[GoLUG] [GTALUG] Status of Debian and derivatives, or flatpak/appimage/snap discussion redux

[Kyle Terrien]

On Fri, Nov 28, 2025 at 02:17:03PM -0500, Steve Litt wrote:
> Nick Accad via Talk said on Fri, 28 Nov 2025 12:53:06 -0500
> >The immediate solution for me is to use flatpaks. 
> 
> Flatpaks are no more a solution than putting a penny in the fusebox to
> prevent fuse blowing, putting coins on the tonearm of an audio
> turntable to prevent the needle from skipping, or "fixing" a roof leak
> by placing a bucket under the leak. When the symptom rather than the
> root cause is addressed, there are always unpleasant side effects (the
> house burning down, the vinyl records wearing out faster, or the wood
> under the leak rotting into pulp).

The situation is unsustainable.  Rampant tribalism has carved the
“community” into little pieces.  (“My distro/package manager is better
than yours!”)

It is worth noting that of the three choices, AppImage remains the
only one worth your time and headache.

Flatpak and Snap are red herrings and better to avoid if feasible:

  + Packages in Flatpak/Snap require dependency packages.  The tools
  manage dependencies in their own uniquely heinous ways.

  + Flatpak/Snap sandboxing often breaks things in ways the developers
  do not expect.  Fixing the problems require domain-specific
  knowledge of the particular packaging platform in question.

  + Flatpak/Snap sandboxing is often snake oil, especially under X11
  where a client can do anything it wants with the X server.

  + Both Flatpak and Snap are knee-deep in a political battle for
  dominance.  “Flatpak versus Snap” can be reduced to “Red Hat versus
  Canonical”.

  + Adopting either tool increases admin overhead.  Both have obtuse
  command lines, uniquely heinous in their own ways.  Knowledge of APT
  and YUM do not translate to Flatpak and Snap.  All the GUIs are
  broken in fundamental ways.

AppImage, however, is a lot more simple.  An AppImage contains only
whatever the upstream developer wants to put in it.  It is an
executable file, so you can do with it anything else you can do with
an executable file.  It has parsimony and is politically unencumbered.

The frequently cited shortcomings of AppImage---(1) no centralized
updates and (2) poor desktop integration---are people problems.  ((1)
Someone must be willing to host an update platform and (2) we need
politically unencumbered leaders managing the desktop environments.)
The solutions require free/libre software developers to reject
tribalism, shake hands, and work together for once.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Scratch all that...
The real answer is
I N S T A L L   G E N T O O ! !

There is nothing like Portage and its ability to manage dependencies
at a source code level.  You can freeze whatever version of whatever
library you want.

emerge --sync && emerge -auDN @world

Your computer will double as a space heater as your system cranks its
way through compiling gcc and KDE.  Gentoo frees your mind, grows your
neckbeard, and keeps you out of trouble.  You will enjoy managing your
system so much that your other hobbies silently fade away.  ;-)

(I am of course trying to be funny.)

-- 
[*] Kyle Terrien
    Terrenus => from the Earth, to the Cloud
    https://terren.us/

Dilexisti justitiam, et odisti iniquitatem.  -- Psalmus 44:8