Ubuntu installers?

[Owen Thomas]

On Thu, 22 Dec 2022 at 01:46, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Dec 2022 at 13:34, Owen Thomas <owen.paul.thomas at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Recently, I have observed that releases to Netbeans and IntelliJ are not
> being bundled in installers.
>
> What "installers"? From where? How did you install these packages?
>

Okay...

I don't really know TBH. I became jaded and wary of installing software on
Ubuntu a long time ago because there appeared to be many competing "package
manager" formats, each with their particular pecadillos that made software
installation generally depressing. One recent case in point was endured
when I installed the Java JDK 18 and then decided that I needed JDK 17.
Simply removing JDK 18 did not remove the JRE and this caused me much
frustration when, after installing JDK 17, I found that I was still using
JRE 18. Pernicious nastiness followed after which I was counselled and
advised that the JRE had to be removed separately. Oh really!?

Installing software on Ubuntu has been a bane that I was happy to leave "to
experts". I had found until recently that all I had to do for many such
events was to run a shell script (the "installer") written by the vendor
which would do a fair job of removing the discomfort. However, the worm has
turned once more, and now I am being disappointed; it looks like these
installers are no longer de rigueur, and this development is one more to
crush my soul. The vendors (Netbeans and IntelliJ) are now simply bundling
their software as .tar.gz, and I feel abandoned because the software is no
longer being picked up by the Ubuntu app menu; I have to run it from an
ugly CLI session.

I get the feeling that something is afoot in the world of Ubuntu software
installation since the advent of this "snap" thing, and that if I lift my
head above the parapet, my woes might find their relief. However, this
might not be the case, and instead, within all these (perhaps
well-intentioned) machinations lurks the pernicious nastiness that plays
games with my head, and makes me want to die.

Would any of what I have just said be true? What am I, bitten more than
once, missing out on? Should I embrace it?

  Owen.
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