Snarwin

The first step after you untar is always "open the README and look for build instructions."

Personally my only gripe with systemd is that the systemctl and journalctl commands are cryptic and unintuitive. Every time I have to use one (which thankfully isn't often), I have to spend 5 minutes reading man pages to remind myself whether -u is "user" or "unit", what the difference is between a "unit" and a "service", etc.

I imagine this is what non-developers feel like when they're forced to use git—having a whole pile of unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax thrown in your face when you're just trying to do one simple thing.

Same thing happened to me. Borked my Windows install and didn't have a recovery disc, so I just wiped the whole thing and went Linux-only. Never looked back since. :)

Sometimes, all you need is a little push to get you out of your comfort zone.

There's also vidir from moreutils, which lets you bulk-rename files in your $EDITOR of choice.

If you're using a shell script to install software, you've already failed.

Better alternatives include

• Third-party package managers like Homebrew and Nix.
• Language-specific package managers like pip and npm.
• Self-contained package formats like Flatpak, Snap and AppImage.
• Using checkinstall to turn a package with an install script or a "make install" command into a package your distro recognizes.
• Downloading a tarball and using GNU Stow to install it into /usr/local.
• Compiling from source and installing in $HOME.