this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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Basically title.

I’m wondering if a package manager like flatpak comes with any drawback or negatives. Since it just works on basically any distro. Why isn’t this just the default? It seems very convenient.

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[–] clemdemort@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

IMO yes but it might not be an issue for you, flatpaks work like windows standalone executables where each app brings all their dependencies with them, the advantage is the insane stability that method provides, the downside is the huge size the app will ultimately take, flatpaks are compressed and they don't really bring all their dependencies with them (because they can share runtimes) but the gist of it is a flatpak is usually much heavier than a system (.deb .rpm .PKG) package.

If you are ok with tweaking I recommend nix pkgs as they work on any distro and only take slightly more space than system packages. I have a terrible connection and low disk space, flatpaks aren't something I can use on the long run.

Oh and if you're wondering flatpak >>>> snap > appimages (IMO)

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 5 points 9 months ago

flatpaks work like windows standalone executables where each app brings all their dependencies

No thats appimage. Flatpaks run on shared libraries and even different runtimes containing the same packages share those using deduplication

https://gitlab.com/TheEvilSkeleton/flatpak-dedup-checker

A Flatpak is exactly as heavy as a system app, just that on the system you already have some libraries installed.

Initial download size is bigger, okay. And in general more downloads, I guess the deduplication happens on the disk.

Its like, shared runtimes but also not. Its a bad situation tbh.

[–] MilkLover@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

I think using AppImage like Flatpak is silly. It is perfect for keeping some programs on a USB drive for example, but not as a way of installed software.