Newer Software versions (gimp, libreoffice, blender and others)
Hello,
is it advised to add external repos to make it possible to install newer versions of blender, gimp, lo and other kind of software or do I risk making my system unstable, vulnerable or anything else I do not want.
Regards
There are risks:
- First of all you have to trust the administrators of the external repositories: they may include proprietary software or even malware; maybe not today but tomorrow in an update;
- The administrators of the external repositories do not thoroughly test the compatibility with all the packages in the official repository (even less with those in other external repositories) and incompatibility may occur; for instance, a newer version of a library may be shipped (because the newer version needs it) and other programs are incompatible with it; the package manager may not complain because the maintainer of the older packages may have just specified they need "version X or above" of the library, not taking into account the version in the external repository because it did not even exist when the software was packaged.
In those regards, Flatpak (and similar) are better. For instance GIMP's Flatpak is made by one of the two main upstream developers and Flatpaks are quite isolated from the rest of the system (you do not even need administrative permissions to run them). There is a Flatpak for Blender and LibreOffice too. On the negative side, Flatpaks are heavy since they bundle the libraries.
Thanks for your explanation. Your answers is what I expected. I just hope that those new repos do not break my system cause some people in other forums said that other repositories might update other software parts of the os as well which might then break the functionality of the system. Others said additionally that they therefore advise to deactivate the repos as soon as possible again after installing the newer version.
Sorry for my stupid questions but I am new to trisquel and I am not sure how safe trisquel is to getting updated software to newer software versions which might not be tested by the community.
The flatpak hint was new to me. I thought they are maybe even more harmful for the system. Thanks for this insight.
Yep - I know those people. I am not one of them. I check thoroughly which things I need to be updated and which things I rather leave alone. "Never touch a running system." Because what could be better than a running system?
Thanks for you supporting my old behaviour. :)
I am a translator!
You should try to stay on the old version.
https://jxself.org/versionitis/
Using the old version is fine as long as the distro you are using provides security updates in a timely manner (which unfortunately means discarding all programmes provided in Trisquel from Ubuntu's user repository "Universe" as they don't always receive timely security updates).
I solved this issue for myself by installing the Guix package manager alongside the Trisquel repository. I use it strictly for installing the latest version GIMP, Audacity, Ardour, Godot and such -- along those lines. I would not use it for updating system tools etc.
I don't have "versionitis" but I do know with certain software, it is highly beneficial to have the most current version.
@davidpgil
You made me curious abut this "Guix package manager". I tried to find some information about it but I have to admit I am was not really successful.
What are the advantages of this package manager? Where can can I find information on how to install it on trisquel? Sorry for asking me those stupid questions. :(
Here is a video introducing Guix: https://media.marusich.info/everyday-use-of-gnu-guix-chris-marusich-seagl-2018.webm
Take a look at Guix's documentation: https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Package-Management.html for a comprehensive description of that package management system and https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/en/html_node/Binary-Installation.html for its installation.
The topic was raised in this forum too: https://trisquel.info/forum/guix-trisquel
Thank you for the links!
I installed it now and got it running.