Several jailbreak hackers and developers now warn that Sileo could end the BigBoss repository

Friday morning, a port for the Sileo package manager became available for users of the unc0ver jailbreak, and we’ve since published a tutorial describing how to install the third-party package manager if you aren’t using Electra.

But this launch appears to have awoken the dormant beast in the jailbreak community. Many high-profile jailbreak hackers and developers are now speaking out against it, noting that the Sileo package manager hurts the BigBoss repository, which is the last of Cydia’s default repositories still standing (MacCiti and ModMyi closed their doors months ago).

According to a Reddit post published by unc0ver co-developer Sam Bingner (Sbingner), Sileo serves packages hosted on the BigBoss repository without serving their ads. In other words, BigBoss isn’t making any ad-driven revenue through Sileo as it would through Cydia, and this is nothing short of a cheap shot to the repository. His full quote below:

Sileo is serving packages from BigBoss directly without serving their ads which is essentially stealing their bandwidth without paying for it. If you want to use things off BigBoss you should not use Sileo to access it or you could cause it to go away permanently.

Bingner wasn’t the only one to comment; unc0ver lead developer Pwn20wnd also added to the commotion:

BigBoss disappearing would basically mean the end of jailbreaking, altogether, permanently. Please take the care of this, everyone.

And even jailbreak tweak developer midnightchips had this to say:

That’s terrible. Bigboss is an integral part of jailbreaking. This is shooting ourselves in the foot.

In response to a disgruntled community, Electra developer CoolStar had this to say:

More below:

The sudden explosion of criticism opens our eyes to a real problem in the jailbreak community today, and we must ask ourselves, “is this what we really want?”

[Update] 1/1/2019: It now seems the root of the problem could be addressed at some point:

Saurik closed the Cydia Store last month, which prevents the BigBoss repository from selling paid jailbreak packages unless developers utilize their own payment system or the BigBoss repository adopts its own third-party payment mechanism like other third-party repositories. Nevertheless, the BigBoss repository is the single-largest repository available to the jailbreak community, hosting countless jailbreak apps and tweaks, among other things.

One solution is to only use Cydia to browse the BigBoss repository, ensuring that BigBoss is paid for the services it provides to you. Another solution would be to boycott Sileo entirely, at least until its lead developers find a way to play nicely with the BigBoss repository.

Loyal Cydia users aren’t hurting the BigBoss repository in any way, as Cydia continues to serve the BigBoss repository’s ads. Fortunately, the unc0ver jailbreak comes bundled with an updated version of Cydia that runs extravagantly on iOS 11 devices, so it’s a great way to go if you want to continue supporting the BigBoss repository.

How do you feel about this touchy situation? Discuss in the comments section below.