How to: Verify Github downloads? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by theorangeninja@sopuli.xyz to c/linux4noobs@programming.dev

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So I run Linux for a bit now but I am still not fully confident with downloading "random" Appimages or .tar archives (I don't even know how to run/compile the archives but that is another problem lol) from Github or something.

I try to verify the hashes or GPG signatures for all the programs but not every developer provides a latest.yml.

I revently noticed sometimes Github shows a sha256 sum next to the files in the release tab but not in every repo and is this just a second layer or is this a substitution for the latest.yml?

Is there something I am missing or should I not worry too much when using Appimages or Flatpaks because they are sandboxed anyways?

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[-] theorangeninja@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 month ago

I was not aware of that. Thank you very much for pointing out! So better download a Flatpak over an Appimage if provided.

I am currently downloading Flatpaks from Flathub as much as possible but some programs are not available on there. Or not verified and a community-maintained flatpak is just another attack surface for a MITM attack.

this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026

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