Linux

50803 readers

1050 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

135

Can I ignore flatpak indefinitely? (lemmy.sdf.org)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

80 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm admittedly yelling at cloud a bit here, but I like package managers just fine. I don't want to have to have a plurality of software management tools. However, I also don't want to be caught off guard in the future if applications I rely on begin releasing exclusively with flatpak.

I don't develop distributed applications, but Im not understanding how it simplifies dependency management. Isn't it just shifting the work into the app bundle? Stuff still has to be updated or replaced all the time, right?

Don't maintainers have to release new bundles if they contain dependencies with vulnerabilities?

Is it because developers are often using dependencies that are ahead of release versions?

Also, how is it so much better than images for your applications on Docker Hub?

Never say never, I guess, but nothing about flatpak really appeals to my instincts. I really just want to know if it's something I should adopt, or if I can continue to blissfully ignore.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks for the suggestion. I am interested in nix, but haven't explored it yet.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I wasn't being very serious about nix. IMO, it's quite the time investment due to its poor documentation and it has a lot of gotcha's if you aren't on NixOS e.g one example is that it's great for terminal applications, but horrendous for GUI applications as it'll be hit or miss. Again, this is if you're not on NixOS. So, it can feel like an "all or nothing" approach.

If you have the time and will, then it can be very rewarding. But if you just "want something that works ™ " side by side in your current system, personally, I wouldn't recommend it - unless it's hidden by some other tool like devenv (which is a great tool for reproducible developer environments).

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Lol thanks for clarifying your sarcasm. 😂 I can be an airhead at times.

I was actually interested in trying NixOS on a laptop that is gathering dust. I did see a few months ago that there was some drama surrounding the project owner, though. I never investigated enough to understand what that was all about, but I'm less excited about digging into something if it may suddenly end.