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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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What are your thoughts on Flatpak/Flathub? (flathub.org)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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How does it stack up against traditional package management and others like AUR and Nix?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Its a solution to one of the typical Linux issues. Its a step toward overcaming the fragmentation of Linux package managers.

I don't personally like it too much, I prefer the distro package stuff, but I understand the app developers cannot manage a plethora of different package formats.

Distro maintainters should, but its clearly more and more a massive task for different distros to keep up with the amount of apps out there.

Also, npm, pip and the various "packaging" ways existing add to the chaos.

I see distro package managers converge toward providing basic packages for the general system and some other solution like flatpack to provide additional stuff.

I think it would be wrong for flatpack/containers to replace package managers as well, it's not their scope.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I see distro package managers converge toward providing basic packages for the general system and some other solution like flatpack to provide additional stuff.

IMHO doing this would be suicide for most distros.

There are only so many ways you can make a basic system and the distro scene is already saturated by various interpretations of "basic".

A distro needs to offer more than the basic system and a huge part of that added value lies in its packages (and by extension package manager).