bluejay

How does f-droid solve this problem? From my understanding they confirm that the .apk provided by the dev matches what compiles from source and run it through Virus Total. Those are trivial steps for a malicious dev to take to slip in something nefarious.

At that point you're relying on the community to check every commit for nefarious code $x. Not to mention they could simply build up community trust for some time before slipping in the code, since they'd effectively be burned once (if?) their very first shady code commit is found.

I can't imagine f-droid would go on the hook and say everything they build is also code reviewed for malicious stuff, right?

The developer of obtainium or the packages we're installing? I'll assume the former. If you're skeptical about obtainium you could still use it as a source to monitor && notify and then do your install manually.

Am I missing something? In my experience using Obtainium it pulls apks from sources I tell it to, usually the developers git releases and even sometimes f-droid repos. This app doesn't compile anything.

The main benefit is watching for updates directly from developers which, again in my experience, has been quicker than waiting on f-droid. You could even have it do just the notification and you can manually go download and install if you're the cautious.

Arch btw