Question about Linux app

[dunhill]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why do a lot of people with Linux make installing calibre so difficult?

Because there are many Linux distributions.
Bazzite is a gamer distribution that comes with Steam pre-installed, but they don't know that Linux Mint also has it.

[Mr_H_Poirot]

I'm a user of Linux Mint but am not knowledgeable about anything technical. I have found that with some software you can add a PPA repository and it then auto updates to the latest stable release. I do this with libre office. I think Firefox auto updates for me too.

I don't really understand why some software has this PPA thing and others don't. But since nearly all the software is open source and free (with an option to donate), I'm pretty happy to do whatever is easiest for the author.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why do a lot of people with Linux make installing calibre so difficult?

They don't. That's your perception as a Windows user.

Windows in ancient times had multiple install methods and still has several. There was DLL hell. Programs that expected Windows to be installed on C:\Windows (on NT since 1993 it could be on any drive/partition and directory). Windows installers that expect the User directories to be on C: (they can be edited in registry to be on any drive).

[DNSB]

For me, the major issue I have is that if I install Windows or MacOS, the install includes a set of programs/services/packages out of the box. When I install a Linux distro, what gets installed depends on the creator of the distro. What the creator decides is important enough to install varies widely and often I've found myself jumping through whatever hoops the OS requires to install various bits and pieces. This included appimages & flatpaks for the couple of times I've played with an immutable distro.

Oddly, I found myself liking the immutable distros other than the amount of disk space chewed up when I had multiple OS images (~5GB per image for Fedora's Silverblue for instance) since I use virtual machines and I tend to create those with rather limited storage.

[shuvashish76]

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppImage/co...tigates_whats/ from the unofficial Calibre AppImage package maintainer.

[rjwse@aol.com]

but I'm curious why Calibre for Linux doesn't use an Appimage or Flatpak

I use calibre daily, extensively using ubuntu 22.04 and 25.10 and I really like calibre's method of installation. Quick, easy to do, never had a problem. My experience with debian, flatpak, snap, appimage is sad. The ubuntu app repository has only old versions of stuff. I do most writing with stenotype Plover 22 key keyboard which is appimage unless you actually download the plover program directly into the keyboard itself with Javelin. The appimages are not without their problems. Exactly what? I'm not sure because I'm not a programmer. I have often wondered why other apps do not use calibre's method of updating. Nothing is more simple than copy and paste into a terminal.