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Did we kill Linux's killer feature?
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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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This is why I prefer native packages over Flatpak, AppImage, Snap, etc. I want my entire system managed under one roof. On Arch, that roof is pacman. I'd rather get stuff not in Arch repos from AUR so they stay under pacman's roof. I do like having the option to use Flatpak for stuff that isn't in my distro's repos (or third party ones like AUR), and on some distros with more limited selection it is very nice to have, though I'd still prefer native. The only places I really use Flatpak are on the Steam Deck (as SteamOS doesn't allow the use of pacman, and if you force it you break things) and on postmarketOS because the Alpine repos lack a lot of stuff I want on my phone.
I think that this is above all else the reason that I use Arch. Arch Linux makes creating packages trivial, basically just wrapping build instructions into a shell script template. Arch handles the rest. The build systems for deb or rpm packages don't come close, and good luck rolling your own flatpak.
This allows me to use pacman for everything outside of my home directory. Pacman is practically the central feature of my computer, and it's wonderful. I'm sure those Nix people can relate, though I guess my method is a bit less robust.
ime they just break in different ways. pacman's easier to hack around but nix is more portable