Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I use this at work and it's great if you don't have root access but still want to install packages. (Why do you need to be root to install packages locally on all distros anyway??) The Windows equivalent is MSYS2, where you have a POSIX shell, pacman, and many packages thanks to the active maintainers.


> Why do you need to be root to install packages locally on all distros anyway??

On most distros you just can't install packages locally.

On Fedora you can install packages globally without root btw: Try `pkcon install pidgin` for example.


https://www.pkgsrc.org/ is another alternative for this sort of thing.


It's because the (distro-location)/bin and /etc directories are owned by and only writable by root by default.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: