[zorr]

The discussion is mostly about what a distribution should contain. I don't think a distribution has to contain all the possible software applications in existence.

Instead, I think distros have to provide the base packages like desktop environments and related software. All configured for compatibility and complying with the distro philosophy.

But third party desktop applications that are not directly related to the desktop environment are a different category. There is an endless amount of them with varying quality and resources. You cannot expect distro maintainers to spend time on all these random applications.

However, if a third party app is not included in a distro, it does not mean users have to build the software by themselves. That is the problem that Flatpak and Snap and others are trying to solve. They provide sets of distro-agnostic libraries that developers can target instead of having to target each distro separately.

This way a developer can only package the app once, distro maintainers don't have to do extra work, and users can install applications without having to manually configure and build them. Everyone is happy.

[mulmen]

That’s a reasonable position but it puts developer and maintainer experience ahead of user experience.

Flatpak and friends are a pain in the ass to use and offer a shitty UX. Having a single point of contact and well understood mechanism for software management is a feature for users.

I don’t expect my distribution to have every software package ever. I do expect it to fulfill my needs. As long as there are applications in the repository that do what I need I am happy.