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Vander

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Registered: 2023-01-21

Posts: 8

[SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client, very suspicious.

On mullvads official website it states "We do not have any official package for Arch but users have created an [unofficial AUR package](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mullvad-vpn-bin/)."

On the arch wiki forums it states that is the official gui client "The new [official GUI client](https://mullvad.net/download/) is available as [mullvad-vpn](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mullvad-vpn/)AUR."

What is going on here?

Last edited by Vander (2023-03-06 13:19:20)

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HalosGhost

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From: Twin Cities, MN

Registered: 2012-06-22

Posts: 2,092

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Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

It's a wiki, if something is inaccurate, suggest an edit. Move along.

In addition, nothing in the AUR is official for archlinux. I read the quote you pulled as meaning "this client is the official one made by mullvad" (not "this is the official arch package from mullvad"). So I wouldn't think any edit is necessary or useful here.

All the best,

-HG

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ewaller

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From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,772

Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

On mullvads official website it states "We do not have any official package for Arch

Where?

Edit: Here: https://mullvad.net/en/help/install-mullvad-app-linux/

Last edited by ewaller (2023-03-06 01:22:34)

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Vander

Member

Registered: 2023-01-21

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

It's a wiki, if something is inaccurate, suggest an edit. Move along.

In addition, nothing in the AUR is official for archlinux. I read the quote you pulled as meaning "this client is the official one made by mullvad" not ("this is the official arch package from mullvad"). So I wouldn't think any edit is necessary or useful here.

All the best,

-HG

I am a little confused by what you are trying to say, they on mullvads website they also acknowledge that there is “mullvad-vpn-bin” in the aur, what would the difference be between the two and how can I verify that it is not stealing my account data?

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HalosGhost

Forum Moderator

From: Twin Cities, MN

Registered: 2012-06-22

Posts: 2,092

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Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

what would the difference be between the two

"-bin" as a suffix in the AUR tends to mean the package installs a precompiled binary rather than building it from-source. Looking at the sources listed for both packages, you can see the -bin package grabs packages premade for other distros (which it then unpacks correctly for use on Arch).

and how can I verify that it is not stealing my account data?

The same way you should verify any package in the AUR, read the PKGBUILD, and decide if you find it to be safe to build and use the result of.

Moved to AUR Issues, though I suspect this will be TGN'd shortly.

All the best,

-HG

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Vander

Member

Registered: 2023-01-21

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

The same way you should verify any package in the AUR, read the PKGBUILD

Wouldn’t the -bin package not have a PKGBUILD file because it is precompiled?

(Sorry for the rush of questions but I am new to the AUR)

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HalosGhost

Forum Moderator

From: Twin Cities, MN

Registered: 2012-06-22

Posts: 2,092

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Re: [SOLVED]Arch wiki lying about this being the official mullvad client

Think of something like slack, where the source code is not available. The way it gets packaged for Archlinux is with a PKGBUILD that grabs precompiled binaries (because the source necessary to build binaries is unavailable) and correctly converts the packaging format for Arch's ecosystem.

-bin packages then are using the same strategy (though, often for a different reason). For example, you'll find a librewolf and a librewolf-bin package in the AUR. Building a browser from-source is an intense operation, and lower-power machines may not be up to the task pleasantly. So, people might prefer using the -bin package to avoid having to build on their own machine. It's a slightly different threat model (either way, you trust the developer and the source-distribution; for -bin packages, you also have to trust the intermediate packager), but it's not radically different. Up to you on which you want to use and why; it's your system after all.

[Mod edit]: combining silly second post.

Please remember to mark your threads as solved if you found the answers you were looking for.

All the best,

-HG

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