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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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Did we kill Linux's killer feature? (lemdro.id)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A few years ago we were able to upgrade everything (OS and Apps) using a single command. I remember this was something we boasted about when talking to Windows and Mac fans. It was such an amazing feature. Something that users of proprietary systems hadn't even heard about. We had this on desktops before things like Apple's App Store and Play Store were a thing.

We can no longer do that thanks to Flatpaks and Snaps as well as AppImages.

Recently i upgraded my Fedora system. I few days later i found out i was runnig some older apps since they were Flatpaks (i had completely forgotten how I installed bitwarden for instance.)

Do you miss the old system too?

Is it possible to bring back that experience? A unified, reliable CLI solution to make sure EVERYTHING is up to date?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's funny, I do almost the exact opposite--whenever there is a flatpak version, I prefer it over a built-in apt package. The flatpak is almost always more up-to-date and often has the features and bug fixes I need.

Examples:

Vorta (0.8.12 flatpak; 0.8.3 apt)
Pinta (2.1.1 flatpak; 1.6 apt)
Minder (1.15.6 flatpak; 1.13.1 apt)
Xournal++ (1.2.1 flatpak; 1.1.1 apt)

I don't think it's fair to expect the distro maintainers to be up to date with every software out there--the universe of software has grown and grown, and we just can't expect them to wrap/manage/test every new release and version bump.

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

Is it true flatpaks take up a lot more space due to bundling in dependencies etc?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The short answer is "yes, but only as much as it needs to". Flatpak had to make a decision between "do we guarantee the app will work, even with system upgrades" or "do we minimize space" and they chose the former. The minimum necessary dependencies will be installed (and shared) amongst flatpaks.

Have you had the unfortunate experience of a utility or program losing its packaged status? It's happened to me before--for example fslint. I don't think this can happen with flatpak.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Space usage under flatpak is highly overstated. It only takes a noticeable amount of storage if you only use a couple of flatpaks, cause all the dependencies are used for a single package, once you start using flatpaks as the main mean of installing "applications", the space required start to decrease because the dependencies are shared between multiple apps

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

Using EndeavourOS ( Arch ) and all four of those are the same versions in the regular repositories.

I agree that Flatpak is a solution to outdated packages. My preference is to use a distribution that does not have that problem to begin with.