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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Flatpak is only for graphical apps - Flatpak's biggest flaw? (iusearchlinux.fyi)

submitted 10 months ago by Libretto@iusearchlinux.fyi to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I love Flatpaks, the programs are nicely separated so they don't interfere with each other. They also don't have flaws like Snap's low performance or Nix's complexity.

But being limited to only graphical apps seems like a real drawback. If one wants to use Flatpaks as their primary package manager there have to be some awkward workarounds for cli programs.

E.g., the prime Flatpak experiene is supposed to be on immutable distros like Silverblue. But to install regular cli programs you are expected to spin up a distrobox (or toolbox) and install those programs there.

Having one arch distrobox where I get my cli programs from will not work, as the package entropy over time will get me the very dependency issues that Flatpak wants to solve.

So what is the solution here? Have multiple distroboxes and install packages in those in alternation and hope the boxes don't break? Use Nix alongside Flatpak? Use Snaps?

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[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 44 points 10 months ago (16 children)

Flatpak can do CLI apps it's just mildly unwieldy because of the whole flatpak run ....

If you want reproducible dev environments, yeah you're pushed to container solutions be it distrobox, Podman or Docker. Or something like nix as a user.

If you install a Debian distrobox it'll be as reliable as Debian itself is. It's only an issue when you're after 100% reproducible systems, which Docker can help somewhat with, or again, nix. Or NixOS if you really want it all system-wide.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 13 points 10 months ago (15 children)

flatpak run org.gimp.Gimp image.png vs. gimp image.png or even xdg-open image.png. "Mildly unwieldy" I suppose but a massive pain in the ass in practice. I can't believe they thought that it was a good idea to require all that and provide no way to create a script in /usr/local/bin or even .local/bin.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 20 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

echo 'alias gimp="flatpak run org.gimp.Gimp"' >> ~/.bash_profile

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 32 points 10 months ago

Oh my God I never thought of that! /s

What a pain in the ass to require me to maintain a set of aliases for everything I install. Great user experience.

[–] optissima@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

And the other 125 flatpaks I have?

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