• ranzispa@mander.xyz
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    1 day ago

    I am afraid we are talking about different things. Recently I had to report a broken package to a repository. The problem was that they mapped a path to the incorrect directory.

    The software compiled and worked correctly, but some specific functionality which needed to read data from that directory was broken.

    I do not think there is a way to prevent this kind of errors.

    • ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml
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      20 hours ago

      I am thinking that they wouldn’t define that as a broken package, since I would consider that a bug that would need to be addressed in the next release. I would expect a broken package not to be able to run rather than simply having a broken function.

      • ranzispa@mander.xyz
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        19 hours ago

        In normal repos they also test their packages. I do not think it is possible in any distribution repo to ship a binary which did not compile. Dynamic library linking may have some problems I guess, but unless you’re using arch that is generally never a real problem with package manager installations. I have never got a package which plain does not run.

        • ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml
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          19 hours ago

          I have had a couple of instances where I updated a package through apt and those updates resulted in a binary which crashed on launch or a configuration/database error that prevented the binary from being launched, so it does happen.

          The fix was relatively simple and I had it working again in minutes, but I think it’s still worth consideration as a potential point of friction, especially for users who don’t have the ability or desire to fix their own systems.

          As an aside, I think you should want to know how to fix your system, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for non-tech people to be able to install an OS they don’t have to periodically tinker with to get installed programs to launch correctly every time with no fuss.

          For so many people, tinkering is like washing the dishes and they simply don’t want to do it; an immutable system is like the dishwasher of tech purely in the sense that using it means that less effort is required from the user. I wouldn’t expect my non-tech wife to think Linux From Scratch would be a fun learning project (like I do), we are all different.

          Hope this comment isn’t too tangential, I’m trying as a person to be less rigid in my thinking about how people do things because I think it holds us back and, really, it’s a testament to the value of open source software that we have all of these options available. I wouldn’t want there only to be one way to run Linux.