It's not piped to a shell, but to the tar program with specific parameters to directly unpack the tar.
replyYou're still installing the program directly from github of course, instead of a source where hopefully a third party has also looked at it (like a package repository). But this is a lot better than the curl | sh pattern.
You're not downloading from github, but from dl.jitpass.com.
replyAnd an executable can do exactly the same as a shell script. The point is that whatever you're executing isn't verified, whether it's a shell script or a binary.
> The point is that whatever you're executing isn't verified, whether it's a shell script or a binary.
replyThe GP said:
> This should be an ordinary app bundle to drop into /Applications
There is no difference between downloading an app bundle that you drop into /Applications, and curling a binary that you put in /usr/local/bin/
The difference is you have the executable for examination (at least a quick virus scan) before you run it. Certanly not perfect, but what is?
replyYou can still do that with their install instructions ;)
replyThat is what I am saying, you are trusting them, but less then `curl | sh`
replyYou’re right. My apologies
replyIs there McAfee for Mac? There's no real difference. You're trusting someone not to root your shit. Whether it's via curl, dmg, or apt, we have no idea who anybody really is, so it's all on an assumption that people aren't evil. Unfortunately it turns out that there are evil people out there, but doing it via curl | bash or downloading a dmg or though some app store, there's still evil that's gonna get you if you end up trusting in the wrong people.
replyWell trusting McAfee¹ is one of the choices.
replyBut it’s not piping a script into the shell. It’s curl downloading a compressed archive and piping it to tar to decompress the program binary from the archive. Then moving the extracted binary into /usr/local/bin.
replyTechnically this one is piping it to tar? But I agree with the sentiment.
replyIt's curl | tar, not curl | sh
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