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AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

appimage.org

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Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#21

Post by ForHackernews »

subway wrote: post #18
cwyers wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because users and developers both want to be able to download and use new versions of software at a release cadence that makes sense for that application. The "every application gets the same release cadence no matter what" approach only appeals to people making distros.

People making distos, as well as anyone who has been bitten by unreproducible binaries generated by hand-crafted/manually driven build processes. When I install software from a distro, it's been vetted and I can safely assume the software has a sane reproducible build process, or at a minimum, has had a sane reproducible build process added by the package maintainer. If a new standard wants to solve that process, I'm…

Nobody except weird Linux nerds and developers cares about any of the things you listed.

Normal people just want to click a link and have their app install and run.

Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#23

Post by bisby »

vidarh wrote: post #19
cwyers wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because users and developers both want to be able to download and use new versions of software at a release cadence that makes sense for that application. The "every application gets the same release cadence no matter what" approach only appeals to people making distros.

Nothing in using the distro's packaging formats forces you to release only at the same time as the distro.

I have some programs that it's ok if they are bleeding edge and unstable to get the most features. Some programs that is not ok. And if those 2 categories have a shared dependency (different versions of it), that becomes an issue.

I would say that most things should use the old model, but there are scenarios where this could be preferred.

Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#24

Post by drdaeman »

I believe the core problem here (that led to containerization, application images and alike) is that correct packaging for most distros is hard.

There are tools like fpm or even checkinstall that can build simple good-enough-but-not-really packages, but I think maintaining a "proper" Debian packaging requires some pretty arcane knowledge that's spread around various pieces of documentation (and maybe I'm just stupid, but also a lot of trial-and-error).

Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#25

Post by tosseraccount »

kiallmacinnes wrote: post #10
hrtghrth3 wrote: post #2

So every time there is glibc / openssl / anything else security update, We will have to update all appimage programs as well ?

As near as I can tell, yes.

Application binaries must statically link libc and ssl when making programs for packging into appimage?

Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#27

Post by currysausage »

thriqon wrote: post #13
cwyers wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because users and developers both want to be able to download and use new versions of software at a release cadence that makes sense for that application. The "every application gets the same release cadence no matter what" approach only appeals to people making distros.

So, the problem is not package managers per se, but the velocity of updates? Fix that instead? (see Arch Linux).

What if I prefer a predictable release cycle for the base OS, but still need the latest LibreOffice/VLC/_____ for one reason or another?

I like the approach taken by e.g. Nginx and MariaDB, where I add additional vendor repositories, but this workflow is probably neither user-friendly enough for my mom, nor have all vendors the resources to maintain several repositories for different distributions and their respective versions.

Re: AppImage: Linux apps that run anywhere

#28

Post by ohyeshedid »

CalRobert wrote: post #14
subway wrote: post #3

As a user, I want to download an application from the original author, and run it on my Linux desktop system just like I would do with a Windows or Mac application. Please pull over. I want off this ride. Why the hell are we regressing to shipping around hackily built binaries?

It's possible that they don't like the potential for walled gardens like those being erected in windows or mac-land. I don't like a bunch of binaries either, but I also don't like the app-store-ification of desktops.

Ya know, I've thought for a long time that the idea of app-store-ification of OS's was lifted directly from distro repos. The depth of use is drastically different, but the core concept is the same.

Something like this is probably more useful in the Linux desktop advocacy areas and not so much for hackers. Sometimes suspension of disbelief should be applied to projects like this, as it's target market is not hackers but instead helpful in converting desktop users.

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