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But if the distro doesn't package software you want to use, either because it only has an out of date version, modified version, or was just never packaged, the

But if the distro doesn't package software you want to use, either because it only has an out of date version, modified version, or was just never packaged, then you're left dealing with this nonsense. In saner OS's where they don't rely on unpaid third party middlemen between the developer and the user this is rarely a problem.

cratermoon 5y ago
> In saner OS's where they don't rely on unpaid third party middlemen between the developer and the user this is rarely a problem. Windows seems to fit your criteria for an OS without unpaid third parties, and there still exists a thing known as DLL Hell.
- spacechild1 5y ago
  I haven't really encountered DLL hell in Windows for the last 15 years or so. Most apps simply bundle all their dependencies locally and don't install them system wide.
  - cratermoon 5y ago
    It's true, DLL Hell is mostly a thing of a past. The fact the Windows apps "fix" it by maintaining their own dependencies completely isolated from system-level libraries isn't exactly what I'd call a great solution. On the flip side, an application running in isolation from the system in a container including all the necessary dependencies is pretty much Docker, so maybe it's not terrible?
    - the_only_law 5y ago
      > The fact the Windows apps "fix" it by maintaining their own dependencies completely isolated from system-level libraries isn't exactly what I'd call a great solution. Sadly ran into an issue with this today. A program I wanted to use I guess forgot to ship the dependencies in the provided binaries of most recent version. I could maybe track them down, but many of not all of them would have to be built from source, which I’d rather not bother with.
erik_seaberg 5y ago
There’s nothing especially sane about combining and testing code for the first time ever from different maintainers who weren’t even talking to each other. I’m glad that we don’t have to hire anyone full-time to do that from scratch just for us.

cratermoon 5y ago

> In saner OS's where they don't rely on unpaid third party middlemen between the developer and the user this is rarely a problem. Windows seems to fit your criteria for an OS without unpaid third parties, and there still exists a thing known as DLL Hell.

spacechild1 5y ago
I haven't really encountered DLL hell in Windows for the last 15 years or so. Most apps simply bundle all their dependencies locally and don't install them system wide.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  It's true, DLL Hell is mostly a thing of a past. The fact the Windows apps "fix" it by maintaining their own dependencies completely isolated from system-level libraries isn't exactly what I'd call a great solution. On the flip side, an application running in isolation from the system in a container including all the necessary dependencies is pretty much Docker, so maybe it's not terrible?
  - the_only_law 5y ago
    > The fact the Windows apps "fix" it by maintaining their own dependencies completely isolated from system-level libraries isn't exactly what I'd call a great solution. Sadly ran into an issue with this today. A program I wanted to use I guess forgot to ship the dependencies in the provided binaries of most recent version. I could maybe track them down, but many of not all of them would have to be built from source, which I’d rather not bother with.

erik_seaberg 5y ago

There’s nothing especially sane about combining and testing code for the first time ever from different maintainers who weren’t even talking to each other. I’m glad that we don’t have to hire anyone full-time to do that from scratch just for us.