KDE Linux deep dive: package management is amazing, which is why we don’t include it
cross-posted from: https://feditown.com/post/2059823
https://pointieststick.com/2025/10/25/kde-linux-deep-dive-package-management-is-amazing-which-is-why-we-dont-include-it/Open linkView original on feditown.com
18 replies
On smartphones people are used to package managers already. Imagine everyone had to download the executables for every update for each app on their phone, going to their website downloading and such. That's basically how Windows works. Such a Stone Age.
Yeah, Linux has blown my mind in that regard. Like, how has windows fucked up the Microsoft Store so goddamn hard?
I just use winget most of the time now. Never touched the store directly.
It's the kind of thing that took me years to get comfortable with but these days it should be standard, provided we also have the ability to manually install our own shit (sideeyeing Google's upcoming garbage policy)
flatpak based arch distro with no traditional package manager, just a "store" gui app
Tbh this sounds great to install for a Linux noob
I think that is what they were going for. The article has some rationalizations for their decisions. I'm not their target audience but like you say I do see the appeal. I do like the system img roll back features though. I think a lot of new to medium users don't back up properly and then get frustrated at breaking changes.
"In KDE Linux, we build the base system out of Arch packages, but freeze the contents and take responsibility for the result being functional; we don’t offload responsibility onto the user."
Is this the same that Manjaro does?
No, on Manjaro you can still mess with the system packages. Maybe they do partial updates or uninstall something that "breaks" their system
Pretty interesting, kudos to them for building a different system and not yet another distro. The end result of having a ton of pre-installed software in the hope that it covers your hardware and workflows makes it a pass for me as I'm all about being lightweight and modular, but it does seem like an almost perfect grandma distro.
Honestly this is basically a non-gaming Bazzite using Arch as the base instead of Fedora Atomic, which is technically mutable. I've been trying it out and maybe I should give distrobox a whirl for some things. Overall I've been happy with it.
TIL KDE is a distro and not a DE. 🙄
KDE is a project. KDE Linux is a distro.
Actually it's KDE GNU/Linux distro
Or GNU slash Linux, as I’ve taken to calling it
Ackshually, KDE is an organisation that makes KDE Plasma (a DE) and KDE Linux (a distro)
It's a pretty recent development in fairness. Came out the last couple of months I think?
TBF they've had KDE Neon for a lot longer.