Top of the Line

Ever since the last millennium, the most common methods of deploying applications revolved around compiling from source or dealing with each respective distributions’ package manager. Terminal front ends then helped with the wider adoption of Linux by making software manipulation much easier for a range of users. Next, AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap stepped in, with literally no pause between their appearance and endorsement by mainstream distributions. Don’t forget about self-updating third-party libraries from standalone processes or about all the various firmware incarnations that exist! Even though it’s always possible to automate these processes (e.g., with anacron), in reality, ain’t nobody got time for that. Your security posture begins by religiously applying software patches; however, keeping an upper hand over the update and upgrade process on your stable of applications, not…