But yeah, sometimes I just compile from source, if needed.

My software, QuickDAV, is not in the AUR. It’s open source, and I release it only as an AppImage, because I am lazy.

Linux From Scratch user detected

AUR changed my life

Not a fan of AppImages myself. For an universal format it has surprising amount of issues with different distros, in my experience. And the whole Windows style "go to a website, download the AppImage, if you want to update it, go to the web page again and download it again" is one thing I wanted to get away from. At least they don't come with install wizards, that clicking through menus thing was a pain.

For one off stuff I run once and never need again, AppImage is alright. But not being built-in with sandboxing, repos, all that stuff, it just seems like a step back.

App images are a very Windows way to do things. They bundle everything so they are big

I'm a technically savvy but new to Linux user who installed Mint as my primary OS about a month ago. So far I've used Flatpaks and AppImages without any issue and haven't come across snaps. Would you explain the differences and why I would care about one over another?

I much prefer our modern package format solutions:

1. sudo apt install something
2. open
3. wtf this is like 6 months old
4. find a PPA hosted by someone claiming to have packaged the new version
5. search how to install PPAs
6. sudo apt <I forgot>
7. install app finally
8. wtf it's 2 months old and full of bugs
9. repo tells me to report to original developer
10. report bugs
11. mfw original dev breaks my kneecaps for reporting a bug in out of date versions packed with weird dependency constraints they can't recreate

Mine is

AppImage > Native repos > AUR > Manually compiling from source > Finding an alternative

I don't like installing software that doesn't need to be installed, thus I like AppImage. Pretty portable. That also applies to compiling from source. Yes, my home directory is a mess.

Shared dependencies or death
Docker

🤔

Just use flatpak. It runs and installs local but still has the benefits of a package manager

The Firefox snap was the reason I left Ubuntu. (Or, the last straw, at least.) Fedora has been wonderful.

|sudo bash

Snaps are a standard for apps that Ubuntu's parent company, Canonical, has been trying to push for years.

The issue that most people have with them, is that Canonical controls the servers, which are closed source. Meaning that only they can distribute Snap software, which many Linux users feel violates the spirit & intention of the wider free and open source community.

Appimages and Flatpaks are fully open source standards, anybody can package their software in those ways and distribute them however they want.

.deb files are software packaged for the Debian distribution, and frequently also work with other distros that are based on Debian, like Linux Mint.

The primary thing I hate about them is that every snap package appears to your system as a separate mounted filesystem. So if you look in your file explorer, you can potentially see dozens of phantom drives clogging up your sidebar.

Every February, I emerge qtwebengine to keep us warm.