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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.

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Why can't flatpaks just work (self.linux)

submitted 1 year ago by ErnieBernie10 to c/[email protected]

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I usually try to stay out of the whole snap vs flatpak discussion. Although I am just really confused as to why flatpak just does not seem to care about usability. You're trying to create a universal packaging format I would think the point of it is that a user can just install an app and after reviewing permissions it should "just work".

There are so many issues that yes, have simple solutions, but why are these issues here in the first place.

These are the issues that I have encountered that annoy me:

Themes, cursors being inconsistent (needs to be fixed manually with flatpak --user override
IDE's are unusable without extensions

At least snap provides an option --classic to make the app work. Please explain to me why flatpak just evidently refuses to take this same approach.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's pretty simple: RedHat/Gnome developers don't believe in theming and that you should stick with the default theme and suck it up.

They even made a whole website about it: https://stopthemingmy.app/

[–] TheL3mur 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That site isn't RedHat/GNOME. From the bottom of the letter:

Note: Even though some of us are Foundation members or work on GNOME, these are our personal views as individuals, and not those of the GNOME Project, the GNOME Foundation, or our employers.

They aren't against user theming. Again, from the site:

If you like to tinker with your own system, that’s fine with us. However, if you change things like stylesheets and icons, you should be aware that you’re in unsupported territory. Any issues you encounter should be reported to the theme developer, not the app developer.

They're against distributions shipping custom stylesheets by default. Which makes sense! If a user has a stock installation, and an app looks broken, they aren't going to assume the distribution messed it up. They might not even know that the distribution changed the theme. It can also cause confusion for users when their app doesn't look like the screenshots from the developer. These cause issues for app developers.

That's it. That's all the letter is saying. It's not a crusade against you theming, it's asking for theming not to be done by distributions.

(P.S. I don't intend for this to be aggressive. Just wanted to explain a bit more, because the name does sound... not great.)

[–] Raphael 1 points 1 year ago

Agreed, they look like ducks, walk like ducks, quack like ducks and smell like ducks BUT THEY ARE NOT DUCKS

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