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> I like that Debian still uses apt-get Does that really make a difference? From a user perspective it's only replacing apt-get install by dnf install or pacma

> I like that Debian still uses apt-get Does that really make a difference? From a user perspective it's only replacing apt-get install by dnf install or pacman -S or apk add

hackyhacky 2y ago
It's not just the command that one types. DEB packages are more widely available than RPM. The Debian repositories are larger. And for all its flaws, I find dependency resolution is done better on apt than the alternatives.
- lucasoshiro 2y ago
  > DEB packages are more widely available than RPM. The Debian repositories are larger. This is up to the repository. If Debian choose RPM it would be as large as it already is
  - timbit42 2y ago
    But it didn't and it isn't. Debian created DEB three years before RPM was created. Starting out, RPM didn't even support dependencies. I got into Linux before RPM so Debian was the obvious choice. I never understood why RPM was created.
  - ta1243 2y ago
    The reason I chose debian in the first place was because of the superiority of apt-get and debian/rules over getting random things from rpmfind.net I thought redhat distros later introduced yum as the "apt" equivalent?
- kennysoona 2y ago
  > I find dependency resolution is done better on apt than the alternatives. Everyone says this about their favorite package manager.
  - alexey-salmin 2y ago
    Except for pip, it's like a golden standard of bad dependency resolution
teknopaul 2y ago
Yep, if you package your own code or scripts, deb is easy.
PennRobotics 2y ago
or alien and rpmrebuild :/
kees99 2y ago
..or zypper install, or emerge. For other tasks though, exact arguments might differ a bit: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman_Rosetta https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman_Rosetta
michaelt 2y ago
One of the major complaints in the blog post is that Snaps suck, i.e. that some ways of installing packages are much worse than others. The people moving OSes in response to Snap presumably have strong opinions on package managers :)
- thisgoodlife 2y ago
  I don’t care much about package managers. I left Ubuntu because it put a snap directory in my home folder, put ads in mtod, and made mount output unreadable. It felt like I lost control of my computer.
edelbitter 2y ago
Well yes: if Canonical cared they could make most of their snaps work almost as good as the Debian packages they dropped, and then it would be the same to the user. But also no: even if they spent years catching up they would not reach the level of not-sucking that .deb get without extra effort, as a result of decades of policy ossified into the supporting tools. Such as the strong expectation that apt deals with packages that can be (re)built from their declared inputs and share common build-essentials. Whereas snapcraft does not even provide the tools yet to easily rule out building from ephemeral inputs or merely-accidentally working rust versions.

> I like that Debian still uses apt-get Does that really make a difference? From a user perspective it's only replacing apt-get install by dnf install or pacman -S or apk add

hackyhacky 2y ago

It's not just the command that one types. DEB packages are more widely available than RPM. The Debian repositories are larger. And for all its flaws, I find dependency resolution is done better on apt than the alternatives.

lucasoshiro 2y ago
> DEB packages are more widely available than RPM. The Debian repositories are larger. This is up to the repository. If Debian choose RPM it would be as large as it already is
- timbit42 2y ago
  But it didn't and it isn't. Debian created DEB three years before RPM was created. Starting out, RPM didn't even support dependencies. I got into Linux before RPM so Debian was the obvious choice. I never understood why RPM was created.
- ta1243 2y ago
  The reason I chose debian in the first place was because of the superiority of apt-get and debian/rules over getting random things from rpmfind.net I thought redhat distros later introduced yum as the "apt" equivalent?
kennysoona 2y ago
> I find dependency resolution is done better on apt than the alternatives. Everyone says this about their favorite package manager.
- alexey-salmin 2y ago
  Except for pip, it's like a golden standard of bad dependency resolution

teknopaul 2y ago

Yep, if you package your own code or scripts, deb is easy.

PennRobotics 2y ago

or alien and rpmrebuild :/

kees99 2y ago

..or zypper install, or emerge. For other tasks though, exact arguments might differ a bit: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman_Rosetta https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman_Rosetta

michaelt 2y ago

One of the major complaints in the blog post is that Snaps suck, i.e. that some ways of installing packages are much worse than others. The people moving OSes in response to Snap presumably have strong opinions on package managers :)

thisgoodlife 2y ago
I don’t care much about package managers. I left Ubuntu because it put a snap directory in my home folder, put ads in mtod, and made mount output unreadable. It felt like I lost control of my computer.

edelbitter 2y ago

Well yes: if Canonical cared they could make most of their snaps work almost as good as the Debian packages they dropped, and then it would be the same to the user. But also no: even if they spent years catching up they would not reach the level of not-sucking that .deb get without extra effort, as a result of decades of policy ossified into the supporting tools. Such as the strong expectation that apt deals with packages that can be (re)built from their declared inputs and share common build-essentials. Whereas snapcraft does not even provide the tools yet to easily rule out building from ephemeral inputs or merely-accidentally working rust versions.