vulnix VS HRConvert2

it is very easy to scan your entire dependency tree for known vulnerabilities for Nix, all the way up to a whole OS

Initially I spent a lot of time as I used it as an opportunity to learn Nix/NixOS. I used Nix intentionally as it's a rolling release and also it's declarative and intended for reproducible deployments, so I don't need to deal with an OS like Ubuntu that slowly gets crufty and out of date and needs a clean-up or upgrade or complete re-install. And if I do need to re-install, it should be mostly a one-liner.

For security there are these scanners:

https://github.com/flyingcircusio/vulnix

https://github.com/andir/nix-vulnerability-scanner

I also run all services in docker and my network uses VLANs behind an OPNSense firewall. I use Wireguard as a pinch point into my network to access most services. So I'm not too worried about the security aspect.

Upgrading on Nix is pretty easy - just bump your lock file and it will get the latest packages, assuming you are on the unstable channel. But unstable does break on occasion. You an also use the latest stable release of Nix and selectively choose unstable packages, which is probably the way to go. I rarely need to fix anything - it's pretty stable. It only starts eating time when I want to add or upgrade some element to the system, but I always make sure to never do any action that isn't captured in Nix config and backed up, so that I don't have to come back and figure out what exactly I did or how something works again. It's been fine. Nix has a pretty steep learning curve, but considering its power, I think it's absolutely worth it.

Along with the results of the diff the comment also provides the results of running vulnix

There's an open issue on the main HRConvert2 Github, but there doesn't seem to be much traffic in the repo at all. Has anyone run into this issue or know how to fix it?

I noted some more information in the other post but additonally - regarding your questions: I tried to install HRConvert2 (repo: https://github.com/zelon88/HRConvert2) using the provided docker-compose.yml from https://github.com/dwaaan/HRConvert2-Docker and following the instructions which where mentioned there. The logs don't say anything helpful (or anything at all, actually)...

Maybe https://github.com/zelon88/HRConvert2

Sounds good, but it doesn't really include the capability of converting anything by default. You have to install lots of dependencies manually and go through a very lengthy installation guide: https://github.com/zelon88/HRConvert2/blob/master/Documentation/INSTALLATION_INSTRUCTIONS.txt

> Firstly, employees need to be aware that they are not allowed to use this software and you need to therefore provide a solution.

As far as I understand, the usage of such tools is caused by the need to accomplish some goal that they don't know how to otherwise do. Therefore, wouldn't it be a good idea to self-host such a tool, even if it's not a part of any pre-existing platform that's in use for other business processes?

For example, for various data format related concerns, I've seen CyberChef be pretty good: https://github.com/gchq/CyberChef

As for some binary file format conversations, HRConvert2 seems viable: https://github.com/zelon88/HRConvert2

If self-hosting things is too much of a bother/risk, then I guess all that's left is local tools, such as Handbrake on Windows for video: https://handbrake.fr/ and maybe something like XnView for images: https://www.xnview.com/en/ and so on...

But then there's the risks of self-hosted or local software containing something malicious and needing to be audited etc. I recall that in my previous org, I helped develop a Wiki page listing many of the tools available within the company internally, so that anyone who needs to store files could immediately look at self-hosted Nextcloud (for example), as opposed to going for Dropbox or whatever. Of course, instructions alone probably aren't enough, restrictions are also necessary, but discoverability is always good!

The only solution I know is https://github.com/zelon88/HRConvert2 In my experience, it works okay, not well but okay. But only tried it for a few minutes.