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Arch Linux AUR Under Another Wave Of Malicious Packages, Package Adoptions Halted
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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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I use malware, btw 😎
Arch should be stopped to be recommended to new users of Linux ASAP
Well, just don't use AUR for everything. They don't even recommend helpers. It's ment to be tedious, to discourage usage for non-necesarry bullshit.
Is anybody really recommending Arch to new users though?
Yeah, there's a ton of people that recommend Cachy when it is really meant for tinkerers IMHO
I suppose so. I run Cachy now but that's only after 3 years of switching distros several times and getting more confident with how Linux works.
I'm very tired of the rhetoric that Arch is only meant for tinkerers. If all you do is have plasma steam and a web browser it's no more or less likely to break than any other distro. You could go your entire life without ever looking at the terminal.
And while yes this malware is a problem it is specifically in the aur, the arch user repository an unofficial repository not officially supported, just don't use it. Unless you need a weird piece of software generally related to some type of specific hobby you're unlikely to ever even want to look at it anyway.
I do agree with this in theory. I just don't know many 'normal people' that are going to only ever require those three things. (Totally with you on the AUR bit)
Really? If anything I have the opposite problem all the normal people I'm aware of probably don't even need steam just the web browser and plasma. Pretty much everything is in the web browser these days I mean they might want the dedicated discord client but that's ultimately just a web browser in a box and will also work perfectly no AUR required
They have been as of late
Arch as far as I am aware has never been recommended to new users. Sure their is CachyOS and other variants. And on top of that AUR you shut read the build scripts. But I suppose not many people do that unfortunately.
more importantly, they don't recommend that users use the AUR repository (that isn't to say they are opposed to it). Some advice they have given is to review what the dependencies are before executing the package with an AUR helper or manually.
Just to make a point, there is a surplus of these non officially supported (from OS developers) repositories, such as the terra repository for fedora. It has the same vulnerability as AUR, and yet that is targeted for new users.
Much like how fedora doesn't officially support Terra, arch doesn't support AUR. There is a reason why it's called AUR (arch user repository) over ASR (arch supported repository). AUR entails that it is not supported by arch.
It's a trend between kids going for an "advanced" distro
You have to go download an AUR helper to even get into the AUR, it does not come by default on Arch systems. You have to actually do this to yourself to get the malware.
Lmao shut up
he's right is he not?