannot be used for
real-time audio on a tablet PC. I strongly discourage to install any
Linux distro as a Windows replacement.

While especially Linux servers could suffer from attacks installing
anti virus software makes no sense to protect a Linux server, let a
lone a Linux desktop computer. Anti virus software on Linux makes only
sense to protect Windows users, e.g. if you run a Linux mail server. A
firewall could be useful, but IMO not for a default Ubuntu Studio
install. Even a software to check machines for the presence of rootkits
etc. could make sense, but then you indeed should expect more likely
false positives.

Résumé:

The kind of attacks against Linux, this means mainly against Linux
servers are different to those against Windows desktop computers. Anti
virus software scans against Windows viruses to protect Windows
computers and is only useful for e.g. a Linux mail server.

Depending to your kind of computer usage a firewall could make sense on
a Linux desktop machine, but IMO by default a firewall shouldn't run on
a distro for art usage.

It's plain wrong to consider Linux as a replacement for Windows, for
two reasons. 1. Linux requires another kind of user's
self-responsibility, at least that one to handle choice and to read
manuals. 2. Especially for nice domains such as pro-audio, non-linear
video editing software from official Ubuntu repositories, Linux
unlikely is in the same street as Windows. There are domains where Linux
is better than Windows, but neither could replace Linux an Windows
install, nor could replace Windows a Linux install. Usually users of
one and/or the other operating system have different attitudes in
handling computers.

Regards,
Ralf