Text: Allow Blender to access the internet. Add-ons that follow this setting will only connect to the internet if enabled. However, Blender cannot prevent third-party add-ons from violating this rule.
I have no plans to change this further. It is important to give enough time for translators to work on the new strings in time for the 4.2 release.
Just one small bit of feedback for the future. Where it says âAddons that adhere to this setting will only connect to the internet when enabledâ, itâs not completely clear to me if âwhen enabledâ means this setting or the addon. Iâm guessing it means this setting because Iâm assuming an addon canât connect to the internet if the addon itself isnât enabled, but Iâm not 100%.
If an addon can ignore the checkbox, then itâs not a rule.
Sure it is, just because a rule can be violated, doesnât mean itâs not a rule. The rules of golf say i have to use a club to hit the ball, but nothing on the green will actually prevent me from picking up the ball with my hands and chucking it at the tiny hole in the ground. While some games have enforcers for the rules (ie soccer, tennis) that doesnât mean other games that donât (battleship, checkers, sudoku) have no rules.
The checkbox does not do what it is labelled to do. Within this context, itâs not a rule - itâs at most, a suggestion. Blender - by design - allows code to access online, whether that checkbox is on or off.
Iâm pretty sure most of us agree itâs a bad move, and all the answers given so far show our hesitations are not taken seriously enough by BF imhoâŚ
In the document âExtensions Platform Beta Releaseâ, there is this âŚ
Extensions are add-ons, themes, and potentially anything else that can extend Blenderâs native functionality (e.g. key maps, assets)
I would like to create an extension with Geometry Nodes assets. But, how to proceed? It seems, there are only 2 types. Add-ons and themes. I am not sure how to proceed from there.
Just to clarify, iâm disagreeing linguistically saying something is not a rule, when the dictionary defines it as a prescribed guide for conduct or action iâll argue with you all day long, wither or not âthisâ is a good thing for blender, the opinions are clearly divided and iâm not inclined to argue in either direction.
What is a bad move? Clarifying the situation that has existed since forever?
I agree it would be nice if it would be possible to prevent addons from contacting the internet, but that has never existed. The only thing that this checkbox has changed is that people who didnât think of this before now do. Which in itself is a win. Now if only people could be a bit more realistic about it. Sandboxing all addons is a nontrivial thing to do.
tldr; Asking: 1) What problem is the checkbox intended to solve? 2) Does it solve the problem? 3) Is it the best achievable option for solving the problem?
Honest question: If addons have the ability to connect online whether or not the box is checked, what is the rationale for having the box? Assuming a user checks a box of this type in Blender or any application for security/privacy reasons, what levels of security and privacy are achieved by checking this checkbox? Yes, checking the box means the core Blender program wonât connect online, but I would think that the desire of a user for this type of setting is to achieve a âWork Offlineâ state, meaning no aspect of the application has the ability to connect online. Since this doesnât appear to be achievable, short of the suggested python sandbox, if that is even a viable option, does the value provided by having the checkbox outweigh the potential of either a false sense of security or confusion over the setting and the tooltip on the part of the user which, admittedly, I have no idea if either of those would be an issue to a significant degree.
Old situation all addons can connect to the internet and you as the user have no control over that, thereâs no uniform way of preventing that. Some addons may offer options there, others may call home regardless, and some others yet may not use or need the internet at all. None of the addons bundled with blender in the past used the internet without permission as this wouldnât have made it though code review.
New situation all addons bundled and on extentions.blender.org must respect this checkbox, or they will not pass review, so as a user you now have control if addons connect to the internet or not, if it wasnât forâŚ
Addons obtained though other means, (ie blendermarket, gumroad etc) those arenât reviewed so thereâs no way to tell if they are aware if this checkbox, and if they are aware of it, they just may choose not to respect the users choice.
I think the argument is, since the checkbox doesnât catch the latter category, itâs better to not have it at all?
What it does is ensure that Blender itself and all add-ons hosted on extensions.blender.org respect those who want to work offline. By itself, thatâs useful for those who are already limiting themselves to those extensions for security reasons.
And then for the add-on ecosystem as a whole, I think it encourages developers to think about how to make their add-on work offline, and it encourages users to asks developers to respect this setting. And I expect the net result will improve add-on quality overall in this regard.
I honestly donât understand the negative sentiment here.
Until now people had to download add-ons from third party sites and without looking at the code there was no way of knowing if the add-on accessed the internet or not.
Now, when you download an add-on from the extensions platform, these add-ons have to follow the rules and respect the new âAllow Online Accessâ checkbox, if they donât then they will not pass review or people can report this and the add-on will be removed in case things slipped through. For third party add-ons downloaded from other platforms, the same still applies as written above. You have to read the code and/or trust the source.
Its wild to me that people who are this level of paranoid about malicious add-ons arenât considering other options, like donât install extensions from websites that donât do reviews like extensions.blender.org? Maybe ask popular vendors to do reviews and not put up add-ons for sale blindly?
Iâm not saying it wouldnât be good if Blender could possibly disable add-ons from connecting internet, Iâd love that. But Iâm saying if youâre THAT concerned about this, shouldnât you put in a little effort into your own security as well? You canât expect Blender to protect you from your carelessness.
Nick, youâve been told it has nothing to do with paranoia about malicious addons but about the legality of the messaging repeatedly. You can choose to ignore those replies, but theyâre still there
This debate keeps going into directions that it doesnât need to. It doesnât really need to be about where people get their add-ons from, or whether or not blender can prevent the add-on from connecting to the internet.
If blender cannot prevent it, then thatâs reality and whatever, fine. The point I keep returning to is that the checkbox tells the user one thing, while the software does an entirely different, opposite thing.
Blender may not be able to control whether every add-on can connect to the internet, but it sure as heck can label the checkbox correctly.
The tool tip has been reworded more than once, and with each iteration it keeps trying to put some sort of new PR spin on the matter. It was suggested several days ago to simply change what the label says, and I donât understand why that hasnât been done by the UI team.
Again: the checkbox does not do, what it says that it does.
The tool tip has been changed, it clearly informs the user about the limitations now. Why are you still insisting on there being a legal issue? I donât see one.
