this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2023
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Linux
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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 solution would you use instead of Flatpak for sandboxing and reducing the workload of maintainers providing packages to many distributions at the same time?
I'd rather have a maintainer spend time on actually maintaining software instead of packaging it. They can package as AppImage, tarball and Flatpak and I'm happy. You don't have to use Flatpak, you know? Linux is about choice. I have never used any software which was available exclusively as Flatpak.
You are confusing package maintainers with upstream developers. They are not the same people, and this is by design in most distros, so that maintainers provide a second pairs of eyes, provide security fixes and sometimes remove trackers and similar "features".
No, I know what a software maintainer is. In many cases, the developers writing the software also provide builds or at least build scripts. So they're also packaging it.
You're obviously correct that the people maintaining packages in distributions don't have to be, and often are not, the same people who maintain the packaging scripts in upstream repositories.