> How many of those are "built in into OS unlike the other OSes"?
There are distros where each of the three is shipped with the OS and used to distribute applications that are installed by default, but Flatpak isn't a 'system package manager' in that it doesn't supply things like the libc that lives in /usr/lib or equivalent.
All three are also portable and hermetic enough, though, that they can safely be used on other operating systems without interfering with the base system.
> Whereas I've yet to see a Linux distribution able to install anything per user.
This is the norm on NixOS and GuixSD, the distros based on the Nix and Guix package managers, respectively. That kind of thing is still fairly marginal in the overall Linux landscape. It's also feasible with container-based package managers, which are growing in adoption, Flatpak chief among them.
Both NixOS and GuixSD have their own issues and can present special challenges to users, but the per-user package management functionality works well and is cool to see in action. They're definitely worth playing with in VMs if you haven't used them.
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Homebrew has been useful to many people for a long time, and it absolutely excels in UX. But the fundamentals are lacking and it's hard for third-party package managers to cope with Apple's changes on major macOS releases. There are definitely things that could improve for developers with a first-party offering. I get the defensiveness and I understand that Homebrew has strengths, but imo the standard critique along the lines of the OP is essentially correct.
> There are distros where each of the three is shipped with the OS
> All three are also portable and hermetic enough, though, that they can safely be used on other operating systems
The original statement was: "If you use an OS that doesn't do package management, maybe. Linux distros work just fine."
So, some distros.
> That kind of thing [installing without requiring sudo] is still fairly marginal in the overall Linux landscape.
Indeed.
> Both NixOS and GuixSD have their own issues and can present special challenges to users
Indeed.
> Homebrew has been useful to many people for a long time, and it absolutely excels in UX. But the fundamentals are lacking
Key being: it has been both useful, and it excels in UX. "Lacking in fundamentals" is important to a vanishingly small number of people who care about a random set of preferences they define as "fundamentals" (and probably don't even agree on this set).
> I get the defensiveness and I understand that Homebrew has strengths, but imo the standard critique along the lines of the OP is essentially correct.
There's no defensiveness around "you claim X, but if you dig not even that deep you find that your claims are misleading at best".
There are distros where each of the three is shipped with the OS and used to distribute applications that are installed by default, but Flatpak isn't a 'system package manager' in that it doesn't supply things like the libc that lives in /usr/lib or equivalent.
All three are also portable and hermetic enough, though, that they can safely be used on other operating systems without interfering with the base system.
> Whereas I've yet to see a Linux distribution able to install anything per user.
This is the norm on NixOS and GuixSD, the distros based on the Nix and Guix package managers, respectively. That kind of thing is still fairly marginal in the overall Linux landscape. It's also feasible with container-based package managers, which are growing in adoption, Flatpak chief among them.
Both NixOS and GuixSD have their own issues and can present special challenges to users, but the per-user package management functionality works well and is cool to see in action. They're definitely worth playing with in VMs if you haven't used them.
---------
Homebrew has been useful to many people for a long time, and it absolutely excels in UX. But the fundamentals are lacking and it's hard for third-party package managers to cope with Apple's changes on major macOS releases. There are definitely things that could improve for developers with a first-party offering. I get the defensiveness and I understand that Homebrew has strengths, but imo the standard critique along the lines of the OP is essentially correct.