Package managers solve distros' own problems. For an outsider, it's still a massive pain. Distros are usually tied to specific versions of libraries. Your pack

Package managers solve distros' own problems. For an outsider, it's still a massive pain. Distros are usually tied to specific versions of libraries. Your package can't require a library that is too old or too new, because the distro won't have that version, or won't install it, because it'd conflict with other packages. The way around it is to prefer static linking, but then you're reducing the whole dependency and packaging system to just being a zip file with extra steps. There are many package formats, and many distros with different versions. It's a PITA to set up a build farm for everything and keep it from bitrotting. And even if you build a two dozen packages, you need to help users download the right version, and tell them how to install it (my pet peeve in many distros is that when you double-click a deb/rpm, they won't offer to install it, but browse it like a folder or treat as an unknown file). All of this is so much more fuss than "Here's your Windows.exe, or Mac Universal.app".