4 ms·

> the developers claim that too much of their time is spent supporting and packaging the software for Linux relative to the size of the user base. That is a f

by sgbeal 2y ago

> the developers claim that too much of their time is spent supporting and packaging the software for Linux relative to the size of the user base. That is a fact. Even those of us who _only_ target Linux-esque OSes cannot keep up with the vagaries of the ecosystem. The only truly viable option for the widest reach is to release as source code, with a makefile, and hope that the users can deal with any dependencies and system oddities themselves.

Zambyte 2y ago
It's important to note that "users" here generally means "distro maintainers".
h2odragon 2y ago
Huh. I'm using "AppImage" releases from several projects, doesn't seem to be a problem. if one wanted to get extreme theres this: https://justine.lol/ape.html https://justine.lol/ape.html Or you could leverage Proton, Steam's made "windows only" less "only" than it used to be.
- sgbeal 2y ago
  > I'm using "AppImage" ... AppImage is another one of the aforementioned "vagaries of the ecosystem." No single developer can sensibly manage snap, flatpak, appimage, deb, rpm, apk, and whatever other package formats de jour are common these days. The lowest common denominator is source releases.
  - h2odragon 2y ago
    i run a debian so b0rked that apt usually don't work. AppImages do work, usually. "no single developer can sensibly manage $LIST" .. that why there's the variety of systems that attempt to avoid the laundry list. But the last time i sold software was back when "turnkey" with hardware and everything was the way things were done and we had something like 3/4 of our units ship as part of a package we integrated.
    - sgbeal 2y ago
      > "no single developer can sensibly manage $LIST" .. that why there's the variety of systems that attempt to avoid the laundry list. And that variety further contributes to $LIST. <https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/> i'm not complaining about there being variety. i'm expressing support for the vendor's decision to avoid supporting Linux on the grounds that such variety makes it untenable for them to support. As someone who co-manages active FOSS support forums 24/7, they have my full sympathy. No matter how many OS flavors a project attempts to support, there's always that next person crying out, "but what about _my_ OS of choice?"

by sgbeal 2y ago

Zambyte 2y ago

It's important to note that "users" here generally means "distro maintainers".

h2odragon 2y ago

Huh. I'm using "AppImage" releases from several projects, doesn't seem to be a problem. if one wanted to get extreme theres this: https://justine.lol/ape.html https://justine.lol/ape.html Or you could leverage Proton, Steam's made "windows only" less "only" than it used to be.

sgbeal 2y ago
> I'm using "AppImage" ... AppImage is another one of the aforementioned "vagaries of the ecosystem." No single developer can sensibly manage snap, flatpak, appimage, deb, rpm, apk, and whatever other package formats de jour are common these days. The lowest common denominator is source releases.
- h2odragon 2y ago
  i run a debian so b0rked that apt usually don't work. AppImages do work, usually. "no single developer can sensibly manage $LIST" .. that why there's the variety of systems that attempt to avoid the laundry list. But the last time i sold software was back when "turnkey" with hardware and everything was the way things were done and we had something like 3/4 of our units ship as part of a package we integrated.
  - sgbeal 2y ago
    > "no single developer can sensibly manage $LIST" .. that why there's the variety of systems that attempt to avoid the laundry list. And that variety further contributes to $LIST. <https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/> i'm not complaining about there being variety. i'm expressing support for the vendor's decision to avoid supporting Linux on the grounds that such variety makes it untenable for them to support. As someone who co-manages active FOSS support forums 24/7, they have my full sympathy. No matter how many OS flavors a project attempts to support, there's always that next person crying out, "but what about _my_ OS of choice?"