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Comment on Google criticizes Europe's plan to adopt free software

TheTechnician27@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

Okay, so:

I tried installing a program called “hardinfo”. My ZorinOS software store didn’t find it through flathub.

That’s fair. Fragmentation is a real thing on Linux, and it seems like Ultimate Systems didn’ put their software on Flathub.

So I googled it, found a .deb file, which my Zorin store loaded up to install.

So instead of just using apt – like every introductory tutorial to Ubuntu and its derivatives leads off with – you chose to do it (effectively) the Windows way that you’re familiar with where you go hunt and peck around the Internet for an install file. It’s an understandable mistake, but the blame from this point on lies squarely on you.

Then I hit install, and it spits out a message like “Software was not installed. Requires these three dependancies, which will not be installed”. Didn’t tell me why they didn’t install. Just said "Hardinfo needs these programs. Good luck figuring it out asshole.

You didn’t have the dependencies, and it told you which ones to install. Why does it need to tell you why it needs them? Nice to have, I guess, but if it’s mandatory, it’s mandatory. No amount of explanation is going to get you around the fact that this software will not function without them. Dependencies aren’t a Linux thing; they’re a reality of modern programming. And I imagine apt would’ve automatically resolved this and asked you to also install the deps.

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Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

So instead of just using apt – like every introductory tutorial to Ubuntu and its derivatives leads off with – you chose to do it (effectively) the Windows way that you’re familiar with where you hunt and peck around the Internet for an install file.

Because in 20+ years of off and on using linux, I’ve never once gotten apt to install anything. I have however fucked up my whole system by doing sudo apt update/sudo apt upgrade.

I avoid terminal like the plauge.

You didn’t have the dependencies, and it told you which ones to install. Why does it need to tell you why it needs them?

I didn’t say I want to know why it needs them. I’m upset it tells me that it tells me it needs them, and then says “they won’t be installed”, but won’t tell me WHY they won’t be installed. If the program needs those dependancies, just install them. Instead it juat says “we know you need the dependancies, but we’re not going to do that”.

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- TheTechnician27@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I wasn’t necessarily suggesting apt in the CLI; just the APT repository generally, which ZorinOS’ built-in package manager has. If sudo apt install hardinfo will find it, I have to imagine the GUI frontend will. Granted I don’t use Ubuntu because it and its derivatives are terrible, so I can’t say for sure, but this sure doesn’t seem like their fault.
  
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  - Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I didn’t try to use sudo apt install hardinfo, but the software store will find things from flatpack, snap, a few others.
    
    It did not find hardinfo.
    
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    grue@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    “I didn’t use the main standard way of installing software, and am complaining because all the weird alternative ways I did try didn’t work.”
    
    I understand that you claim apt has never worked for you, but I don’t believe you.
    
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- anothermember@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  Because in 20+ years of off and on using linux, I’ve never once gotten apt to install anything. I have however fucked up my whole system by doing sudo apt update/sudo apt upgrade.
  
  Sorry but that’s really not typical, you must have been doing something out of the ordinary or been very unlucky.
  
  I didn’t say I want to know why it needs them. I’m upset it tells me that it tells me it needs them, and then says “they won’t be installed”, but won’t tell me WHY they won’t be installed. If the program needs those dependancies, just install them. Instead it juat says “we know you need the dependancies, but we’re not going to do that”.
  
  It’s the package manager that handles dependencies, not the program you’re trying to install. Random programs shouldn’t be able to just install things on your computer. Did you try installing the dependencies?
  
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  - Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    Did you try installing the dependencies?
    
    I have zero clue how to do that. I don’t even know what file extention they would be, or where I would get them, or what step 1 would be to installing them.
    
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    grue@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    They would also be .deb files. If you wanted to install package A.deb that depended on B.deb and C.deb, with C.deb itself depending on D.deb and E.deb, you would work down the dependency tree to figure that out, obtaining the .deb file for each package as you went, then run dpkg install E.deb, dpkg install D.deb, dpkg install C.deb, dpkg install B.deb, and finally dpkg install A.deb in that order.
    
    This is what apt is designed to do for you, automatically.
    
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