this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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BC it's easier for the any dev to package their program for flatpaks assuring it'll work in all distributions, otherwise you have to wait for your package manager maintainer to repackage the program for your system. Which is what happens for Arch, debian, Suse, Fedora.
It's not Thunderbird/program responsibility if they decided to make flatpaks the main source of distribution yet you decide to install it through other means. Which idk if they did but more devs are opting to distribute through flatpaks.
@[email protected] I will use the distribution version as long as they update it. Yes I will gladly take the meds. Thank you.
Still no reason to use the flatpak if a repo packet exists.
There are a couple of reasons. For starters, the applications and all of their files/dependencies are contained in a single location, making them easier to manage/remove and help avoid any dependency hell. They're distro agnostic, which makes it easier for developers and distro maintainers to troubleshoot. The applications are also somewhat sandboxed, which essentially doesn't exist otherwise on any distro. Not a perfect solution by any means, but I install all of my main applications this way. Permissions can be further tweaked/restricted with Flatseal. Only thing I'd be wary of is installing any Chromium-based browser this way as it replaces Chromium's layer-1 sandbox with Flatpak's, which is inherently weaker.
I am talking from a user perspective, not developer reasons. Also tinkering with flatseal = lol.