• mlg@lemmy.worldEnglish
    98·
    22 days ago

    Dependencies:

    Old ass library version from 2004

    apt/dnf/pacman: package not found

    library package was last available 15 years ago before it was dropped to move to the next legacy version

    App package was available right up until last year until it was dropped for development inactivity

    Absolutely no one has a compiled version of old ass library

    Attempting to compile old ass library results in 30 other old ass package dependencies

    How in the actual world was the maintainer compiling this up to last year

  • Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.de
    714·
    22 days ago

    Ah the Linux help desk where you get helpful directions like “You have a problem with your dual monitor setup in your naively installed Ubuntu setup? Have you considered installing a rust micro kernel from an abandoned GitHub repo? After cherry picking some patches from a mailinglist? Also boon plep Ubuntu looser.”

    • MNByChoice@midwest.social
      1013·
      22 days ago

      I hate modern AI, but that is what we need it for. Maintaining old code bases, and not turning it into a text editor/AI API (unless that was the original intention).

      Edit: I have to add more words. Maintaining code bases includes compling and testing the code on a variety of hardware. Running tests against that code. Responding to questions. It is a massive amount of work.

      • Pippipartner@discuss.tchncs.de
        11·
        22 days ago

        Yeah Support is horrible work, I don’t maintain anything, but I ask stupid questions, which I don’t know are stupid until I get the answer and than die of shame.

        I don’t know if AI can fix that and most maintainers I had to ask for help were really helpful and friendly, but maintainance like keeping software compatible with used libraries, helping users and such is invisible work.

  • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
    682·
    22 days ago

    Why even use releases? Everyone can build everything for themselves. ‘Normal Users’ are just lazy, everyone wants to know how every piece of software is built for their system, it’s not like they have other stuff to do.

    • Maki@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      20·
      22 days ago

      I thought that was what Gentoo was doing, but they have far more binary packages nowadays than I thought they’d ever get.

      • msage@programming.dev
        4·
        21 days ago

        llvm, clang are packages I give 0 fucks about, but take a significant part of my updates. I never really got around to it, but I will try to make them binary downloads instead of building that shit. Like I understand gcc, but have 0 interest in llvm, and can’t have firefox without it… smh

  • Lucy :3@feddit.org
    33·
    22 days ago

    yay <package name>

    There is a 99% chance it’s in there, and there is an 80% chance it uses the latest version/git HEAD

      • rtxn@lemmy.worldM
        30·
        22 days ago

        yay, a utility to access the AUR, where users share build scripts instead of binaries. It’s just one step above curl | sudo sh in terms of security.

        • Lucy :3@feddit.org
          9·
          22 days ago

          Except it automates the steps you’d have to take to inspect and edit the script, if needed. Also, PKGBUILDs are much nicer to read than just plain install scripts. And, of course, it actually builds a package, which is then installed, so it’s not only tracked but can be updated like the rest of the system.

            • Lucy :3@feddit.org
              3·
              22 days ago

              I’d say that yay encourages checking the PKGBUILD or its diff more than the average “curl xy | sudo sh” instruction, but considering most people see yay just as yet another package manager, instead of an AUR helper, that’s probably true for most people

              • copygirl@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                2·
                22 days ago

                That’s probably the “just one step above” part. You do have the option to inspect the script you’re executing before you do so with curl | sh too, if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, then you’d be pretty likely to just skip the prompt from yay as well. (Automatic diffs are nice tho.) Note: I use paru instead so I don’t know what yay does.

              • rtxn@lemmy.worldM
                2·
                21 days ago

                That’s why it’s one step above. The user is given an option to read the PKGBUILD (or a diff with the cached copy if it exists), but beyond that, it’s still unverified arbitrary code from an external source (the project’s actual source, binaries, or packages from another repository). Packages in the official Arch repos are verified by the downstream packagers. For AUR packages, it’s up to the community to moderate itself, and the user to determine whether the package is trustworthy, and I’m willing to bet that not many people do it. I certainly don’t vet everything I install.

        • Flipper@feddit.org
          3·
          22 days ago

          I don’t think the aur can switch the delivered script whether you are piping it into sh or not.

  • Jakob Fel@retrolemmy.com
    301·
    22 days ago

    I don’t care for this mentality. I understand constant questions must get old for developers/contributors but the mentality that people should compile from the source is not conducive to growing FOSS. It is, however, potentially conducive to laziness from the devs. “Eh, why should I spend time releasing compiled builds? Let the plebs compile themselves.”

    • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      21 days ago

      Devs don’t usually package for specific distros unless it’s a generic format like Appimage that can just be downloaded. Distro maintainers need to get it into the format their package manager uses and update the list to make it available.

      • Jakob Fel@retrolemmy.com
        21·
        21 days ago

        Yes, and that’s fine: they can compile in their preferred format and if people want a different one, then the “package it yourself” argument makes sense.

    • dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      76·
      20 days ago

      How much do you donate to FOSS?

      Edit: lol people want unpaid labor and aren’t willing to put money where their mouth is. “Yall ain’t volunteering hard enough!!”

      It’s open source. Volunteer your labor, time, advocacy, or financial assistance if you want your voice heard or continue to hope someone else does it.

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
    19·
    22 days ago

    Unless it’s a JavaScript app which uses some random build system (that was popular when they started work on the app but is now outdated) that you need to set up and learn.

    Or it’s a Python app that doesn’t work because you don’t have the right version of python and backwards compatibility is a myth.

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
    8·
    21 days ago

    Package version 0.01: Built with libraries abc version 2, def version 0.1 and ghi version 7.2.2

    Your system has requirements: abc version 2, def version 0.2 and ghi version 8.0.0

    Package version 0.02: Requires abc version 3, def version 0.2 and ghi version 8.0.1

    You realise that those differences in version would mean that you would have to basically recompile (then debug and recompile) your entire operating system with the three upgraded packages, and deal with a full cascade of dependencies, not just the package you really want to compile, OR basically sit down and rewrite Package 0.02 from the ground up using older libraries than it was originally written for.

    You decide to make do with the old version of the package.

      • mitchty@lemmy.sdf.org
        2·
        19 days ago

        That would only solve it for python, not for say c shared libraries. For that you’re in nix land or guix or if you hate yourself containers.

        I’m in nix land so I just write nix derivations so not a big deal having many versions of the same thing at once.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
    27·
    21 days ago

    There’s so much wrong with this question.

    • things people ‘must’ have are usually worthless junk like ‘dark mode’.
    • updates people want in mainstream can sometimes break compatibility with no “just make it work” switch to disable the breakage. When this isn’t a red flag, that makes me sad and worried for the idiot in front of me.
    • and then I’m no longer tolerant of the indolent writing error in the sentence.

    Really, it’s a combination of all three of those things, and more, that prevent the incrementing of the one number in the git project that would invoke the package run and drop a new package in about 2 minutes. It’s so hard.