321
submitted 9 months ago by joojmachine@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
all 44 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 96 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It was me. Reinstalled three times a couple days ago because I'm an idiot.

But I'm an idiot who uses FOSS and I rather be dumb in a world of genius than a genius in a world of dumb.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 35 points 9 months ago

I like how know one wants snap but everyone chose flatpak.

I like flatpaks

[-] sleepyTonia@programming.dev 7 points 9 months ago

Now I'm just hoping AppImage will follow in Snap's footsteps.

[-] PlexSheep@feddit.de 7 points 9 months ago

Appimage is better for cli apps. Different purposes. Neovim appimage is very useful

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 12 points 9 months ago

Appimage is broken in many ways. Use a container

[-] PlexSheep@feddit.de 1 points 9 months ago

I've never had problems with appimage, and for me, containers are for my servers. I don't want stateless, sandboxed applications for my workstations.

In what ways is it broken?

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 9 months ago

Containers don't need to be stateless. I use Distrobox to create environments that I run my software in. Podman is the best for Distrobox but it can use the docker backend as well.

appimage aren't bad

WDYM? I thought canonical was kinda standing their ground with snaps.

[-] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 34 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

'ate dependency hell

'ate outdated packages in distro repos

'ate snaps

luv flathub

simple as

[-] SimplyTadpole@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 9 months ago

I am really glad Flatpak exists, it made using Linux much easier for me ^^

[-] HouseWolf@lemm.ee 17 points 9 months ago

I know there's abit of a war going on about the technical merits of flatpaks which I don't know enough about the Unix world to fully understand.

As a newer user flatpaks have been pretty great, I like having the Android like permissions system through flatseal especially for my proprietary apps like Discord.

I dunno if I'd go all in on using only flatpaks but for what it is, consider me a fan.

[-] Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 9 months ago

The issue with those numbers is that they don't account for people having multiple devices. My PC, Laptop, and Steam Deck all download apps from flathub, so I'm likely counted multiple times. On the other hand most people only use one device, so the actual numbers probably don't doffer much. It's an estimate anyway.

Edit: I'm not surprised the amount of people using flatpak/flathub increased so much. It's my preferred method of installing proprietary software and works on any distro, even unconventional ones like NixOS or Alpine. Sandboxing continues to get better, be it isolation or usability.

[-] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

As a noob, can someone briefly explain flatpaks and why they may be preferred?

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 28 points 9 months ago

Glad you asked

  • containerized apps
  • more secure than regular install
  • less clutter
  • no dependency hell
  • open source (in opposition to snap)
[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Containerization is not mandatory, some flatpaks are not air-gapped at all which is a real bummer. I wish they all were.

[-] Loucypher@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago

For some apps this is just annoying. Like on Cryptomator

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 1 points 9 months ago

Can they not be closed down with flatseal?

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks for mentioning this. I didnt know.

[-] equivocal@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

Are you referring to the ones with excessive sandbox permissions that flathub allows by default? Or is this something else?

[-] baseless_discourse@mander.xyz 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It is also much easier to install and update, since it don't require restarting the computer, and also works on all distro.

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 2 points 9 months ago

Exactly. Thanks for pointing it out.

[-] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

That was my guess, from others' context. Hits almost all of the good points.

How containerized though? Could it be a replacement for a docker server "farm" on a single machine or is it know for apps to simply use locally?

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 9 months ago

Good question. Docker can be used for orchestration which I‘m pretty sure is a lot more than flatpak is designed for. So if this interests you (I‘m fine with docker) feel free to try it out and update me.

[-] knova@infosec.pub 10 points 9 months ago

I love flatpaks

[-] downhomechunk@midwest.social 9 points 9 months ago

I am not one of the million, but I'm glad flatpaks exist. Anything to increase ease of use and hopefully wider linux adoption is a good thing.

[-] 4vr@lemmy.ca 7 points 9 months ago

I like flatpaks but bundling everything as flatpak is a overkill.

[-] unreachable@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago
[-] BlanK0@lemmy.ml 6 points 9 months ago

Lets gooooo 🔥

Glad to see growth on flathub 💪

[-] aniki@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

By choice or by force? I'll take flatpaks over Appimages and literally rocks over snaps, but what is this metric actually saying?

[-] joojmachine@lemmy.ml 15 points 9 months ago

It is saying that more than one million people are actively using Flathub. What do you mean by force?

[-] aniki@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

Well if there's an application that the developer only releases a flatpak for, do I have a choice in being one of those million if there's no easy way to compile it myself? What if I'm a newbie linuxer and cannot get all the dev tools installed?

[-] yukijoou@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 9 months ago

what's your point? if flatpak makes it easier for developers to package their software and easier for users to install it, there's nothing wrong with it being famous

[-] Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What do you currently do if a developer doesn't package their software for other distros? Maybe they only provide an AUR package or a .deb, so someone else has to package it.

With flatpak the only difference is that a distro independent package exists, that anyone can install. It being possible to do cross-distro apps with a single package doesn't make it any harder for distros to also package it.

[-] aniki@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

I'm not arguing against flatpaks I'm just calling the number suspect to meaningless as a metric.

[-] Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 months ago

Thanks, I think I understand now what you mean. I still disagree on the notion that people are forced to use flatpak and that the number is meaningless because of that. People choose to use flatpak because it solves their problem.

I'd say it's similar to many people who use Ubuntu because of its big user base and software support. It's still an achievement to be recognized.

Anyway, I do agree that the number itself isn't really relevant. I'm pretty tired and maybe I'm a bit pedantic, so good night (or have a nice day, depending on your timezone).

[-] joojmachine@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago

There are no cases of this that I know of. There are some developers that don't encourage repackaging their apps, though.

[-] survivalmachine@beehaw.org 2 points 9 months ago

do I have a choice in being one of those million if there's no easy way to compile it myself?

You always have a choice. Just yesterday, I had an app's documentation say "install brew so you can download our application and themes". I noped right out of there and found a different application altogether.

[-] pastermil@sh.itjust.works -1 points 9 months ago

I don't think there's any business entity artificially forcing the users to use it (like Firefox on Ubuntu 😉) if that's you're asking.

Otherwise, the only case where the user is "forced" to use flatpak would be when the software they're looking for is not available under their distro's repo, which happens a lot especially in point release distros.

[-] somegeek@programming.dev 2 points 9 months ago

Why does it only have git sign in? What If I don't want to use those shitty git services?

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 10 points 9 months ago

You mean GitHub signin?

Because Flathub operates on GitHub. If you hate it that much, you could use a different Flatpak distributor (I heard Fedora has its own?)

this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
321 points (96.3% liked)

Linux

48179 readers
1098 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

Related Communities

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

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS