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by jcelerier 1824 days ago
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.
2 comments
gwmnxnp_516a 1823 days ago
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.

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meshenna 1824 days ago
Here's an issue with AppImages: they don't work with musl. Makes me sad.
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jcelerier 1824 days ago
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).

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