this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024
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My understanding is that Mint is just following Flathub's classification, so it would be identical...?
And (would need to verify when this version is released) some of those apps are available without Flatpacks anyway... (ie VLC for example), so I'd expect those to still be available
I don't see this as a big issue...
This assumes that distro packages would be more secure. Which are not "verified" most of the time, by design. And which are installed to the system, can do whatever they want.
A system package can edit /etc, autostart itself, write to all your devices and /home.
Flatpaks MAY do that, but these will have an "insecure" rating on Flathub. And they can still not write a lot of areas, for example other Flatpaks internal storage, even if they have home permission.
Distro packages are not inherently more secure, but they are all controlled and packaged by the team who manages your operating system. So you trust them fully. Which you cant for arbitrary packages from Flatpak, similar to arbitrary packages from Google playstore on Android. That's why those "unmanaged" Flatpaks need such a rights system. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that you can't limit the security value by just what the app is allowed to do (in my opinion).
Linux mint and Ubuntu both add the "universe" repo by default. That repo is basically community grade, and even used for official flavors which tells a lot about their reliability.
Same with Fedora. Everything outside of Workstation or the KDE Spin needs to be checked for maintenance carefully. There is lots of abandonware.
With Flatpak on the other hand too, and you can still use it as it can just use EOL runtimes even on a rolling distro...