Message-ID: <6911669d@news.ausics.net> From: Computer Nerd Kev Subject: Re: Best freeware list website for Linux software? Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc References: <10epumo$3814o$1@dont-email.me> <10epvkj$37ien$1@dont-email.me> User-Agent: tin/2.6.5-20250707 ("Helmsdale") (Linux/2.4.31 (i686)) NNTP-Posting-Host: news.ausics.net Date: 10 Nov 2025 14:14:21 +1000 Organization: Ausics - https://newsgroups.ausics.net Lines: 35 X-Complaints: abuse@ausics.net Path: csiph.com!news.bbs.nz!news.ausics.net!not-for-mail Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:77222 John-Paul Stewart wrote: > With so many Linux distributions out there, trying to mix-and-match > (already compiled) software between different distributions ranges from > difficult to downright impossible. (Source is a different story. > Downloading source and compiling it yourself usually works for any > distribution.) > > It's not like the Windows world where there is one (or a small number > of) targets. E.g., you can compile for Windows 10 and it will likely > work on Windows 11 as is. If not, there are still only two versions of > the package needed. > > But in the Linux world you'd need to package for Debian, Red Hat, Arch, > Slackware, etc. And probably multiple versions of each. So > distributing ready-built freeware from a central site just doesn't > happen. Each distribution maintains packages for their own various > releases. > > Differences in packaging methods, library versions, etc. mean that it's > not feasible to have a single site with software for generic "Linux". It is if they use static binaries, and I use static binaries published by a few software projects for Linux. Also Firefox has something of a hybrid approach, more like AppImages, where its Linux binaries use some system libraries and others come with it. I don't know of any central website collecting Linux static binaries though. Generally you can make static binaries that run on any Linux kernel from the last few years, though it's not efficient and can be insecure because the libraries compiled in aren't updated with the rest of the system. Hence it's safest not to do that and just use your distro's package repo or compile from source code. -- __ __ #_ < |\| |< _#