I must say, I appreciate the attention to make things not only simpler but less breakable lately. First we had APT being patched to stop users removing essential packages, now the KDE Discover software manager gets a similar upgrade.
Developer Nate Graham has written up another great "This week in KDE" blog post, going over changes and improvements coming to the next release of Plasma and the various applications. One small change really caught my eye though! Discover now has a new way to ensure you keep a working system, with an updated mechanism to detect important packages getting removed and give you a friendly warning on it free of too much technical jargon.
Picture Source - Nate Graham
Graham's comment underneath "Hopefully this is Linus-Sebastian-proof", heh. I hope many more application developers are looking at the way Discover and APT are evolving to ensure things are a bit more idiot-proof.
Another change to make things look a bit friendlier in Discover is that previously, if you had issues upgrading, it would instantly shove a load of technical details in your face. To normal consumers, that's clearly not going to do much to help and could probably scare them away. Now, instead, it will provide a very clear and friendly message, with the option to get more details to report the issue.
Picture Source - Nate Graham
Plenty more upgrades to Plasma are in the works too, like the newer KWin Overview effect gaining the ability to display search results from KRunner, which brings it another step closer to the GNOME Activities Overview feature, which I did always find thoroughly useful.
There's plenty more fixes in the full post.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteGraham's comment underneath "Hopefully this is Linus-Sebastian-proof", heh. I hope many more application developers are looking at the way Discover and APT are evolving to ensure things are a bit more idiot-proof.
Don't know if it was intentional or not, but this tidbit here kind of blatantly equates "Linus Sebastian" to "idiot", heh :P
On topic, I think it's a good thing that Linux is slowly evolving to become a bit more suitable for the wider (read: technologically illiterate) masses of users out there; that's one of the major things it still needs to tackle as far as mainstream adoption is concerned. But I do have one question: what if I intentionally do want to remove a "system critical" package like Xorg or my DE - how do I do it if package managers, both GUI and CLI, prevent me from doing so? Is there (and if there isn't, could we pretty please have one, *hint* *hint* *wink* *wink*) a toggle somewhere that can be used to disable these fail-safes? I'm personally all for user-friendliness, but only as long as it isn't taken to the extreme of actually becoming an obstacle to a more tech-headed user's workflow.
Quoting: NociferDon't know if it was intentional or not, but this tidbit here kind of blatantly equates "Linus Sebastian" to "idiot", heh :PEh it's a standard saying, does not mean the person is an idiot at all https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/idiot-proof
QuoteBut I do have one question: what if I intentionally do want to remove a "system critical" package like Xorg or my DE - how do I do it if package managers, both GUI and CLI, prevent me from doing so?
Pacman doesn't prevent you forcibly doing this. I sometimes remove a package that is a dependent/dependency of something else, then do my tinkering and install it again. Of course if I were to forget (hasn't happened yet!) to reinstall said package then that would be my fault and I'd rightly call myself an idiot
But I should have that choice.
mr-victory Nov 20, 2021
Quoting: NociferBut I do have one question: what if I intentionally do want to remove a "system critical" package like Xorg or my DE - how do I do it if package managers, both GUI and CLI, prevent me from doing so? Is thereOn Arch in file /etc/pacman.conf
[options]
...
HoldPkg = pacman glibc
...
AussieEevee Nov 20, 2021
Quoting: NociferDon't know if it was intentional or not, but this tidbit here kind of blatantly equates "Linus Sebastian" to "idiot", heh :PTo be entirely fair, Linus does have a habit of breaking... I mean, dropping... things.
AnachronyX Nov 20, 2021
Last edited by AnachronyX on 20 November 2021 at 4:33 pm UTC
Quoting: AnachronyXHow false Linux changed the world of Linux, because he can't read.I find this whole thing to be so embarrassing I'm not even sure what to say.
Some idiot "influencer" breaks his system and the entire community jumps.
... When I put it like that I'm not sure who's actually the idiots here.
AussieEevee Nov 20, 2021
Quoting: BeamboomThere are no idiots here. Just a broken package, installed by a broken package manager. That steam package should have never been pushed to the pop OS repos, and apt should have never let it install. There is a tiny little warning blended in with all the other white noise on the screen, and blaming Linus is just silly.Quoting: AnachronyXHow false Linux changed the world of Linux, because he can't read.I find this whole thing to be so embarrassing I'm not even sure what to say.
Some idiot "influencer" breaks his system and the entire community jumps.
... When I put it like that I'm not sure who's actually the idiots here.
Quoting: AussieEeveeThere is a tiny little warning blended in with all the other white noise on the screen, and blaming Linus is just silly.
TINY? lol - dude, there was NO "white noise". There's FIRST an explicit warnings, very clearly put, AND info on what exact packages are about to be installed (for you to make up your own mind), then ANOTHER very explicit warning AND you're required to type a bloody SENTENCE to get through with it.
If that ain't clear enough then you're not really mature to use a system that gives you full control. You're supposed to READ what the system tells you. Read, and comprehend.
With great powers comes great responsibilities - and that goes for the package managers too. Most definitely.
But if you're after a OS that completely PADS you inside a fuzzy box where you can do nothing to harm you - well then Linux is not, was never and hopefully never will be your right choice.
Last edited by Beamboom on 20 November 2021 at 4:06 pm UTC
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