I’m installing MS Edge via flatpak with flatpak install com.microsoft.Edge
My internet connection is shoddy (hotspot connection) and I’ve been getting this error:
Failed to install com.microsoft.Edge: While downloading https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/edge/pool/main/m/microsoft-edge-stable/microsoft-edge-stable_151.0.4129.107-1_amd64.deb:
I can download the DEB myself. I’m using flatpak for it’s sandboxing capabilities. Call me paranoid but I’d rather not install the DEB directly as it adds the an MS repo automatically.
Flatpak is just a wrapper? The DEB is still sandboxed, right?
Hmmm. That’s a bit odd. I’ve installed the Flatpak before but have the DEB installed now. You’re right the DEB does add a MS repo. I would assume you’d like to keep the installed version up to date. That’s what the repo is for, of course. The Flatpak version you would have to update manually. I don’t believe Flatpaks automatically update themselves, unlike Snaps.
My system automatically updates flatpaks. I guess it’s distro dependent but Fedora KDE and Kubuntu all auto update repos, flatpaks, and Snaps through Discover. Vanilla Ubuntu’s App Store behaves this way too. I don’t know about other distros off the top of my head.
Aside from that I have a bash alias: alias up="sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -o APT::Get::Always-Include-Phased-Updates=true && sudo snap refresh && flatpak update && sudo apt autoremove"
This updates the repos while overriding phased updates (take a walk on the wild side ) , Snaps, and Flatpaks in one go.
I often wonder about this business of ‘playing stacks on the mill’
We all buy the convenience of scripts and aliases.
We all complain when something goes wrong and we cant track where the bug is.
What is the right balance?
And then press the upwards button from keyboard. I only use su - when updating so it’s usually few key pressings to find the commands. I’m on Gentoo so I do the update process manually in terminal.
I could use an alias just like:
emaint -a sync && emerge -uND --with-bdebs=y && emerge -c
But there are times when you need manually do something else during the update. Last time it was portage (the package manager) which needed to get updated before updating the rest of the system
I don’t use flatpaks or Edge so my posting was a pointless one, sorry
If it’s referencing as a DEB it’s likely a wrapper. I’m going to assume this is third party which is why that is happening. I typically prefer using DEBs from official repositories over Flatpaks. Even if it is a wrapper, once it’s uploaded as a Flatpak it’s containerized in its ecosystem.
Confession : I didn’t read the whole topic… but it’s kinda bizarre - 10 years ago people were compaining about “apt get” getting the snap instead of the deb…
I’d like to live long enough to see something like: we just install whatever we like on our non-Microsoft or non-Apple FREE operating that’s so ubiquitous - we don’t care if it’s a self contained thingie like a flatpak/appimage/snap so long as it works well in our chosen DE - follows the theming in our chosen DE and “does the thing” it was designed for…
I wish we were there. Unfortunately, we are not, especially when I consider the horror stories Alan Pope (of all people!) is revealing about the security flaws of snap this past year. And even Flatpaks will differentiate from a chosen DE in terms of UI. For me, it’s mostly security concerns. I do like that Flathub is becoming more selective, and when I do have to use one (when a native option is not really available), I will choose Flatpak. I am hopeful that as Linux becomes more poplar, this will become a thing of the past and all of these apps will work in every setting without some of their past/current issues.
Distributing binaries will probably always bring problems.
The Gentoo approach avoids issues with binaries, but brings its own issues.
Maybe the whole idea of compiling to a binary is flawed?
There are alternatives
interpreted languages like Basic and R
jit compiler languages like Julia
bytecode languages like Java
Maybe those are the future
) , Snaps, and Flatpaks in one go.