this post was submitted on 03 May 2024
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I'm literally trying to get into Linux and one of the first things was installing software, which involves copying and running random bits of code from whatever website has the highest search result. I would say a lot of software is running code you have no idea what it does.
I ask this with full sincerity - are you unaware of the package manager?
He has a point tho. The amount of copy pasting random shit from the internet into the console is way too comon if you go down the rabbit hole on some issues with the system and find a solution on some abandoned by god itself linux forum. To be fair its usualy just a comand that does shit for you in 5 seconds so you dont have to use gui buuut it does happen and i can tell what this stuff does but the average user likley dosent . Alghtough it might be less common today. Its been quite a long time since i last broke my system.
I mean, I never do that without downloading the script and reading it. I also read makepkg files. It doesn't take that much to validate these things
He wasn't say you personally do it. He even said that he knows what the commands do, most of the time, but that the average person does not. Especially beginners to Linux, who are more prone to break their system and be on forum rabbit holes to try and fix it.
In much the way I am aware of the Windows store: I avoid it and work to get the software directly from the source. I regularly run into the issue of software not being there or being of unknown version.
Perhaps that is some bias from Windows following me over.
That is definitely your Windows bias haunting you. Package managers are the way to get software on your Linux distro. Going straight to the source has it's place, but for 95% of use cases, you should be using your package manager.
That is not the way things work on Linux - the repos essentially are the source. It is intended for apps to be packaged and distributed through official repos precisely to avoid the issues you listed, which are more often issues of downloading from sites. Package managers take care of incompatible versions and conflicts. That's definitely a Windows bias my friend :P
Ok but imagine if Microsoft got altruistic and made the Windows store to be as helpful as possible and not as a marketing or user control scheme. That’s the package manager in Linux.
Wait, are you setting up PPAs? If you're using a user-friendly distro, either flathub should be enabled by default or the AUR is easily accessible with pamac or the chaotic-AUR. If software availability is a problem, I don't know what to tell you; I think you started with a more difficult distribution than you intended to. PPAs suck.
You're doing it wrong. Get it from your package manager lol
Lol
Installing software on Linux almost never involves "copying and running random bits of code" unless you have a need for some really obscure program. Learn how to use your distribution's package manager.
Also
sudo apt updatesudo apt upgradecovers what, about 60% of Linux desktops?
And
sudo apt full-upgradewhen a new OS version is available.full-upgradeis the same asupgradeexcept it'll remove old packages if required. (e.g. programs that don't support the new version and hold back the upgrade due to old dependencies). When upgrading Debian to a new release, I usually first runupgrade, then runfull-upgradeand read the output very carefully before continuing.if we’re being fair, it did involve a lot of that historically. Package managers weren’t always around and even after they became established, there was still a lot of fiddling with bad drivers and various distributions had policies which didn’t allow certain software with certain licenses to be setup through their package repository and so on and so forth. Sure nowadays this is less of an issue, but then windows security is also much better than it used to be. People here seem to want to compare the latest Ubuntu to windows 98
I mean, bash is a code.
Till next time
Those are just tutorials showing how to install something. Typing
flatpak install firefoxis one and the same as going into the app store, searching for Firefox and clicking "install". Tutorial websites would just show terminal as it's more universal.If they ask you to actually download some file there is something very wrong.
I often see people overwhelmed by universality of some things. Instead of searching "How to install Firefox on Linux?" what should be learned is "How to install software on Linux?" and, unless met with something badly ported, never do the search again.
But what my meme is about is Windows-only style of having some file and by default having no idea if that's going to run in some program or be a program.
While I totally agree with you about package managers, I still run into a lot of apps that the only install option is a .deb downloaded from a webpage. Which is comparable to running a .exe on windows.
deb-get is useful for these.
I hate directly installing Debian packages because I forget to update them (since apt won't update them). I usually either use deb-get or create my own repo for the app using Aptly.