[vgel]

> The Linux fragmentation could decrease if Linux distros adopted a MacOSX-like standardized app-bundle format.

Everyone decided this so we got 3 different "standard" formats... (Snap, Flatpak, and AppImage). See: that XKCD about standards.

[jcelerier]

And macOS has apps that install with .pkg, .app bundles, .dmg, homegrown installers based on shell scripts, zipped archives...

And windows has .msi, whatever is used to install windows store packages, NSIS, Inno Setup...

it's a way overblown complaint. I use AppImages built on centos 7 for my own stuff and never heard anyone having issues with it.

[gwmnxnp_516a]

Yep, but the installation is far simpler than the procedure for installing a Linux application not available at repositories or an application that uses unstable libraries likely to change the ABI. All one needs to install an MacOSX app-bundle is to drag and drop the .app folder or .dmg disk image to /Applications. MacOSX reads the plist metadata and finds the icon and the executable path, then renders the icon making easier and intuitive for non technical users to just click and run the application.

On Windows is easier to build self-contained applications as there is no the RPATH issue. All one needs to build a self-contained application that is easier to ship and works everywhere is just add shared libraries at the same directory where is the executable and create a zip archive or a MSI installer. When applications are installed, they are installed in a single folder and files are not scattered across the file systems like binaries in /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /libs/, /usr/shared, ..., as in Linux and other unices.

[meshenna]

Here's an issue with AppImages: they don't work with musl. Makes me sad.

[jcelerier]

I mean, targetting musl means pretty much using a different operating system than GNU/Linux. The ELF linking semantics pretty much enforce that you're using the same libc implementation for your whole program.

That's like complaining that, say, a program built against cygwin on windows, can't work on a system without the cygwin dll (and all its dependencies also compiled against the cygwin dll).

[gwmnxnp_516a]

Well the problem of Snaps is complex sandbox, lack of user control, forced updates and so on which is disliked on many non-Ubuntu distributions.

Flatpack attempts to solve the dependency hell problem by providing standard runtime, a set of libraries, Glib-C, Gtk or Qt with a fixed version which requires the developer to build an application linking against those runtime, which avoid binary compatibility problems and dependency hell. The trouble of Flatpacks is the integration with the desktop.

AppImage attempts to solve the dependency hell by bundling everything into a single launcher executable with a SquashFs file system image payload. The disadvantage of this approach is that it is only possible to use a single executable. AppImage are also not free from GlibC compatibility issues.

A MacOSx-like app bundle and a changing in Linux development culture to build and design applications as self-contained from inception would strength the Linux desktop and reduce the application packaging work duplication that still affects Linux distributions.