Is Java Safe?

[Liam Proven]

On 20 October 2013 21:58, John Sowden <jsowden at americansentry.net> wrote:
> What's the deal?  Is Java going to be the 'back door' into Linux re: virus',
> attacks, etc.

There's been a lot of hype and disinformation.

(Part of this is because Oracle owns Java now; indeed it's widely
thought that Oracle bought Sun just for Java, really. And whereas lots
of people liked Sun, which was a pretty good citizen of the FOSS
community, everyone hates Oracle, which isn't.)

On Linux, you're still fairly safe.

You need Java for LibreOffice, as you note.

If you're still on IcedTea 6, I'd suggest that you update to IcedTea 7
- it's in the repositories. Keep your computer(s) scrupulously
up-to-date, and if you're feeling really paranoid, just remove the
icedtea-?-plugin package; this will leave Java installed on your
computer (for local Java apps) but disable it in your web browser.

-- 
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