Like when you send a .7z instead of a .zip or .rar to a friend or a teacher because that’s what your computer has installed and they’re like “Oh No, not one of those, now I have to install 7Zip” even though the same program that opens .rar also opens .7z I feel like people are way more annoyed when they receive a .7z
RAR is not dodgy, it is used because it is the most corruption/error resistant archival format that does not need external parity archives, and has features like locking archive and precision timestamp support for Unix/Windows. Developing and incorporating stupid logic from 2010 warez era is not helpful, instead just scan archives using Kaspersky.
I’ve never come across a legitimate use of RAR, you are quite right about the link to warez/virus/trojans and other malware but it will never shake that association. As for Kaspersky, I trust that steaming pile of Russian spyware even less.
Well that Russian software is the most advanced anti-malware suite based on merit and technicality rather than CIA emotions, unlike other CIA infested programs like Bitdefender, Norton and hoaxware like Malwarebytes and Cylance. Also your “RAR bad” claims are emotional and untrue.
Indeed, I don’t trust those either. As for RAR being “bad”, no I don’t agree with that - but I’ve only ever seen it used in that context. If someone sent me one it would raise an eyebrow, much more so than if someone sent me a .7z file. Likewise if I used it professionally, it would arouse suspicions amongst my peers more than if I used 7zip.
Its better to scan instead of have weird prejudices. You are not going to go around finding a 7Z or ZIP file if a cracker hosts a torrent as a RAR, or if your colleague or some professional sends files that way. Changing prejudices not based in rationality takes you a long way in life.
You can use VirusTotal if you do not like AV suites on your system, or you can use the offline scanner kits from Emsisoft or Kaspersky if you are paranoid like me, since they need no internet.
The most precaution you need to exercise is against password protected archives. You need to extract them and ensure they do not run before being scanned.
I scan all files already, so nothing new there.
Personally I choose to not deal with RAR and use a format that isn’t proprietary, isn’t patent encumbered, and is FOSS. These are rational, evidence based choices. There are plenty of alternatives that fit my needs better as well as those of my clients and peers.
That is not rational or evidence based, but a philosophical choice. That also assumes you are using no closed source AVs and no closed source tools or software, since your justification is FOSS philosophy.
That’s correct: I use FOSS where possible, and if I must use closed source it must store data in an open standard.
As you insist on evidence: I can create and open 100% of my archives in all systems I use now or in the foreseeable future without installing additional software. RAR fails that test.
The other reason: RAR is a closed format, and like I said there are better alternatives that are not proprietary.
Likewise your philosophy is that RAR is best and you are free to have that opinion also without providing evidence.
I adapt instead of being philosophically rigid. I daily Debian, and am a FOSS privacy advocate. But I am also a data compression expert and a data hoarder/curator archivist and on a medium scale, so my concern is with data preservation rather than philosophical soul marriage. This is why I have never lost one piece of data in my life since early 2000s, and why I balance using 7Z/ZIP compression and RAR for resilience against bitrot or data corruption over network or storage transfers.
RAR is not going anywhere in the next 50-100 years, and will be just as open to be able to extract using the UnRAR library on any computers, and it is possible to use WinRAR under WINE. Sure its not GPL/MIT/BSD style free, but it is used like free software universally, and data preservation is the most important thing in the realm of computing. Any ideologies and disciplines are second to that.