No, you download the key from many distinct domains and verify it matches before TOFU

Hilarious, but not a security issue. Just shitty Bash coding.

It absolutely is a security issue. I had a little brain fart, but what I meant to say was "Security isn't just protection from malice, but also protection from mistakes".

Let's put it differently:

Hilarious, but not a security issue. Just shitty C coding.

This is a common sentiment people say about C, and I have a the same opinion about it. I would rather we use systems in place that don't give people the opportunity to make mistakes.

I wish we had a viable alternative. Maybe the Linux community could work on that instead of moaning about it.

Viable alternative for what? Packaging.

I personally quite like the systems we have. The "install anything from the internet" is exactly how Windows ends up with so much malware. The best way to package software for users is via a package manager, that not only puts more eyes on the software, but many package managers also have built in functionality that makes the process more reliable and secure. For example signatures create a chain of trust. I really like Nix as a distro-agnostic package manager, because due to the unique way they do things, it's impossible for one package's build process to interfere with another.

If you want to do "install anything from the internet" it's best to do it with containers and sandboxing. Docker/podman for services, and Flatpak for desktop apps, where it's pretty easy to publish to flathub. Both also seem to be pretty easy, and pretty popular — I commonly find niche things I look at ship a docker image.

All publishing infrastructure shouldn't be trusted. Theres countless historical examples of this.

Use crypto. It works.