On Mon, 2 May 2022 at 20:30, Tim via users <users@lists.fedoraproject.org> wrote:
On Mon, 2022-05-02 at 02:02 -0600, Robin Laing wrote:
> I am finding many applications that I use are no longer being
> supported on Fedora or there are not enough people working to keep
> applications updated.  I have started to use SNAP software to get
> current versions or applications at all.

I think you'll find that problem across various different distros.
There's a push for one or more types of so-called universal packate
(snap, appimage), where one file supposedly runs on different distros. 

While the idea sounds good in practice, and probably suits some people
who want to be the sole distributor/compiler of their program, the
trouble is that all the OSs are different and you find things don't
work on some distros.  Then you'll get told to switch distros, instead
of them fixing the problem (if they even can).

Developers want to bypass the linux distros to get more control over
the artifacts they produce (applications, libraries, data sets).  It is not
unusual to find that distros ship old or incomplete versions of artifacts.   
Many artifacts have a long list of optional features, so each distro may
select a different configuration.      

I find I can't print with these things, I have to export a PDF file and
print that.  It's a cumbersome annoyance.  And at some stage the PDF
application will probably become an appimage, and I won't be able to
print from that.

Another problem is that we'll step away from one big advantage Fedora,
Ubuntu et al, have:  Their own file repositories.  Currently, issuing a
simple "yum update" or "dnf update" updates *all* your software, when
you want to.

This requires packagers who are knowledgeable in building packages,
but also in the use cases for each package so they can make appropriate
choices.   Over the years I have seen many cases where packagers who
didn't understand how the packages are used made configuration choices
that didn't work for important segments of their user community. 

When you move away from everything comes from your repos, to everything
comes from somewhere else, you go back to the Windows model; where you
have to manually update each program, or each program checks for
updates when you fire it up (delaying you using it).  And programs
install auto-launchers that run every time you log in, so a dozen
different things all check home with mummy to see if they need
updating.

There are many 3rd party package repositories.   One class uses distro
packaging so you can add the repository to your package manager 
configuration.   There are also "archive networks" (CPAN, CTAN, and CRAN)
with their own package managers, which creates a need for dummy packages 
so the 3rd party packages can satisfy requirements of distro packages.
These XXAN's often rely on the efforts a few key individuals, so old age, disease,
natural and unnatural disasters, etc. can be very disruptive.   Conda packages
are another class which provides a basic python environment for many platforms,
together with conda-forge for 3rd party packages.



--
George N. White III