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by grishka 224 days ago
Linux (with the "traditional" userspace) is a mess on the inside, has always been, and will always be. It blows my mind that there still isn't a universal, easy way to compile binaries that would run on any distro, of any version — something that all other mainstream OSes have solved from day one.

Yes, I know that AppImage and Flatpak are a thing. No, they are not the answer, because they, too, all come with their own issues.

1 comments

There's a reason that Win32 is currently the stable ABI for Linux (via Wine/Proton).

And you know what? Tbh, I don't see a problem with that. If it keeps improving and eventually expands beyond gaming and can start running some of the stuff that can't currently (modern office, adobe stuff, etc.) then why not? There's decades of windows-only apps that there's just not enough time or talent in the world to re-create for Linux, so might as well put effort into Windows compatibility and just start running Windows apps.

I don't disagree with that, but I feel like ReactOS is more promising in this regard, as it reimplements not only win32 API/ABI, but also the NT kernel with its stable API/ABI, so it would allow using Windows drivers as well. I mean, no translation layer is better than even the best translation layer :)