“Have you ever wondered why, in other Operating Systems such as
Windows, MacOS or even BeOS, the task of installing software is so
easy compared to Linux? In such OSes you can simply download a
.ZIP/.RAR/.EXE/.etc file, decompress in a folder and run either the
contents, or a graphical installer which will help you through the
install process.“This doesn’t happen in Linux, as there are only two standard
ways to install software: compiling and installing packages. Such
methods are usually complicated and inconsistent between them, not
to mention difficult for new users. Even if package management was
greatly simplified in the most popular Linux distributions,
developers still can’t proovide packages for all existing distros,
or even for all compiler versions.“Previous articles have mentioned these issues many times, but I
think it is still not clear why do they happen. In this one, I will
focus in writing about why it is impossible for us, developers, to
proovide programs in simpler ways…”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.