this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Windows Defender warns you if a file seems malicious and then you have to accept a window to use it anyway or to keep it, isn't that also part of what a firewall does? I know it's silly and one should just do that mentally for every file but it's nice to have a reminder sometimes for sketchy files. Anyway, I was not asking specifically for that, just asking generally about virus protection and whatnot
Defender is antimalware/antivirus. There at least used to be a separate firewall in windows, but not sure if it's a part of defender or not.
Either way, "firewall" is traffic control, antimalware/virus is the execution guardian.
potato potato, I just meant some software thing to warn me when I have downloaded something sketchy and I should re-think my choices
And I'm telling you a firewall won't do that.
It won't have anything to say at all about something you download and run.
It's a completely different security feature. It handles potentially malicious network activity. Not software on your computer.
and I'm telling you I didn't mean just firewall... I wasn't trying to be accurate or right, I was just asking a broad general question with a term that would get other people understand what it is that I want to know, not that I know exactly what a firewall does or does not do...
You understood what the question was about, did you not? That was my whole goal
Yes. But you didn't.
Knowing what something does is important.
If you install a piece of software expecting it to do something it actually doesn't, that can leave a security gap.
I wasn't just correcting you. I was making sure you knew that if you install a "firewall" it won't do the thing you're looking for.
As for an actual answer, most distros will already ask you to confirm if you try to run a random appimage you downloaded.
But you shouldn't need to do that in the first place. On linux, there's not really any need to go running random programs downloaded using your web browser, since you can just download software from trusted reposotories that aren't going to host malware to begin with.
Unlike on windows... You don't need to risk it in the first place.
Yeah the problem is that I understood the first time it was explained, no need to keep circling it over without answering the actual question I was asking about.. what you quoted from my comment was just me clarifying what I was asking about, not clarifying my (lack of) knowledge about firewalls.
Thank you for the actual answer!
I do have occasional need to download random programs from random websites because of my hobbies and profession, the first case being Material Maker from itch.io - that one is clearly safe with all those reviews and the public git, but it is a random program from the internet nevertheless, and the reason why I was asking about the placing of programs that I download manually.
Material Maker is on Flathub, the AUR, and on Snapcraft (not up to date, but you shouldn't use snap anyway).
No need for a manual install.
You'll find a lot of software is available via package managers. Linux people don't like installing anything without it being managed by a package manager so the installation and subsequent updates are automatic and occur alongside system updates. So when people find software they like, they'll go out of their way to package and distribute it for others as well
oh... I hadn't heard about any of those, thank you! Installing Flathub
Why would Flathub not be included with Mint? And how did you find it was in those three places? Did you look for it manually on each or is there a place that tells you where it's distributed? Because on their website the only thing I found was the Download link that takes you to itch.io or their github page that doesn't give any linux alternatives
edit: reviews in flathub say that there are some features that don't work and it's better to download from their itch.io page haha - it's not the first review I see saying that about flatpaks, so there are valid reasons to just download them manually like one would in windows anyway
Flathub and the AUR are by far the most comprehensive, and flatpaks works on a lot of distros. So I checked those.
They've also been getting their kinks worked out over the last few years and work much better than they used to.
That review you found is two years old and was for version 1.1. Current version is 1.4. Try it out today, if it's been fixed leave another review letting people know. It seems to work just fine for me.