Seems all the IDE's supplied by chip makers phone home - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2022, 10:52:01 pm
content: I have been evaluating IDE's from Microchip and NXP and while testing I disabled internet access on my computer and also logged any outgoing attempts.Regardless what options I disable "no anonymous data feedback", no auto updates etc. (I believe the NXP Xpresso IDE even had a checkbox for "work offline") They ALL tried to to access the internet when started.Particularly bad was MPLABX, it took several minutes to start because it keep trying to phone home and after running, it would try with almost every mouse click.I currently use ST and STM32CubeMX also tries to connect on startup.No particular point to this other than data gathering is going on with these systems no matter what the "check boxes" imply you can turn off.

author: boB
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2022, 11:55:42 pm
content: Might be just looking to see if there are updates ?Some may have ulterior motives.boB

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 12:14:52 am
content: Quote from: boB on October 08, 2022, 11:55:42 pmI selected "do not check for updates" on all the installs.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 04:30:24 am
content: Unless laws are put in place to prevent this kind of behavior it will only get worse. Imagine if you had strangers going in and out your front door just because you built a walkway to the street.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 04:54:02 am
content: Quote from: rdl on October 09, 2022, 04:30:24 amThe tell tale for me is if the software is windows only. Low hanging fruit.

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 10:39:02 am
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on October 09, 2022, 04:54:02 amThe IDEs I tested were all linux versions.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 11:09:02 am
content: I use MPLAB 8.92. It asks whether to update. I check "no," and it performs without a glitch. The reason? The updated file (a .jam file) has a glitch that doesn't work with the chip I am currently using, a 16F1789.

author: Infraviolet
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 02:53:18 pm
content: So, would there be anything that would prevent these programs from working inside a VM cut off from all internet connectivity? That would sort them out, though open source alternatives without the phone-home garbage would ofcourse be preferable.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 03:41:51 pm
content: Just for fun if you're bored, try some keywords in your work, that may "trigger" extra big traffic back to their mothership and makes your computer busy like hell in background tasks, for example words like ... Beijing, Moscow, PLA, CCP, Ayatollah and etc.

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 03:45:33 pm
content: Quote from: Infraviolet on October 09, 2022, 02:53:18 pmI deny internet access to the ST programming tools and that works. However, the Microchip MPLABX program is unusable. It takes forever to start, then frequently hangs while trying to use it.

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 03:47:44 pm
content: Quote from: BravoV on October 09, 2022, 03:41:51 pmHa, for MPLABX no keywords needed, at times just moving the mouse seems to be enough.

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 04:03:48 pm
content: Quote from: brichards42 on October 09, 2022, 03:47:44 pmsomething that can be fixed with a hosts file?

author: brichards42
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2022, 09:05:39 pm
content: I did some additional testing with MPLABX and it's behavior on startup appears to be based on whether it can do dns lookups for internet names. If it can resolve remote ip addresses, it will try to connect and thus hang (if internet access is denied). If I prevent it from accessing dns (I have a local, caching dns server) it doesn't hang on startup without internet.Using the following command let me start the IDE without hanging while also denying access to the internet. This works because I don't really have a dns server running on my machine so MPLABX doesn't try to call home.firejail --net=none --dns=127.0.0.1 --noprofile /opt/microchip/mplabx/v6.00/mplab_platform/bin/mplab_ide