5 ms·
If you install them to your home directory, no. If they install to system directories (/usr, /lib, /etc, /var) then they could cause issues. I personally would
by md8z 5y ago
If you install them to your home directory, no. If they install to system directories (/usr, /lib, /etc, /var) then they could cause issues. I personally would not run any installer script that asks to use sudo or otherwise give it root permissions, that's a recipe for disaster. If you have to do that, run it in a container.
- the__alchemist 5y agoRegrettably, that's most software! When I start a new OS (Windows or Linux), I have a set of software I want to install. Examples: Firefox, Chrome, VsCode, PyCharm, SOlidWorks, KiCad, Em-Client, CubeIDE, Rust, Python (NOT the old system version), Steam etc. Almost all of them operate outside the package manager with their own installers!
- md8z 5y agoI'm not sure what you mean, that isn't even most software out of the examples you gave. I think snap and flatpak have almost all of those. For Rust and Python I think you can use rustup and pyenv. All of that would be preferable to using a root installer. If the only option they have is an installer that runs as root, then the safest way to handle that would be to run it inside a docker container. Those companies should probably not be shipping installers on Linux unless they target very specific distributions and are working closely with them to ensure they don't break the upgrade process, otherwise it's going to cause issues. Edit: here are the snaps and flatpaks and docker images I could find. https://snapcraft.io/firefox https://snapcraft.io/firefox https://snapcraft.io/chromium https://snapcraft.io/chromium https://snapcraft.io/code https://snapcraft.io/code https://snapcraft.io/pycharm-professional https://snapcraft.io/pycharm-professional https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.mozilla.firefox https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.mozilla.firefox https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.chromium.Chromium https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.chromium.Chromium https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Professional https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.jetbrains.PyCharm-Profe... https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kicad.KiCad https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kicad.KiCad https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.valvesoftware.Steam https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.valvesoftware.Steam https://github.com/xanderhendriks/docker-stm32cubeide https://github.com/xanderhendriks/docker-stm32cubeide AFAIK, Solidworks and eM Client are not available on Linux, but if they were you would probably see them available in one of those forms.
- the__alchemist 5y agoNone of those you linked are recommended on the official websites: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install: Curl an .sh Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/about/ https://store.steampowered.com/about/: Download and install a .deb Firefox: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-r... - Download a .tar.bz2 VsCode: https://code.visualstudio.com/download https://code.visualstudio.com/download - Download a DEB Pycharm https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/download-thanks.html?platform=linux https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/download-thanks.h... - download a .tar.gz2 Python - Install from source or use a 3rd party dep. https://www.kicad.org/download/ubuntu/ https://www.kicad.org/download/ubuntu/ - KiCad is the only exception that wants you to use an official package.\ Docker is a pain to use; it's a crutch used by web devs and Dev-ops for complex business stuff.
- md8z 5y agoRight, and the ones that require root to install are steam, vscode and kicad. Kicad is probably in the worst situation because it uses a PPA. Please double check your links before posting, it will save us both time. It's also not really relevant what the official website says, as it's traditional in open source for the packaging to be handled by the distribution, not by the upstream.