#756879 atanks: please avoid calling home

Package:
atanks
Source:
atanks
Description:
tank-battling game
Submitter:
Cyril Brulebois
Date:
2023-02-11 17:15:02 UTC
Severity:
important
#756879#5
Date:
2014-08-03 00:13:55 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

just noticed when exiting atanks:
| A new version, 6.0, is ready for download.
| See http://atanks.sourceforge.net for the latest news and downloads.

The code seems to live in src/update.cpp's Get_Latest_Version(), and I'd
suggest patching it out for Debian.

Mraw,
KiBi.
#756879#10
Date:
2014-08-03 00:41:38 UTC
From:
To:
I am not sure why you would want to disable update notification.
Especially with a patch to the source code, that seems overkill. If the
message bothers you you could just disable update notifications in the
Options menu under the Network category.

Alternatively the game could be compiled without the THREADS constant
defined in the Makefile, that would disable checks for updates without
requiring a patch to the source code. It probably won't have any serious
affect on the rest of the game to disable threads either. Threading was
mostly just there for generating backgrounds on older computers.

However, if Debian really wants the feature disabled in the source code,
commenting out file src/atanks.cpp: line: 5437 should do the trick.

Jesse
#756879#15
Date:
2014-08-03 00:59:09 UTC
From:
To:
Jesse Smith <jessefrgsmith@yahoo.ca> (2014-08-02):

I'd call it basic privacy.

Ah, switching from opt-out to opt-in would be an idea. I can't check
what happens in the options menu though because I'm getting a segfault.

I noticed the two #ifdef but relying on such side effects is usually quite
suboptimal… I'm not the maintainer though.

Mraw,
KiBi.
#756879#20
Date:
2014-08-03 13:22:46 UTC
From:
To:
How is checking for updates a privacy issue? No information about you
or your computer or even your installation of Atanks is sent to
anyone. All Atanks does to check for an updated version is check the
version number of the most recent release on-line. It then compares
that release number against the version you have installed. If the
on-line version is newer, Atanks displays the update message.

On the server side no information is recorded, all the server knows is
you downloaded the contents of a text file.

And, again, you can disable update checks in the Options screen or by
editing your configuration file (located in the ~/.atanks directory).

Many people requested update checks be enabled by default and, as
there is no information sent about you and nothing logged, this cannot
be a privacy issue.

Jesse
#756879#25
Date:
2014-08-04 07:23:31 UTC
From:
To:
Am Sonntag, den 03.08.2014, 10:22 -0300 schrieb Jesse Smith:

In some way this circumvents Debian's packaging system. On Debian
"stable" releases, software is *expected* not to get updated and I can
imagine that users get annoyed by a message telling about a new upstream
release every time they start the game.

I also believe that updating the software and even informing users about
available software updates should remain the job of the packaging
system.

- Fabian
#756879#30
Date:
2014-08-04 14:14:08 UTC
From:
To:
Since Atanks is in maintenance mode at this time, the only software
updates from the project are likely to be security updates (which do get
applied to Debian). I also think it's a bit of a stretch to call the
tiny text at the bottom of the window indicating a new release is
available "annoying". It doesn't flash or beep or create a pop-up window.

If you don't want to know about security updates you can turn off the
notification.

Jesse
#756879#35
Date:
2023-02-11 17:12:53 UTC
From:
To:
My greetings to you

My name is Attia Johnson ,And  I am a lawyer

 I'm contacting you regarding a proposal I would like to discuss with you,
please contact me for more information.

 Thanks and best regards,
 Attia Johnson