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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).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Why does nobody maintain PPAs anymore? (self.linux)

submitted 6 months ago by christophski to c/linux@lemmy.ml

81 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When I first started using Linux 15 years ago (Ubuntu) , if there was some software you wanted that wasn't in the distro's repos you can probably bet that there was a PPA you could add to your system in order to get it.

Seems that nowadays this is basically dead. Some people provide appimage, snap or flatpak but these don't integrate well into the system at all and don't integrate with the system updater.

I use Spek for audio analysis and yesterday it told me I didn't have permission to read a file, I a directory that I owned, that I definitely have permission to read. Took me ages to realise it was because Spek was a snap.

I get that these new package formats provide all the dependencies an app needs, but PPAs felt more centralised and integrated in terms of system updates and the system itself. Have they just fallen out of favour?

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[–] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Theoretically they can, in practice it's less than ideal. And that doesn't solve all the other distros or the combinatory explosion of supporting several distros and versions.

Flatpaks on the other hand give you a single runtime of your choice to worry about (though they still have lots of cons too).

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Oh I’m not defending PPAs at all, I’m glad we’ve moved past them, I just thought it was a Debian tech that got boosted by Ubuntu. I see I was in error. Thanks for clarifying!

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Debian focuses on stability. They tell you not to add any extra repos ever as it introduces untested software.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 2 points 6 months ago

Encouraging something and disabling something are two different things. They have Flatpak in stable, which is untested software. That’s not why they didn’t use PPAs.