signalapp / Signal-Desktop

I was just wondering if someone would be interested in porting signalapp / Signal-Desktop or if there is specific reason why it hasn't been ported yet (Linux only?).

P.S. I'm not using FreeBSD (waiting for 13.0 RELEASE to go onto my new laptop) or Signal yet, nor am I a developer, so this is just out of interest.
 
When will it be in ports? I kinda dislike installing anything so sensitive as crypto-messaging from unveted sources.
 
When will it be in ports? I kinda dislike installing anything so sensitive as crypto-messaging from unveted sources.
I don't know if I'll be able to commit it, one of the dependency requires an old version of devel/gn, the newer one is incompatible and probably impossible to workaround.
I understand your concern about security, keep in mind that signal-desktop uses a 1.6GB of yarn modules and electron16. So if you really care about security I wouldn't use it. The linux version uses a prebuilt binary for : libcrypto.a, ringrtc, libsignal-client.
 
acheron any way to thank you by paying a coffee (or two...) for you?
If yes feel free to PM me.

I am working with FreeBSD on my everyday laptop and Signal is the one application that is missing and having that one in ports would significantly simplify my life.

I hear you regarding the dependency, but maybe enough caffeine (or whatever it is that you are enjoying) helps you finding a solution.
 
I see.

Does it always need to be the latest version? One update per quarterly package build and then in between only if something breaks should be enough, no?
 
Does it always need to be the latest version? One update per quarterly package build and then in between only if something breaks should be enough, no?

Fast-moving target is quite an understatement with Signal.

My list of (Android) versions from Super Backup archives for all 2021 until Jan 2022:

Code:
total 1898368
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 44962073 Jan 12  2021 Signal_5.0.9.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 45142297 Jan 14  2021 Signal_5.0.10.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 44846291 Jan 14  2021 Signal_5.1.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 45018323 Jan 16  2021 Signal_5.1.9.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 45158224 Jan 19  2021 Signal_5.2.3.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 45231979 Jan 28  2021 Signal_5.3.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 45231979 Jan 31  2021 Signal_5.3.7.1.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35265718 Feb  8  2021 Signal_5.3.12.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35430467 Feb 24  2021 Signal_5.4.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35870885 Mar  6  2021 Signal_5.4.12.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36640206 Mar 24  2021 Signal_5.5.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 37030064 Apr  9  2021 Signal_5.6.4.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39830224 Apr 15  2021 Signal_5.7.6.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39757452 Apr 23  2021 Signal_5.8.10.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39881056 May  5  2021 Signal_5.9.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39881056 May  7  2021 Signal_5.9.6.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39881056 May  8  2021 Signal_5.9.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35286700 May 15  2021 Signal_5.10.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35823292 May 22  2021 Signal_5.11.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 35758376 Jun  3  2021 Signal_5.12.3.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36146738 Jun 11  2021 Signal_5.13.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36359909 Jun 25  2021 Signal_5.14.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36538762 Jul  3  2021 Signal_5.15.6.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36542723 Jul 17  2021 Signal_5.16.3.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 36587582 Jul 23  2021 Signal_5.17.3.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 37538008 Jul 27  2021 Signal_5.18.4.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 37538008 Aug  3  2021 Signal_5.18.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38346722 Aug  5  2021 Signal_5.19.4.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38588558 Aug 13  2021 Signal_5.20.4.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38760927 Aug 22  2021 Signal_5.21.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38769119 Aug 25  2021 Signal_5.21.6.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38876055 Sep  6  2021 Signal_5.22.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 38876055 Sep  9  2021 Signal_5.22.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39760977 Sep 13  2021 Signal_5.23.6.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39777361 Sep 17  2021 Signal_5.23.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39777361 Sep 18  2021 Signal_5.23.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39778991 Sep 28  2021 Signal_5.24.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39778991 Oct  6  2021 Signal_5.24.7.1.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 39980276 Oct 10  2021 Signal_5.24.14.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 43985163 Oct 20  2021 Signal_5.24.17.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 43933499 Oct 31  2021 Signal_5.25.7.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 43949883 Nov 14  2021 Signal_5.25.8.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 44143472 Nov 23  2021 Signal_5.26.11.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 46520897 Dec  3 15:38 Signal_5.27.11.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 46520897 Dec  5 01:27 Signal_5.27.13.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 47083518 Dec 18 08:17 Signal_5.28.5.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 47140748 Jan 11 04:23 Signal_5.28.10.apk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root everybody 47046594 Jan 30 06:47 Signal_5.29.7.apk

TL;DR: 46 versions in 2021, and I don't auto-update so missed probably another half a dozen, as can be surmised from the version numbers.

I gave up logging them all after that, but there've been another 10 versions between 1st of June and today, 30th July.

Also perhaps interesting is the variance in size over that 18 months, now near 50MB.

As for security, I long ago gave up thinking that anything that's updated weekly on average, mostly for kiddie stuff like ever more emojies and other eye candy isn't an ideal vector for slipping in some malicious (or at least ill-considered) code on the supposed core functions.

Please do correct me if I'm mistaken, but it's a very long time since Ed Snowdon gave it his blessing, and I've heard of no other expert audits - though I suspect Telegram by D.D.M might well be riskier.
 
I know this is about Signal and there will be people who specifically want to use Signal. But since it is something very similar I will say that Telegram has been working fine on FreeBSD (since I started using the desktop app +- 7 months ago). I use it almost daily and it is updated regularly, although I frequently get a message saying it doesn't seem to have a maintainer.

“For the average person, all of the apps provide adequate security and they may prefer WhatsApp due to the number or their contacts who will use it.”

Signal not as secure as I thought?
Like Whatsapp, Signal just “jumped the shark” and stops caring so much about privacy
Another severe flaw in Signal desktop app lets hackers steal your chats in plaintext
Google warns users to take action to protect against remotely exploitable flaws in popular Android phones
Apple security flaw may allow hackers full control of devices, company warns
Newly-discovered Signal vulnerabilities — how dangerous are they?
WhatsApp less threatened by newly discovered vulnerability than Signal
In fact, Signal and Threema seem more susceptible to these attacks in the sense that the timing attack can be used to infer the location of Signal users with an accuracy of 82 percent and of Threema users with an accuracy of 80 percent. For WhatsApp, this number stands at 74 percent and although that's also worrying, we would have expected the gap to be larger.

Zero-Day Exploit Prices for Signal Messaging App Are Skyrocketing
There’s clear desperation and interest in penetrating the innermost Ukrainian communications, which goes beyond mere commercial interest. It’s more likely OpZero is a subsidiary of an intelligence agency which is specifically prioritizing this issue due to the poor military performance

From 5G Sniffing to Harvesting Leakages of Privacy-Preserving Messengers
To illustrate the potential of our sniffer, we analyse two privacy-focused messengers, Signal and Telegram. We identify privacy leaks that can be exploited to generate stealthy traffic to a target user. When combined with 5GSniffer, it enables stealthy exposure of the presence of a target user in a given location (solely based on their phone number), by linking the phone number to the RNTI. It also enables traffic analysis of the target user. We evaluate the attacks and our sniffer, demonstrating nearly 100% accuracy within 30 seconds of attack initiation.
 
I reported this post to the mods (it's that bad, yes), but in case they leave it there, here is your reminder what applications you should rather avoid.
I had written the following in my first sentence: 'there will be people who specifically want to use Signal'
I am well aware that there are Signal users who will not find Telegram sufficiently secure, which is what I meant by this sentence.
My impression was simply that Signal does not always work perfectly as I read the following: 'I cannot update/upgrade other applications without having Signal-Desktop removed'.
That I tell you that Telegram has never caused problems on FreeBSD (in my case) is just to be helpful.

Reading your 'reminder' link, I see you telling the following kind of thing:
1. Telegram is not designed to resist mass surveillance: it does not use e2e encryption by default (afaik, e2e is also not supported in the official desktop client)
The deskotp client uses the cloud-based encryption.
It says “local Telegram engineers or physical intruders cannot get access” to encrypted data on these systems.
Signal is a little bit safer in this area.

2. it stores contacts and message history centrally
I have a few gripes with Signal—the biggest of them all is it’s centralized, and in the US no less. This alone makes it not that different from WhatsApp—we’re simply moving from one silo to another.

3. and they even have plans to make it into a payment network which would require them to have accurate information about actual real life user identities.
This was not a strong argument. Five years later, it is still free.

The fact that acheron says Signal on FreeBSD is a fast-moving target, uses electron, and sometimes crashes, means there are probably going to be a few vulnerabilities in this FreeBSD desktop app.
The Telegram app has never crashed on my desktop and I have been using it for a fairly long time.

I just mean by everything I write that you should not think Signal is super secure and Telegram is super insecure, there are other factors that impact this that we cannot audit.
Signal is known to use AWS as their cloud provider—what if another Parler4 happens and the rug is pulled from under Signal’s feet?

What you should also be aware of is that these types of services are targets. With Tor, you can see that a lot of institutions with a lot of money have influence and control over Tor's development. I would be surprised if certain institutions have not infiltrated Signal. What Microsoft has done in the past is incorporate zero days into windows so they could better supervise Iran to make sure certain companies did not produce nuclear weapons. There may also be many such zero days embedded in Signal and Tor by parties who want control over Signal and Tor. Institutions are going to be interested in Signal users because they might have something to hide.

Furthermore, you should also be well aware that a company can do whatever it wants behind your back. This is no different for Signal. You have no insight into what Signal employees are currently doing individually.

My general advice is similar to what eternal_noob had already said:
Confidential communication only works without any electricity involved.
I use Telegram daily, but it wouldn't bother me if my entire chat history was hacked.
I keep in mind that both Signal and Telegram are not anonymous.
And for that specific reason, it doesn't matter that much whether you use Telegram or Signal.
 
That's exactly what this thread is about, using Signal on FreeBSD, both of your posts are completely offtopic.
Well the OP also specifically asks the following question in his first post:

or if there is specific reason why it hasn't been ported yet (Linux only?).
P.S. I'm not using FreeBSD (waiting for 13.0 RELEASE to go onto my new laptop) or Signal yet


There are actually two reasons why my answer is 100% on topic:
1. The OP states that he is not even using Signal at the moment, it may be in his interest to learn that Telegram works better on FreeBSD
2. He asks a question 'why it hasn't been ported yet'.
If Telegram doesn't have a maintainer right now, it doesn't really make sense to start a port for another app that literally has 25x fewer users and does mostly the same thing.
 
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