https://mullvad.net/en/help/install-mullvad-app-linux
Trying to install VPN and these are the instructions Mullvad is giving me. This is ridiculous. There must be a more simple way. I know how to follow the instructions but I have no idea what I’m doing here. Can’t I just download a file and install it? I’m on Ubuntu.
Any instructions that say sudo curl should be thrown out immediately.
Is curl so untrusted that you would prefer to use 3 commands (one which still needs root permissions) instead?
The point is that an HTTPS request does not need root permissions. Other steps might, and that’s indeed high risk.
The curl that ships with apt is ubiquitous enough that I trust doing
sudo curl xxx yyy
more than enough if it means avoiding typingcurl xxx /tmp/yyy && sudo mv /tmp/yyy yyy
Agreed it’s not best practice. But when somebody is saying the individual step-by-step is too complicated, you want to give them the simplest command possible. Even if it is more risky. It’s a trade off of accessibility versus complexity