DISCLAIMER: Arch Linux is not a beginner friendly distribution, and this is not a recommendation or good practice.

I know how to use pacman -S. I have yet to experience a Discover related issue after months of use.

  • Speiser0@feddit.org
    33·
    2 months ago

    Installing something on arch is easy imo. The CLI is simple and well enough documented, and the package build system is easy to use. For comparison with ubuntu: pacman -S name is not harder than apt install name. And try to install something on ubuntu if it’s not in the official package repos.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.socialBannedEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      ubuntu: pacman -S name is not harder than apt install name.

      Eh, it’s a teensy bit harder, since you have to remember what -S means, rather than the easy to remember and plain English ‘install’. But, yeah, not much of a difference.

      And try to install something on ubuntu if it’s not in the official package repos.

      1: Go to that something’s website.

      2: look for their download/install instructions page, scroll to Linux instructions if necessary.

      3: Install instructions for Debian/Ubuntu are usually the first one listed, and typically just consist of a few commands you can copy and paste over without modifying.

      It isn’t particularly difficult in most cases.

      • Speiser0@feddit.org
        2·
        2 months ago

        Eh, it’s a teensy bit harder, since you have to remember what -S means, rather than the easy to remember and plain English ‘install’. But, yeah, not much of a difference.

        Thanks! I initially thought about writing this in my comment in parentheses, but then didn’t do because it would’ve made the comment longer, and I’m not sure if other people want to read the pedantic truth anyways. I’m glad you filled this void.

        The instructions for installing on ubuntu only work because of ubuntu’s popularity. Also if you can copy-paste commands, you can also just follow build instructions. In arch, these commands are in the PKGBUILD, you don’t have to copy them manually. Plus you have the knowledge that you’ll have something that you can also deinstall later. Applications’ websites usually don’t have uninstallation instructions.

        • OwOarchist@pawb.socialBannedEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          I’m not sure if other people want to read the pedantic truth anyways. I’m glad you filled this void.

          Glad my pedantry could be of service, lol!

          The instructions for installing on ubuntu only work because of ubuntu’s popularity.

          True, but this is still a very real effect with real-world benefits.

          (And I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s just Ubuntu’s popularity. More like, due to Debian and Debian derivatives’ popularity, of which Ubuntu is one. Since there are so many popular distros out there that are Debian-based where Debian-style install instructions will work (and quite a few people running Debian itself), it makes sense to give Debian-style install instructions first.)

          Also if you can copy-paste commands, you can also just follow build instructions.

          In my experience, not so much.

          Because even if you follow the instructions exactly, you’ll always run into some problem due to your build environment not being quite identical to the developer’s build environment, some library being half a version number off, and then cmake fails with a cryptic error message. So then you downgrade that library to the older version and try again, and this time it fails with a different cryptic error message that you can’t make any sense of at all this time, or the compiler quits because it says the code is formatted improperly on line 1437 and now you’re left wondering whether it’s an issue with your compiler or whether you should go in and edit the source code yourself to try and fix that supposed formatting error…

          I don’t know… I’ve tried this approach a few times – usually as a desperate last resort – and it never seems to actually work. In theory, it should. In practice … good fucking luck.

  • bequirtle@lemmy.world
    23·
    2 months ago

    IME, KDE Discover and similar app stores are so unreliable, telling beginners to use them is akin to harmful misinformation

    If you need a GUI software manager, my suggestion is to not use arch

    • SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org
      6·
      2 months ago

      Hard agree. I always struggled when using Discover, as a Beginner. Don’t know if I could make it work now as a more experienced user, Because I don’t use it and don’t have a need to. Learning how to use ‘pacman -S $pkg_name’ was super simple and is very fast. Sure I don’t have a nice GUI, that lets me browse what apps are there to be installed, but I have a webbrowser for that.

  • Twongo [she/her]@lemmy.ml
    17·
    2 months ago

    why do people get intimidated by installing an arch package?

    i recently wanted to play morrowind and i use the terminal like a search engine for programs. i just typed “yay openmw” and voila it was there, checked in the aur if the package is clean and installed it by clicking enter 3 times.

    and i thout “yay _ that was easy! :3”, got off a ship in seyda neen and killed fargoth with my bare fists as soon as i locked eyes with him.

  • Brokkr@lemmy.world
    16·
    2 months ago

    I’m not an expert, but I thought on Arch you are specifically not supposed to use the discover store because it can cause partial updates which can in turn cause major problems.

    However, the point still stands, pacman and the AUR are easy and have nearly everything.

    • MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.worldOP
      5·
      2 months ago

      Eh. I haven’t had issues for a few months and I back up my files on a weekly basis and -Syu once or twice a month. Worst case scenario, I’ll just reinstall and restore from backup.

      Also, I mainly use Discover for high level stuff like browsers and IDEs.

        • TheOneCurly@feddit.onlineEnglish
          8·
          2 months ago

          Yeah but imagine reading about a new release of something and it appearing in your updates the same day. Shiny new software every day is addicting.

          • sudoMakeUser@sh.itjust.works
            4·
            2 months ago

            On the flip side, reading about an exploited vulnerability in a package and then realizing your machine isn’t affected because Debian has an outdated package in it’s repo

          • 9WhiteTeeth@lemmy.today
            2·
            2 months ago

            You’re not wrong. That said my broke ass can’t afford cutting edge hardware so most of the time it doesn’t matter.

            When it does, I can usually compensate with either a NixOs profile install, a container of some sort (or Flatpak), or just building the emefferr from source.

        • NathanUp@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          IMO it’s overblown. If you even have an issue at all, 99.99% of the time it’s user error. And to mitigate that, you just use timeshift with BTRFS and snapshots on GRUB.

      • Ooops@feddit.org
        3·
        2 months ago

        Flatpak just working would be a nice thing. Everytime I try they fuck something new up…

        (Last time I thought about installing Steam via Flatpak on Arch to get rid of all the multilib 32bit stuff not needed for aynthing else anymore it worked for nearly 4 days. Then flatpak update randomly uninstalled its nvidia drivers because an “update” removing the old package first, then realizing it can’t find the new one make total sense of course.)

          • Ooops@feddit.org
            1·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, I heard that several times but decided to try it anyway.

            But I expected problems with Steam not with flatpak itself just removing the very same graphics driver it had just installed as a dependency…

        • BurgerBaron@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Couldn’t for the life of me get the PCSX2 Flatpak version to use GPU acceleration even with Flatseal so I try to avoid flatpaks now lol.

      • ekZepp@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        2 months ago

        -S, --sync

        Synchronize packages. Packages are installed directly from the remote repositories, including all dependencies required to run the packages.

        • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          6·
          2 months ago

          Technically correct answer but not super helpful imo. yay <package name> starts a search from which you enter your selection(s) from matches. yay -S <package name> installs the package directly, errors if it’s not found

  • meow@discuss.tchncs.de
    4·
    2 months ago

    Im sorry for all actual arch users, who are contrary to all stereotypes, not posers. If you feel the need to use Arch, and then use kde discover, or any other gui, and flatpak based installers, why are you using it in the first place?

    The CLI way, and btw the ACTUAL way the devs intended to install mainstream software for YOUR distro, is legitimately far less hard than any of you make it seem like.

    So, if you plan on using your distro correctly, and plan on stability, use your lovely package manager, or switch. You can get a rolling release distro everywhere else too, you can change every system file, everywhere else, you can change your fucking fast-/neofetch output, if you need to.

    Just use a distro that is for your skill level.

    Btw its:

    Pacman, and then -S for install, -y for your repos, and -u is for updates.

    So do me a favor and dont try to suffer.

    Thanks for reading my mindless babbling and weird, maybe even contradictory logic, have fun :3

    • LwL@lemmy.world
      11·
      2 months ago

      Having steam installed both ways was the easiest way to be logged in to 2 steam accounts simultaneously.

      But also why does it matter, the whole point of arch is that you can turn it into whatever the hell you want. If that means using discover as your main source for programs, then so be it.

    • xyguy@startrek.websiteEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

      Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

      There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux

      • meow@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        2 months ago

        I couldn’t find anywhere where I referred to Linux, also, Linux is, as you said, the kernel, and there are actual Distributions that do not use any GNU software (see Alpine, Chinera, LFS, Gentoo, etc.). Assuming, that every Linux-kernel based operating system is using GNU software is wrong, and for your wonderful Copypasta a thing to consider adding :3

        Meow

    • MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      2 months ago

      Mainly due to senior coworker influence lmao. I’m planning to VM some other KDE distros soon, but Arch is good enough for now, haven’t had much more than minor nuisances.

      also, I know pacman -Syu. That’s my second-most-used command (after yt-dlp)

  • PointyFluff@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 months ago

    Imagine being so inept that you can’t use a terminal to install a terminal-based update. Arch users are posers and script kiddies and need to STFU

    • Xenny@lemmy.world
      9·
      2 months ago

      Wow look. It’s the reason that linux market share is as low as it fucking is.

      Like dude, maybe people can use the terminal just fine but prefer the GUI. What if having the GUI it really opens up accessibility to less technically competent users And promotes adoption of the OS across the board?

      What if using this GUI leads to users using the terminal for more complex tasks? Have you ever thought of that??

      Or are you too busy being some elitist snob in your basement?

  • one_knight_scripting@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 months ago

    I had issues with btrfs-assistant. It’s a permissions thing, tho. Might work if I added myself as an administrator, but I like the security of needing sudo, so pacman version it is.