How do you guys get software that is not in your distribution’s repositories?

  • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    2 months ago

    Why not just stick to what we’ve always been doing?

    1. wget something.tar.gz
    2. tar something.tar.gz
    3. man tar
    4. tar xzf something.tar.gz
    5. cd something
    6. ls -al
    7. ./config.sh
    8. chmod +x config.sh
    9. ./config.sh
    10. make config
    11. Try to figure out where to get some obscure dependency, with the right version number. Discover that the last depency was hosted on the dev’s website that the dev self-hosted when it went belly up 5 years ago. Finally find the lib on some weird site with a TLD you could have sworn wasn’t even in latin characters.
    12. make config
    13. make
    14. Go for coffee
    15. make install
    16. SU root
    17. make install
      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
        1·
        2 months ago

        I don’t remember what program it was, the dev explained it wasn’t available as flatpak because flatpaks are unsafe or something. Then the installation guide went “well anyway here’s curl | sudo bash.” Like, lmao. Talk about bad security practices.

  • cley_faye@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    Native package manager > Native binaries > AppImage > Flatpak.

    Yes, snap isn’t even on the scale.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 months ago

      Not a fan of AppImages myself. For an universal format it has surprising amount of issues with different distros, in my experience. And the whole Windows style “go to a website, download the AppImage, if you want to update it, go to the web page again and download it again” is one thing I wanted to get away from. At least they don’t come with install wizards, that clicking through menus thing was a pain.

      For one off stuff I run once and never need again, AppImage is alright. But not being built-in with sandboxing, repos, all that stuff, it just seems like a step back.

  • Dop@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    Linux noob here, can someone ELI5 why snaps are bad? And how does .deb works?

    • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 months ago

      Snaps are a standard for apps that Ubuntu’s parent company, Canonical, has been trying to push for years.

      The issue that most people have with them, is that Canonical controls the servers, which are closed source. Meaning that only they can distribute Snap software, which many Linux users feel violates the spirit & intention of the wider free and open source community.

      Appimages and Flatpaks are fully open source standards, anybody can package their software in those ways and distribute them however they want.

      .deb files are software packaged for the Debian distribution, and frequently also work with other distros that are based on Debian, like Linux Mint.