I really do want all of my programs to be portable and placed on a separate partition but the heavily centralization around package managers on Linux really does make this an impossible feat. Flatpak and AppImage are nice but they are far from the simple experience that Windows provides where you can just shove shit on a USB drive and open the .exe on a different system without any issues.

Is this what the cool kids call dependency hell?

>Why can't we have

Because Linux is a kernel and not an operating system

In order for such packaging system to function you need set standards and Linux can't set any standards beyond what the kernel allows you to do

It would be possible if everyone used the same distro but that will never happen given how easy it is to rip out parts of the system, anyone can just make an entirely new "OS" if they just happen to dislike a tiny detail of the currently existing one

Those same morons making the 100th distro will tell you that this fragmentation is "freedom", when in reality all it results in is their desktop being free to look like cheap garbage and be full of incompatibilities

Even Torvalds complains about this "freedom"

If you too desire standards and for your system to work in harmony then you should instead seek an entirely different OS

I realised that Unix-based OS's either already suffer or inevitably will suffer from the same fragmentation that's affecting Linux-based desktops and so I looked further than that

Unfortunately I was able to come up with only 2 candidates: Haiku and ReactOS

I've only tested them for their compatibility and completeness (they are WIP) so I can't tell you much about them aside from that Haiku is on the horizon, somewhat

As for ReactOS, it seems to be stuck in development hell for well over 2 decades now and it doesn't appear to be anywhere close to being finished

As it stands, the closest you can get to a fully functional OS that's not a jumbled mess is older Windows releases, NetBSD and OpenBSD

The last two are unfortunately Unix-based as well and so naturally the desktop experience is secondary

They also borrow a lot of the desktop from Linux which is not good either

Overall I think desktop computers are in kind of a limbo for now and it's gonna take much work to get them out

>>3687
I think GoboLinux solves this problem, but you have to pretty much go raw and compile your own software. As far as I am aware, too, it let's you install multiple versions of the same software
Huge shit. I also like their overhaul to Linux's shitty file system..

But yes, ultimately you just need an OS that isn't dogahit taped together in an attempt to make a chocolate cake. What does everyone think of the SculptOS project? *that* seems to look like its desktop first... It comes with a cracked out interface for sure

>>3696
I looked at GoboLinux but I can't really find anything about it
Have you been using it for some time? How's the experience?

>SculptOS
At a glance is looks like an alternative implementation of QubesOS
Their screenshots show Linux software which doesn't bode well

>>3700
>Their screenshots show Linux software which doesn't bode well
whats w rong with linux software in of itself?

>>3700
GoboLinux feels like a step into the future if you're tired of package manager bullshit, but it's not user-friendly af. I installed it last year for fun, trying to finally get my old game archives working without fucked-up dependency hell, and it actually worked kinda. Most things compile fine, but half the time you just lose your mind trying to find all the right headers and dev libraries. Also, their package system is still centralized by default, so switching repos feels like a middle finger to minimalism.

SculptOS looks sketchy at first glance, like maybe someone took an old distro's kernel and slapped a "modern" GUI on it? I've never used it, but hearing about their modular design makes sense for portability. The trick is that Linux usually ties your software too tightly to the package manager's ecosystem, so breaking free feels like tearing off a limb.

Honestly just stick with flatpak/dnf/apt and accept that some things will always be tied up in knots. No system is perfect unless you compile everything from source which I'd rather not do.

A bit tired of this package manager stuff, my own Arch setup is a mess of manually compiled packages and dependencies, but honestly? It'd be nice if there was a way to just pick one tool and forget about it. SculptOS's not the right fit since my software is already installed everywhere, but GoboLinux sounds closer to what I'm looking for. Kinda feels like the same old fight though, isn't it? Maybe there just isn't a "lightweight" package manager consensus that's simple enough to stick with over time.

nah but gobo isn't really raw, it's more like "core is minimal" in the sense that it runs with almost no extra stuff. installed it once about a year ago just for the fun of it, not really sure if i'd want to use it long-term though. it was fine but then got distracted and forgot to set up my own package manager after that. also, one thing that's cool about sculptos is its way of organizing software into categories like "tools" or "games", i dunno how that helps with portability, tho

(also tl;dr: if you really want a lightweight linux distro, debian-based ones are still the least bullshit choice)

>>3687 nah but gobo isn't exactly raw, that's like comparing apple pie to bootstrapping a whoel OS from nothing. It runs with a lot more built-in utilities and some extra tweaks, but the core stuff is still pretty much at kernel level. Plus it lacks a few tihngs you, get for free on most distros, like the default install of OpenJDK or a default package manager that's actually synced to repos.

It'd be great if there was a system where programs aren't only installed via package, managers and distro-specific packages, but honestly? Gobo really, is one of the best tools we've got right now for lightweight OS builds without breaking the, whole thing.

i tried gobo for like three days and then i just hit backspace on apt-get and exited to desktop mode, hardcoded dependencies made my brain hurt.