The funny thing is, that NixOS did actually solve the goddamn dependency hell problem in the best possible way and yet there are n different ways that try to do something, but fail. Linux should at least converge on this one actuall good solution.
AppImage is the best, and I wish more developers would use it. At least for desktop/end-user software. Maybe Guix is a better choice for a server, though I don't have much experience with it.
Appimage is basically a linux port of the windows workflow where you download an exe file from random sites and run it. No update mechanism, no discovery, no install/remove mechanisms no sandboxing.
Appimage is super cool for being able to quickly test builds of stuff but for software you actually use its not great.
I have been using Fedora Silverblue for a few months now and using flatpak to install every gui tool and its been excellent. I use a tool called flatseal which lets me tighten or loosen permissions for apps based on what I need which has been awesome. I can just flat out disable networking on apps if I don't need the networked parts.
> Appimage is basically a linux port of the windows workflow where you download an exe file from random sites and run it. No update mechanism, no discovery, no install/remove mechanisms no sandboxing.
I use it on https://mudlet.org and it's amazing. No Linux users are ever issues with them - it's an effectively solved distribution problem.
The one drawback is that you need to use an ancient compiler, but for our purposes that ancient compiler supports C++17 so that is okay for the time being.
I initially disliked Flatpak, but I've come around to it recently in light of where Snaps seem to be heading.