Linux 101: Package Managers

[@Fed-uw5lx]

I strive to have your linux knowledge someday, being able to talk about these topics non stop is truly impressive but what is more impressive is the way you hook me on to the video from start to finish especially since I have a short attention span.

[@andrer1284]

I use Nobara with Gnome for 2 years now and I am very happy with it. I am thankful for your great content! Your video explaines a certain topic very well understandeable for beginners like me, it goes into a certain level of depth, but not too much. Can't wait for more to come. Greetings from Switzerland.

[@herbertschmerbert]

You're such a likeable bloke. Happy new year!

[@jackwallen]

Well that just made my day. Thank you and a happy new year to you as well, my friend.

[@Mzansi74]

Jack, your 101 course is more like a 102, or even a 201. 😉 Thanks for the content! 😀

[@jackwallen]

Thank YOU for the kind words and for taking the time to view this channel.

[@jean-francoismongrain5616]

I'm on Bluefin now (and very happy that I do not have to deal with dependency hell ever again), and Flatpaks are upgraded with the rest of the system. Any distribution can do this, so it's not really a Flatpak issue.

[@jackwallen]

I should have been more clear about the Flatpak upgrade. They are automatically upgraded 10 minutes after every reboot; otherwise, you have to upgrade them manually with the flatpak update command. With Snaps, they are automatically updated, without the need to reboot.

[@jackwallen]

Bluefin is fascinating. I've not reviewed it yet, but I'll fix it soon. Thank you for the reminder.

[@jean-francoismongrain5616]

@@jackwallen Welcome to the future. This thing is a gamechanger. Fisrt time I had that - Ha, that's the way this should be done! - moment since I first installed Warty Warthog.

[@jackwallen]

@@jean-francoismongrain5616 I'm going to install it as a VM and see what's what. Thank you again for the reminder. I love a good Linux distribution done right.

[@gregcampwriter]

Ideally, every distro would come with every reliable package repository ready to go in the package manager--and GIMP 3.0 will do everything that Photoshop can do. But then, I'm a member of the "just make it work" crowd, and I realize that my group has had to elbow our way in.

[@eldeivis44]

Average fedora user

[@ytbone9430]

Hello! o) How do you install 4 or more instances of let's say "Chromium" on Linux? I need several instances of browser applications to handle multiple account logins and also to have separate settings in each browser (for download target, font sizes, running development tests etc.). Thank you!

[@jackwallen]

You should be able to do this with Chrome Profiles, which means you'd only have to install it once. If you click your profile icon in the top right, you can add a new profile and switch between them. Let me know if that works for you.

[@ytbone9430]

Hello! o) Yes, well.. no. I also need different versions of the same "thing" to test against. I also have a license for an older version of something ("beyond compare" e.g.) or I want older versions around, because they perform better (thinking of emulators like "amiberry" e.g.). Being stuck to a single instance and "newest version" seems to be quite a pain in the rear on Linux, especially since modern applications and their "newer and enhanced" versions are not necessarily better. Quite often they are just different in style with less functionality and/or new bugs added. What about AppImages? You did not mention this concept, did you? AppImages seem to be the solution to a lot of Linux related problems regarding the package management. It seems to be the only way to handle different versions of the same package / application with ease. It also allows to clone applications and their settings and move them around. This approach almost seems as flexible as simply running a portable program from its folder on Windows. Back in the Amiga days, this was also not a problem, just re-assign the "Assign" to another folder of your "same" application and run it. Not sure why modern things are less flexible than what we had back then, sigh! o) Thank you again!

[@jean-francoismongrain5616]

@@ytbone9430 Distrobox + Box Buddy got you covered. You can rum each version in a distro sandbox (not a VM) and it will integrate with your system.

[@fotnite_]

@@ytbone9430 IMO, having multiple versions of the same app is already a pretty niche usecase, but if you really want to do that, Distrobox is always available. Make as many boxes as you want and install Chrome in each of them. Also, you can always just install an older version of Chrome, noone's stopping you, though I'd note that you take a security risk doing that no matter what since being susceptible to older vulnerabilities is really bad for an app like a browser that is constantly getting stuff from all over the internet. That said, for the use case you mentioned in the original comment, multiple Chrome profiles are much more appropriate. It's running the same binary, sure, but the configurations are completely separate, it's essentially the same as running two copies of the same version of Chrome. Also, Appimages don't integrate well and do not conform to modern Linux desktop standards.