[chbot] Updating a program: which Way did I use to install it?

[Geoff]

May I briefly mention Arch:
Many things are in the official repos, most remaining things are in the
AUR. The versions are always the latest, so no need for 90% of PPA's.
Additionally creating a package is only a little more complex than creating
a bash script to install it, and the package manager then tracks what files
it puts where and the hashes. (This is why the AUR's are so comprehensive)

As a result installs with pip flatpak etc. are all contained under the
supervision of the system package manager.

My laptop has exactly two 'systems' of installation: the system package
manager and putting projects I'm working on/made in ~/bin

Geoffrey
On 25 Aug 2020 1:34 PM, "Stephen Irons" <stephen at irons.nz> wrote:

> Clearly I have become an Average Joe User, installing stuff left, right
> and centre.
>
> How did I get here?
>
> I used to be quite disciplined, and only installed stuff from the official
> repos.
>
> Then I needed a newer version with a new feature or bug-fix, and I had to
> use a PPA. And the feeling of trust and confidence went down a bit.
>
> But sometimes the PPA version did not have the right option, so I had to
> install from source or version control. I imagine that I trusted those
> places too.
>
> Well, two ways (distribution way and source) is managable.
>
> Other people thought that universal installs were the bees-knees, but, of
> course, NIH-syndrome meant that we needed umpteen versions of the same
> thing. Suddenly, there are 3, 4, 5, who knows how many ways to install
> stuff, and my brain explodes.
>
> (Also, in my list, I forgot about perl -- they too have a way to
> distribute stuff).
>
> (Forgot about Wine too: some programs are Windows only, but run passably
> under Wine).
>
> And look where I am now, and I didn't realise how far I had sunk.
>
> In my defence
>
> I do at least think about what I am installing and assess what the risks
> are.
>
> I feel fairly confident with programs that install as a normal user
> (AppImage, Python pip, some source packages, downloaded tar files, Windows
> under Wine). Of course, there is no knowing what they will end up doing,
> but I think they will only affect My Stuff, not The Whole Caboodle.
>
> Sometimes, though, it is cheapest in the short term to take the path of
> least resistance, download and trust to luck. So far, I think I have been
> lucky. Then again, how would I tell?
>
> Perhaps it IS time to do a re-install.
>
> Perhaps it is time to use a separate laptop for work, where we go down
> some unpalatable paths suggested by commercial reality or economic
> pressures.
>
> Stephen Irons
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 12:41, Volker Kuhlmann <list57 at top.geek.nz> wrote:
>
> [...] Oh dear, sounds just like a Microsoft system... *ducks* Looks like a
> lack of discipline with system administration. Maybe you want to start with
> fdisk and a freshly downloaded copy of $FAVDISTRO? That's what I'd do.
> Volker
> --
> Volker Kuhlmann http://volker.top.geek.nz/ Please do not CC list postings
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