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Checking permissions before updating Flatpaks
AI IS FUCKING CRAZY

I wanted to make a script to check if flatpak update app permissions have changed before updating them. I decided to use ChatGPTs newest model, 01-preview for this task and holy crap am I impressed. I had to give it 14 commands to get to the final product and it seems to work great. That number could have been reduced quite a bit had I done things a bit differently.

I still had to find the problems, look up reference docs to correct it, and even debug in an IDE a little. But just telling it where the problems were it got there in the end, and its user interaction output is way better than what i was planning on doing.

Anywho, here are the commands I gave it, followed by the code it gave me in the end. I have not throughly checked and tested the code, but it seems to work from a few quick trials. For demonstration purposes, I have left all of my original typos uncorrected below.


Write me a program in php that checks if there are any updates for my installed flatpaks. and then for each flatpak check and see if the permissions have changed between my current version and the new version. report to me the changes. then ask me if i want to continue with the updates.
your code doesnt work.
first $command = 'flatpak list --app --updates --columns=application,app,branch,origin,installation'; should be flatpak remote-ls --updates --columns=application,app,branch,origin (installation is an invalid column)
and then flatpak info --show-permissions doesnt give the original permissions. you have to get the original non-user-modified permissions from /var/lib/flatpak
the line if (empty($output)) { is incorrect, it should be if (count($output)) { as $output is an array, not a string
$columns = preg_split('/\s{2,}/', trim($line)); is incorrect. its tab delimited, so it just needs to be explode("\t", trim($line));
you also have a problem with the $metadataPath. its not always in /var/lib/flatpak/app/ . It may be in /var/lib/flatpak/runtime/. You can confirm which directory it should be in with the options column having "runtime" as an option.
in the --columns for your first command, "application" should be "name"
actually, you cant get the options from flatpak remote-ls --updates . you have to get the options from flatpak list
flatpak remote-info does not have an option --show-permissions
in your flatpak remote-info command, there is no --branch option.
there is no --assumeno option
there is no --dry-run permission. perhaps use --no-deploy?
you are incorrect. flatpak remote-info does not have an option --show-permissions . we already went over that. perhaps flatpak remote-info --show-metadata to get the permissions
flatpak remote-info does not have --branch
when checking the metadata, do not compare the info under [Application]
also, move the "Get architecture" line above its for loop
you have a problem with exec($remoteInfoCommand, $remoteOutput); you need to always empty $remoteOutput before running the exec. Otherwise, it appends the data to what is already there.


<?php
/**
 * This script checks for Flatpak updates and reports permission changes.
 */

// Function to parse permissions from Flatpak metadata
function parsePermissions($content) {
    $permissions = [];
    $lines = is_array($content) ? $content : explode("\n", $content);
    $currentSection = '';
    $skipSections = ['Application']; // Sections to skip

    foreach ($lines as $line) {
        $line = trim($line);

        if (empty($line)) {
            continue;
        }

        // Check for section headers
        if (preg_match('/^\[(.*)\]$/', $line, $matches)) {
            $currentSection = $matches[1];

            // Skip the [Application] section
            if (in_array($currentSection, $skipSections)) {
                $currentSection = '';
                continue;
            }

            $permissions[$currentSection] = [];
        } elseif ($currentSection !== '') {
            // Only process lines within non-skipped sections
            $parts = explode('=', $line, 2);
            if (count($parts) == 2) {
                $key = $parts[0];
                $values = explode(';', trim($parts[1], ';'));
                $permissions[$currentSection][$key] = $values;
            } else {
                // Handle keys without '=' (e.g., single permissions)
                $permissions[$currentSection][$line] = [];
            }
        }
    }

    return $permissions;
}

// Function to compare permissions
function comparePermissions($current, $new) {
    $differences = [];

    // Get all sections
    $sections = array_unique(array_merge(array_keys($current), array_keys($new)));

    foreach ($sections as $section) {
        $currentSection = isset($current[$section]) ? $current[$section] : [];
        $newSection = isset($new[$section]) ? $new[$section] : [];

        // Get all keys in this section
        $keys = array_unique(array_merge(array_keys($currentSection), array_keys($newSection)));

        foreach ($keys as $key) {
            $currentValues = isset($currentSection[$key]) ? $currentSection[$key] : [];
            $newValues = isset($newSection[$key]) ? $newSection[$key] : [];

            // Compare values
            $added = array_diff($newValues, $currentValues);
            $removed = array_diff($currentValues, $newValues);

            if (!empty($added) || !empty($removed)) {
                $differences[$section][$key] = [
                    'added' => $added,
                    'removed' => $removed,
                ];
            }
        }
    }

    return $differences;
}

// Function to display permission differences
function displayDifferences($appId, $differences) {
    echo "Permission changes for $appId:\n";
    foreach ($differences as $section => $keys) {
        echo "  [$section]\n";
        foreach ($keys as $key => $changes) {
            if (!empty($changes['added'])) {
                echo "    + $key = " . implode(';', $changes['added']) . "\n";
            }
            if (!empty($changes['removed'])) {
                echo "    - $key = " . implode(';', $changes['removed']) . "\n";
            }
        }
    }
    echo "\n";
}

// Get architecture (moved above the loop)
$archCommand = 'flatpak --default-arch';
exec($archCommand, $archOutput);
$arch = trim(implode('', $archOutput));

// Step 1: Get the list of installed Flatpaks
$installedCommand = 'flatpak list --columns=application,branch,origin,options';
exec($installedCommand, $installedOutput);

// Remove header line if present
if (!empty($installedOutput) && strpos($installedOutput[0], 'Application ID') !== false) {
    array_shift($installedOutput);
}

// Build an associative array of installed applications
$installedApps = [];

foreach ($installedOutput as $line) {
    // The output is tab-delimited
    $columns = explode("\t", trim($line));
    if (count($columns) >= 4) {
        $appId = $columns[0];
        $branch = $columns[1];
        $origin = $columns[2];
        $options = $columns[3];

        $installedApps[$appId] = [
            'appId' => $appId,
            'branch' => $branch,
            'origin' => $origin,
            'options' => $options,
        ];
    }
}

// Get the list of available updates
$updatesCommand = 'flatpak remote-ls --updates --columns=application';
exec($updatesCommand, $updatesOutput);

// Remove header line if present
if (!empty($updatesOutput) && strpos($updatesOutput[0], 'Application ID') !== false) {
    array_shift($updatesOutput);
}

// Build a list of applications that have updates
$updatesAvailable = array_map('trim', $updatesOutput);

if (empty($updatesAvailable)) {
    echo "No updates available for installed Flatpaks.\n";
    exit(0);
}

$permissionChanges = [];

foreach ($updatesAvailable as $appId) {
    if (!isset($installedApps[$appId])) {
        // The updated app is not in the installed apps list, skip it
        continue;
    }

    $app = $installedApps[$appId];
    $branch = $app['branch'];
    $origin = $app['origin'];
    $options = $app['options'];

    // Determine if it's an app or runtime
    $isRuntime = strpos($options, 'runtime') !== false;

    // Paths to the metadata files
    if ($isRuntime) {
        $metadataPath = "/var/lib/flatpak/runtime/$appId/$arch/$branch/active/metadata";
    } else {
        $metadataPath = "/var/lib/flatpak/app/$appId/$arch/$branch/active/metadata";
    }

    // Check if the metadata file exists
    if (!file_exists($metadataPath)) {
        echo "Metadata file not found for $appId. Skipping.\n";
        continue;
    }

    // Read current permissions from the metadata file
    $metadataContent = file_get_contents($metadataPath);
    $currentPermissions = parsePermissions($metadataContent);

    // Get new metadata from remote
    $ref = $appId . '/' . $arch . '/' . $branch;
    $remoteInfoCommand = 'flatpak remote-info --show-metadata ' . escapeshellarg($origin) . ' ' . escapeshellarg($ref);

    // Clear $remoteOutput before exec()
    $remoteOutput = [];
    exec($remoteInfoCommand, $remoteOutput);

    if (empty($remoteOutput)) {
        echo "Failed to retrieve remote metadata for $appId. Skipping.\n";
        continue;
    }

    // Parse new permissions from the remote metadata
    $newPermissions = parsePermissions($remoteOutput);

    // Compare permissions
    $differences = comparePermissions($currentPermissions, $newPermissions);

    if (!empty($differences)) {
        $permissionChanges[$appId] = $differences;
        displayDifferences($appId, $differences);
    }
}

// If there are no permission changes, inform the user
if (empty($permissionChanges)) {
    echo "No permission changes detected in the available updates.\n";
}

// Ask user if they want to proceed
echo "Do you want to proceed with the updates? (y/N): ";
$handle = fopen("php://stdin", "r");
$line = fgets($handle);
$answer = trim(strtolower($line));

if ($answer == 'y' || $answer == 'yes') {
    // Proceed with updates
    echo "Updating Flatpaks...\n";
    passthru('flatpak update -y');
} else {
    echo "Updates canceled.\n";
}

fclose($handle);
?>
Android Permissions Improperly Reported
More Android stuff, with even more to come soon
[EDIT ON 2011-01-03 @ 1:32AM]

A fix for this issue has been recommended and I consider it resolved. There was always a fix for this but it had not been given yet, as there was confusion to the problem in the bug report. Other people are still reporting the problem but I cannot reproduce it after the suggested fix.

[END OF EDIT]

It has come to my attention that my Mini Acuity application suffers from a “known defect” in Android, namely, that it “requires” 2 security permissions I did not ask for or use.

The “Storage” and “Phone Calls” permissions are listed in the “Application Info” in the Android settings dialog even though the market does not specify that they are used during install.

This is a result of using an old SDK version as the base of my code. Google actually encourages authors to use the minimum possible SDK version, as Android is backwards compatible, so that as many users as possible are supported. This means my only solution to not having these security permissions listed would be to upgrade the SDK version, thereby disabling compatibility from some older phones. I wish there was a way I could see the distribution of Android Versions for my application’s downloads to help determine if this would be worth it.

I have updated the Mini Acuity project page accordingly with a “Permissions” section.

On a side note, it occurs to me how much of a security hole this [possibly] is. If an application is running on these old SDK versions, and the user sees an application has only network access permission, they might not worry about the application stealing their data while it could! Though, I have not yet done the research to confirm this, or plan on doing so. I feel more and more that Android’s security system leaves a lot to be desired.

Android is not as open as is advertised
Giving the impression of complete freedom

One of the main selling points for me for the Android platform was that, as I understood it, the system was supposed to be very “open” in nature. It would allow a programmer to create virtually any application imaginable that they wanted to for users, as long as the user’s security is maintained. This is, of course, the antithesis of Apple’s philosophy with the iPhone/iPod Touch. However, I find this much spouted openness to not be the case at all. Security permissions are way too tight across the board, especially regarding interfacing with the hardware, making many things next to impossible to accomplish. This is especially true when interfacing with the phone functionality. While a programmer is free to do what they want within the scope of their own application(s) and their GUIs, working with the rest of the system can be a major PITA, or even impossible.

Some of this functionality can be gained back with rooted (jail broken) phones, but it is not always easy (or completely safe) to get one’s phone to such a state. It was simple with the Android 2.0 platform, which I originally had on my Motorola Droid, but not so much with the v2.1 software. Version 2.1 is (currently) a major PITA to root, as it entails having to restore the phone to its original state first, losing everything on it (which can, of course, be restored manually). I also, at this point, do not consider it worth it putting in the time to build things for rooted-only phones as the market is much smaller, and I myself haven’t even bothered rooting my phone on the current Android version.

Anyone can also compile their own version of the Android platform as it is open source. This would be worth it, for example, if an organization wanted to distribute their own compilation with modifications internally. However, it doesn’t much help application programmers like myself that want to reach a wide audience. I am also under the impression that putting your own flavor of the Android platform on your phone would lose certain functionalities/things included by the image provided by the provider of the phone (usually cell phone network carriers).


I really like how they did one section of the security system, which is, allowing an application to request special permissions from the operating system. A user is informed of the requested permissions before they install an application from the market place. The main problem is, though, that so many permissions are unavailable that should be possible. Another major downside is that way too many applications request permissions that they shouldn’t be requesting. This leaves users high and dry with applications they consider critical only available if they accept things they don’t want to. For example, many programs request full internet access with no need for it. It would be great to be able to selectively turn off these permissions, but I doubt the option for this is going to happen. I’m going to do more research myself on if an application can be written to do this, but I am not going to get even the slightest hope up on this possibility.

There are even examples of listed permissions that cannot be accessed by user submitted applications! For example, the INJECT_EVENTS permission can only be used by applications signed with the same signature as the system. I was unable to find this tidbit of information anywhere in the Android documentation and references (or the Internet). This all goes back to the problem of the documentation being less than optimal, as it leaves out a lot of important information.


There are at least 3 applications ATM I wanted to create but could not due to permissions:
  • Call recording: I have written on this previously, but this functionality is unavailable, and Google is not commenting as to why. There are also countless other applications that could use the ability to access a call’s audio. This functionality was available on some older versions of the Android platform (and there are applications out there that take advantage of this), but it seems unavailable on newer versions for 1 of 3 reasons:
    • Legal reasons: It’s illegal to record calls in some areas (which would be dumb to revoke accessing call audio because of this because it’s legal in so many other places, including where I live in Texas).
    • Technological reasons: Some phone manufacturers might have it so the audio never even makes it to the operating system (it’s kept on the phone’s radio stack).
    • Google reasons: They decided it was a feature they no longer wanted to support. The fact of the matter is the interface is provided by the platform to do this, but bugs have been introduced into it and it no longer seems to work.
  • Automated call menu: I would love to make an application that created an automated call menu on the phone, which could include leaving messages. I would personally use this so I could keep my phone on when sleeping, allowing the phone to direct the caller to either my [local or remote] voice mail or to wake me up if it’s an emergency. This is not possible due to the inability to access a call’s audio, as is explained in the above unimplementable application, but I am betting that there would be many more permissions that would make this not possible.
  • Global Key interception: I have somewhat solved this problem, as I will be explaining in a post most likely coming tomorrow.