3 ms·

To be fair, the package must be provided by your distribution, otherwise it's just another random download, only in a different format. Even if you are adding

To be fair, the package must be provided by your distribution, otherwise it's just another random download, only in a different format. Even if you are adding a third-party package repository, you just change the downloader. Although you usually get signature checking with that step for free. And therein lies the issue: It's not the job of the software developers to provide packages for your distribution, but the job of your distribution maintainers. So, if your distribution will probably not backport $newver of some tool to your release, you are only left with installing it via different means. If you find yourself always installing software like this because your package repositories don't contain what you want, it may be a good idea to just check out different distros.

tpoacher 4y ago
There's a big difference there in that even if you do install the odd program from source, the distro likely has you covered in terms of all the libraries needed to run it in the first place. That's a very different scenario from having to download the dependencies as well.
- NavinF 4y ago
  Having to download dependencies is a very Linux desktop problem. On every other platform (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android) it is customary for installers to come with all dependencies. Most programs also statically link non-system libraries.
  - tpoacher 4y ago
    Nothing stops you from bundling dependencies on linux. The reason it's a "very linux problem" is exactly because this is a sane thing to do in a pool of insane systems. There's absolutely no reason to ship your 1k executable with 1Gb of libraries, used by 10 other programs.
    - NavinF 4y ago
      If your 1k executable uses 1Gb of libraries, that's on you.
midasuni 4y ago
An unsigned deb is better than an unsigned script as it keeps track of what files are deployed and you have a version number in a central list from dpkg -l Sure something bad can still do things, but it tends not to splat files everywhere with no trace.

tpoacher 4y ago

There's a big difference there in that even if you do install the odd program from source, the distro likely has you covered in terms of all the libraries needed to run it in the first place. That's a very different scenario from having to download the dependencies as well.

NavinF 4y ago
Having to download dependencies is a very Linux desktop problem. On every other platform (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android) it is customary for installers to come with all dependencies. Most programs also statically link non-system libraries.
- tpoacher 4y ago
  Nothing stops you from bundling dependencies on linux. The reason it's a "very linux problem" is exactly because this is a sane thing to do in a pool of insane systems. There's absolutely no reason to ship your 1k executable with 1Gb of libraries, used by 10 other programs.
  - NavinF 4y ago
    If your 1k executable uses 1Gb of libraries, that's on you.

midasuni 4y ago

An unsigned deb is better than an unsigned script as it keeps track of what files are deployed and you have a version number in a central list from dpkg -l Sure something bad can still do things, but it tends not to splat files everywhere with no trace.