Mastodawn

Why do fdroid main repo keep apps that has not been updated in 12 years ? Isn't it more logical to move apps that has not been updated in more than three years to the archive ?

https://sh.itjust.works/post/16813675

Why do fdroid main repo keep apps that has not been updated in 12 years ? Isn't it more logical to move apps that has not been updated in more than three years to the archive ? - sh.itjust.works

Like i use an older version of android and every new app on fdroid works for me and keeping the main repo full of abandonware isn’t a good idea and will hold fdroid back on being a good app store . And its not like the apps are deleted or anything if someone needs them for whatever reason they can find it on archive and not everyone have to load it all when using the main repo which is better for users and those who host mirrors as most of do use the newer apps instead of abandonware and Is there a specific reason they do this ? I asked this on their IRC but i didn’t get any reply and then i got logged out and IRC doesn’t show previous chats is there any way to get in touch with them as i think doing this will benefit everyone . I don’t have much experience using gitlab and i don’t think that is the place to discuss things like that . Also if anyone could get in touch with them about this and keep me updated that’ll be appreciated as i am trying to keep my internet accounts small and don’t wanna make a github or matrix acc solely for this so if anyone could help that’ll ve appreciated. Also does fdroid have any presence on lemmy ? The old apps i was talking about from top of my mind : Anysoft keyboard : malayalam, GL TRON, Open Wnn legacy, random ass chinese named keyboard idk how to type it , wifi keyboard, Tibetin keyboard etc. there is a lot so i can’t type all of em out.

GravitySpoiled Mar 26, 2024

Why? I can’t find a reason in your post.

Especially your suggestion of 3 years is very short.

man Mar 26, 2024

Its not going anywhere tho just to the archives

GravitySpoiled Mar 26, 2024

Why?

Shouted Mar 26, 2024

That’s the benefit of a third party App Store. Zero control. Zero moderation. If I want to host a Bitcoin miner and let people install it then that’s totally on my right.

If you want out of date apps removed then I think you’d like iOS or the play store.

MinekPo1 Mar 26, 2024

sorry but I believe you are mistaken , there is both control and moderation on both the main fdroid repo and other repos .

the official fdroid repo only requires apps to be fully FLOSS , see their inclusion policy
izzydroid requires the app to be both free and gratis , not promote “violence, hate, harassment, racism and similar topics” and to have limited tracking see their inclusion policy

other repos only include apps from a single project/dev

Inclusion Policy | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

All applications in the repository must be Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) – for example, released under a GPL or Apache license. Every effort i...

pr06lefs Mar 26, 2024

If you require developers to update apps that still work just to keep them on the store, you’re going to lose apps for no reason. Not every app needs updates to keep working.

man Mar 26, 2024

Then they should be moved to the archives you know the thing that’s built for it.

BearOfaTime Mar 26, 2024

If you don’t want to install an app because it’s old, that’s up to you.

dislocate_expansion Mar 26, 2024

Maybe add to the caveat if it’s internet connected? I kinda like some old apps that don’t require network access and don’t really need an update (think guitar tuners, the frequency of a note hasn’t changed and as long as the underlining OS API still runs then I don’t see much of a problem)

Arctichawk1 Mar 26, 2024

Sometimes, legacy apps do the work too. Security of the app should be observed though. It is not a problem since apps are open source.

man Mar 26, 2024

Are you or anyone observing security of old apps ?

Arctichawk1 Mar 26, 2024

Yeah, I see people observing. I never had to though since I only use f-droid apps if there is no equivalent in android app store.

man Mar 26, 2024

Well i only use fdroid apps and have never seen anyone auditing the code of old apps

Possibly linux Mar 26, 2024

Security should be a concern if the app has a significant amount of permissions.

Curious Canid Mar 26, 2024

If an app still works, it doesn’t matter whether or not it is being maintained.

BearOfaTime Mar 26, 2024

It’s amazing to me how people have been indoctrinated when it comes to updated/maintained.

If it ain’t broke…

I use apps from 10 years ago still.

billgamesh Mar 26, 2024

especially if there aren’t obvious security concerns. Rather use an android text editor from 6 years ago if it works well than a trash one that’s updated once a month and has a million features i don’t care about

zwekihoyy Mar 27, 2024

everything always has a security flaw. this is horrible logic

billgamesh Mar 27, 2024

right… but so what? in a relatively sandboxed environment without network access. If I wanna play a random game, it’s there. If I’m using an old phone, old apps are there. I think it’d kill fdroid more to have only 10 new apps per category. Maybe you could maintain your own repo with only fresh updates

56!Mar 27, 2024

no…? If an app doesn’t load content from un-trusted sources, (files, websites, sms messages, etc.), then there isn’t really anything to worry about. It is also just as likely for something newly developed to contain a vulnerability as something developed a long time ago. Or even more likely, as there has been less time for people to discover vulnerabilities.