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Sublime HQ Pty Ltd, developers of Sublime Text and Sublime Merge sell licenses and use the package managers of each distro and host their own package mirror. >

Sublime HQ Pty Ltd, developers of Sublime Text and Sublime Merge sell licenses and use the package managers of each distro and host their own package mirror. > Sublime Text 3 includes an auto-upgrade mechanism on Windows and OS X to make upgrades a snap. Instead of going against the grain of the Linux ecosystem, packages and package repositories are provided for most of the major distributions. https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/linux_repositories.html https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/linux_repositories.html

woodruffw 6y ago
Speaking as an end user: I deeply appreciate this particular approach. Sublime is one of the few {paid,proprietary} applications that I use on Linux; being able to install it with my normal package manager reduces my cognitive overhead and keeps me reassured that updates do indeed go through.
- na85 6y ago
  Interesting. Does Sublime come with the source (how is it licensed?) when you purchase it?
  - skadamat 6y ago
    I believe Sublime's source is open source but not for re-selling. You can use it 100% free but it has a popup asking you to upgrade to a license once every few weeks or so.
    - oblio 6y ago
      It's not open source, did they change that?
    - nicoburns 6y ago
      This is incorrect. Sublime's source code isn't published at all (or even leaked). You are correct that you have use it for free with a nag window, although this is against the license beyond an unspecified "evaluation period".
    - JediPig 6y ago
      it is closed source, and ST4 is what made me remove VSCODE from my laptop.. 120 megs vs 1.2 gb of ram... ST4 is a complete VSCode killer.
  - captn3m0 6y ago
    No, it is closed-source with an open plugin API that you can use to extend it.
- tvb12 6y ago
  That seems like a ton of effort for them to keep up with, though. Would it not be easier to make an appimage? I use a smaller Linux distribution. I checked the package manager, and there is no Sublime text package. It is available as a "third party" package, which I think fetches a package from the third party's website, then repackages it in the local format. It would mean that I would need to check the third party repository for updates. Alternatively, I could probably find it in the snap or flatpak stores. Not a big deal at all, but I do get nervous when I can't find something in the package manager and can't find an appimage on the company's website. In short, I really like appimages. Please make appimages!
  - zamadatix 6y ago
    Not sure about the specifics of your distribution as you didn't name it but that sounds like how it works on all distros supported in the link above. E.g. on Ubuntu you're adding a 3rd party repository to your apt sources not just pulling it from the Ubuntu repos out of the box.
  - woodruffw 6y ago
    Of course it’s effort, but that’s what end users are paying for! The best software in the world isn’t much use to me if it requires me to use a separate, non-first-party distribution system on Linux.
    - tvb12 6y ago
      Distribution is important -- I can't financially support the program if I can't install it on my computer. However, my money can only support a finite amount of effort. Every bit spent on packaging is taken away from improving the actual program, which is what I really hope I'm paying for.
      - woodruffw 6y ago
        > Every bit spent on packaging is taken away from improving the actual program, which is what I really hope I'm paying for. Sure, so the reasoning goes: you make it as easy as possible for the 95% of users who like your software (but not enough to change their host to install it), and hope that the remaining 5% are die-hards who are willing to do it themselves. That's why Sublime Text supports the five flavors that it does. Put another way: you can make it so that your engineers spend almost none of their time on packaging, but your average user isn't dedicated enough to wade away from their default packaging ecosystem. Better to spend a very modest (as other commenters have pointed out) amount of effort supporting the common package formats than to throw those users away.
captn3m0 6y ago
+1 for the "setup-your-own-repo" approach. Can't speak for every distro, but I loved this across Debian/Ubuntu/ArchLinux - having updates coming via a single source, ie my distro's package manager.
jll29 6y ago
I love it that the Sublime producing company permits one license regardless of the machine, so I can have the same license file on all my machines (Mac and Linux laptops, desktop and servers). It was money well spent.
lenkite 6y ago
Really wish there was a HOW-TO on Linux software packaging for all distributions. To get to the state that ST3 reached seems to involve a lot of research.
- GordonS 6y ago
  I'd also be really interested in this, even if it was only for the major distros.
matheusmoreira 6y ago
I use their Arch Linux repository. Everything is simple and just works.

woodruffw 6y ago

Speaking as an end user: I deeply appreciate this particular approach. Sublime is one of the few {paid,proprietary} applications that I use on Linux; being able to install it with my normal package manager reduces my cognitive overhead and keeps me reassured that updates do indeed go through.

na85 6y ago
Interesting. Does Sublime come with the source (how is it licensed?) when you purchase it?
- skadamat 6y ago
  I believe Sublime's source is open source but not for re-selling. You can use it 100% free but it has a popup asking you to upgrade to a license once every few weeks or so.
  - oblio 6y ago
    It's not open source, did they change that?
  - nicoburns 6y ago
    This is incorrect. Sublime's source code isn't published at all (or even leaked). You are correct that you have use it for free with a nag window, although this is against the license beyond an unspecified "evaluation period".
  - JediPig 6y ago
    it is closed source, and ST4 is what made me remove VSCODE from my laptop.. 120 megs vs 1.2 gb of ram... ST4 is a complete VSCode killer.
- captn3m0 6y ago
  No, it is closed-source with an open plugin API that you can use to extend it.
tvb12 6y ago
That seems like a ton of effort for them to keep up with, though. Would it not be easier to make an appimage? I use a smaller Linux distribution. I checked the package manager, and there is no Sublime text package. It is available as a "third party" package, which I think fetches a package from the third party's website, then repackages it in the local format. It would mean that I would need to check the third party repository for updates. Alternatively, I could probably find it in the snap or flatpak stores. Not a big deal at all, but I do get nervous when I can't find something in the package manager and can't find an appimage on the company's website. In short, I really like appimages. Please make appimages!
- zamadatix 6y ago
  Not sure about the specifics of your distribution as you didn't name it but that sounds like how it works on all distros supported in the link above. E.g. on Ubuntu you're adding a 3rd party repository to your apt sources not just pulling it from the Ubuntu repos out of the box.
- woodruffw 6y ago
  Of course it’s effort, but that’s what end users are paying for! The best software in the world isn’t much use to me if it requires me to use a separate, non-first-party distribution system on Linux.
  - tvb12 6y ago
    Distribution is important -- I can't financially support the program if I can't install it on my computer. However, my money can only support a finite amount of effort. Every bit spent on packaging is taken away from improving the actual program, which is what I really hope I'm paying for.
    - woodruffw 6y ago
      > Every bit spent on packaging is taken away from improving the actual program, which is what I really hope I'm paying for. Sure, so the reasoning goes: you make it as easy as possible for the 95% of users who like your software (but not enough to change their host to install it), and hope that the remaining 5% are die-hards who are willing to do it themselves. That's why Sublime Text supports the five flavors that it does. Put another way: you can make it so that your engineers spend almost none of their time on packaging, but your average user isn't dedicated enough to wade away from their default packaging ecosystem. Better to spend a very modest (as other commenters have pointed out) amount of effort supporting the common package formats than to throw those users away.

captn3m0 6y ago

+1 for the "setup-your-own-repo" approach. Can't speak for every distro, but I loved this across Debian/Ubuntu/ArchLinux - having updates coming via a single source, ie my distro's package manager.

jll29 6y ago

I love it that the Sublime producing company permits one license regardless of the machine, so I can have the same license file on all my machines (Mac and Linux laptops, desktop and servers). It was money well spent.

lenkite 6y ago

Really wish there was a HOW-TO on Linux software packaging for all distributions. To get to the state that ST3 reached seems to involve a lot of research.

GordonS 6y ago
I'd also be really interested in this, even if it was only for the major distros.

matheusmoreira 6y ago

I use their Arch Linux repository. Everything is simple and just works.