this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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Every recipe that I have ever encountered for Ubuntu worked on Debian, except the recipes involving Snaps, which were inevitably much simpler on Debian. And I haven't seen anything useful under WSL (cli tools) packaged better as a snap anyway.
Computers are complicated. Linux advocates just aren't being paid to lie about it.
In this case, this is a simple 7 character (edit: plus a (optional) one line command to enable systemd) change that can save a newbie a lot of trouble, and comes with ~~no downside.~~ the downside that systemd isn't enabled by default. (Edit: a good point made below.)
There's very few cases where Debian and Ubuntu are different at on the command line (which WSL is). In those very few cases, anyone using WSL is going to have a much better time on Debian, because they're more likely to find a working recipe.
The exact reasons for this are nuanced, but come down - folks liked me publishing recipes don't target Ubuntu anymore, because I wasn't (as a package maintainer) invited to the Snap party. Which is fine. Flatpak does the same job, in an open way.
So for the 98% of recipes that predate Snap, there's no difference to be had as a user. For the cutting edge 2% of new stuff, newbies are increasingly better off on Debian.
(Edit: In case anyone was wondering, I really, personally, don't like Ubuntu, because it has Snaps. I'm aware that makes me a meme.
Snaps are bad for the community, and bad for the user.
Some of us understand why, and do our best to mention it politely, every so often, to save our peers a headache or two.
That said, folks who need hand-held through the specifics of why Snap sucks would do better asking elsewhere. I am famously old and irritable.)
I'm pretty sure a year ago there was a set of users claiming systemd was the worst thing to happen to Linux since snap.
So why are you advising to change the default install of Debian to include it?
May as well just install Ubuntu then.
Citation needed. Pretty sure this is either personal opinion or anti-canonical, anti-snap ideology.
Targeting WSL users with this rhetoric is ridiculous. If you want to tailor your own systems outside the norm then sure go ahead but claiming things will be easier for a newbie by running specific commands they don't have the context or expertise to comprehend is absurd.
I didn't advice any such thing. My edit is just to acknowledge someone else who makes it part of their process.
I shared my personal experience and you turned it into a distro war. Go look up your own damn sources.
Fuck yes. It's both! Snap is a slap in the face to the contributors who brought Canonical this far. I appreciate their partnership so far, and now, speaking as a package maintainer, Canonical can fuck right off.
Helping people make an informed decision about their tool chain is rhetoric? Give me a fucking break.
I don't like Ubuntu. That's not a secret. Ubuntu is a fine option for total newbies. People using WSL tend not to be total newbies and may well run into real issues (such as the ones that prompted me to switch), thanks to snap.
My original comment was pointing out this entire post is an unnecessary distro war. Except now WSL is the battleground. It's so unnecessary. I'm genuinely surprised anyone gives a shit about WSL.
OK, that's a different assumption to me. I kinda presume anyone toying with WSL is one of their early experiences with Linux.
My experience was if you're fiddling enough with WSL that you're running into issues then you may as well ditch Windows and move to Linux.
Hence arguing over which WSL distro someone is using is irrelevant. You're better of persuading them to try dual booting Linux instead.