Ask HN: Has AppImage won the Linux package wars?

1 points by stuxnet79 12 days ago | 3 comments

It seems like AppImage more and more is the defacto Linux distribution package for projects. Is this true or is it just me?

I'm trying to set up Ubuntu as my daily driver and have been on a spree downloading 3rd party applications to make it usable and noticed that virtually all of them are being distributed as AppImages.

Last time I set up a completely fresh install was pre-COVID and this definitely wasn't the case back then. Usually what I'd do and what I was completely expecting to do this go-around was downloading a .deb and installing it myself OR adding a ppa and using the usual tools (apt) to fetch dependencies, install the pre-compiled binary .. etc. Ubuntu is about as boring as it gets when it comes to Linux distributions so not seeing any kind of .deb in a software release is a bit shocking to say the least.

vga1 12 days ago |

Do you mean Flatpak?

Still no though.

stuxnet79 12 days ago | |

Not Flatpak, not Snaps.

AppImages are a completely different spec for distributing packages. All you do is download, run chmod u+x <name>.AppImage and you are off to the races. My understanding is Flatpak doesn't work the same way.

Apart from being unwillingly force fed Snaps by Ubuntu I've never ran into them in the wild. It seems like they have no traction whatsoever.

kgwxd 12 days ago |

There are no wars. There is no authority. Use what you want. Change your mind. Change it back. Use more than one at the same time. Use none. It's your OS now.