this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
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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Unless they're running LFS, I don't see the point. By the time the antivirus database is updated, surely an update will be available in the package repo?
The Linux ecosystem is built around package repos rather than manually installed software, so antivirus makes even less sense on Linux than it does on Windows. If there's malware it'll get removed from the repo as soon as it's detected.
I generally agree, but I will point out there are more ways to get packages than a repo - sure most things come from there, but plenty of things are provided as standalone installers (e.g., .deb packages). Having something that can scan that random .deb you need to do that one thing could be nice.
Not saying AV is the fix, but if Linux is ever going to become even slightly mainstream, you need some way to keep the "normies" from hurting themselves