The Future of Flatpak

Linux has the worst software distribution model towards the general public of all OS. The one of windows (and probably MacOS but I don't know much) is also full of issues, but is still infinitely better than linux. When you compound the number of distributions, the number of their versions, the number of software, and their versions, you realize that having the distribution managed by the distribution or the software authors is unsustainable. In comparison, windows and mac only require at most 2 versions of the software each to reach at list 90% of the users.

I don't know if flatpak or appimage or whatever are a solution, and I cannot propose one myself. But I really think that at one point the linux model will completely fail if it doesn't improve

BTW I'm not saying that the linux model is always inferior. Actually it is often superior: in the server world were professionals take care of things, in the embedded world where the resources are scarce, the possibilities to configure and select everything to the smallest detail make it great.

This is why the single most widely-used desktop/laptop Linux distribution in the world has a simple, brilliant solution to app packaging:

It has none. You can't install new apps.

It's ChromeOS. It has something like quarter to half a billion users, judging from the sales numbers of ChromeBooks and their supported lifetime.

Real ChromeBooks let you install Android apps, but that is side-stepping the issue.

ChromeOS Flex on a PC, which I use, doesn't offer that. You can open a Debian shell and install Debian packages in there, though. Handy for VLC.

Ubuntu, from its own numbers, has maybe 20-30 million users. Debian about a third of that. All the RH distros less than Debian, maybe a tenth.

In China, UnionTech says it passed 3 million paying users of UOS last year, implying numbers maybe comparable to Ubuntu's. Which in turn implies that most of China still runs on pirated MS Windows.

All the other distros put together come to about 10% of the number of ChromeBooks sold in the last 3-4 years.

The way to win in Linux packaging seems to be: don't do it at all.

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

As a long-time Linux user, I also find it ironic that after years of Linux nerds basking in the "superiority" of their package managers, Homebrew on Mac OS has eclipsed them all in terms of universality and ease of use. For example, compare the install instructions for kubectl:

Linux DEB/RPM (https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-linux...):

1. sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg

2. curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.33/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg

3. sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg # allow unprivileged APT programs to read this keyring

4. echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.33/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list

5. sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list # helps tools such as command-not-found to work correctly

Mac OS (https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-macos...):

1. brew install kubectl

1. apt install kubernetes-client

Your steps were for adding a third-party vendor to the precious list of trusted software. I would argue that for the impact it has (giving a 3rd party access to your computer) it is really pretty easy.