About a week ago I setup Ubuntu as my primary OS on an old machine. It is my first time trying a unix based OS (previously windows). It has been ok, but it seems like every time I try to install something I run into problems. The app has the wrong permissions or I don’t have the right packages or I need to change port settings ect… I was expecting a learning curve but I wanted to know if this is something I should expect to be a long term issue or if I will aquire the skills to side step stuff like this over time?
Update* I got it working. Last night I reinstalled it and figured it out. Two issues. On initial install I failed to update one of the packages needed. I also assigned the service to a group without the required permissions. On reinstall I rectified both of these issues and it works flawlessly. Thanks all for your help and input (and ignoring typos in the title)!
I can only recommend you to look into using Flatpak to install graphical applications. It avoids the whole dependency or permission issues because it ships apps in their own well tested little sandbox. From a end user perspective its somewhat similar to how applications are bundled on macOS.
That’s what I use with Debian. Rock solid OS, latest Apps without polluting it with Flatpak.
Exactly. Trying to install the latest version of a bunch of apps on a base like Debian is bound to give you dependency issues if you try to install the native version.
Yes but unlike Ubuntu, Debian is true open-source, true freedom and rock solid stability for a base system. We can just use it as a base system and add whatever app via Flatpak.
While I agree, definitely you need Flatseal to change permissions at times.
If there is a dependency problem in the upstream packages, then there is a bug in Ubuntu. This doesn’t happen often, and isn’t a good reason to go to Flatpak by itself. A bug should be filed upstream and it’ll likely get fixed quickly.
There is likely no bug they are just confused. Simple tools help.
You’re recommending Flatpak for users that are confused by packages?
Absolutely. No worry of dependencies, lower risk of harming system accidentally, more reproducible environment likely to work, less distribution specific details.
It is excellent for new users.
If the package manager leaves you with broken dependencies, a broken system, or a system that “doesn’t work,” then there are significant bugs in how the distro has packaged things. It happens, but seldomly.
Package managers aren’t “hard.” There are GUIs where you can search and install packages, even. In my opinion, if you have a Linux user that has avoided learning how package managers work, then they’re skipping a core foundation of how to use their operating system.
When a user knows nothing they can do anything. The internet is so full of bad Linux advice.
They will install bad PPAs, run random binary installers, there are even guides that show how to convert other distributions packages to another. A new user doesn’t understand why any of this is bad, they just did the first google result.