this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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Different installation methods and system stability (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Stopwatch1986@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I recently moved my work machine from Windows to Linux and chose Debian Trixie + KDE Plasma for the stability. The advice is that if stability is your priority, you should try to avoid breaking Debian. I understand that adding third-party sources can cause dependencies conflicts, and must be avoided at all costs. I also understand that Flatpaks, AppImages, Snaps, and Docker/Podman images are safe because they don't interfere with the system dependencies. So far, so good. What I don't understand is what happens with other ways of installing software (eg .deb, tarballs).

I know it's a contentious subject but if stability is the priority, how would you rank different methods? I may be wrong but my take is:

Debian repository > Flatpak > Appimage > Docker/Podman > Snap > tarball

To be avoided: .deb for Debian > .deb for Ubuntu > PPAs

Eg Viber is available as an official AppImage (with certain bugs), unofficial flatpak (with other bugs), and an official .deb for Ubuntu (which is probably a bad idea for Debian anyway). Viber support told me they don't support my OS.

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[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Debian is known to be stable as in "staying the same", you won't get any big version updates on the programs in the debian repository, just backported security updates. That ensures that you don't end up with dependency mismatches where different programs want the same library but different versioning.
It also means that as Trixie ages the version you get from the repo will be further and further behind as you will still be running 2025 versions with backported security updates until you upgrade to Debian 14.

By installing random .tarballs and .debs outside the default repository the main advantage of Debian Stable is nulled.
I would actually recommend going all in on flatpaks, appimages and dockers if your goal is to keep the main system stable and lean. You might also wanna look at distrobox for running programs that aren't officially available for your distro.
Another thing too look at is atomic distros, such as Fedora Kinoite https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/

[–] ProperlyProperTea@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, I only use Debian to host Docker images. My main desktop is Pop OS, but I've been pondering switching to Fedora or something similar.

[–] anamethatisnt@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago

Fedora KDE is my main workstation distro and it's been treating me fine.
I chose between that and opensuse Tumbleweed and ended up trying Fedora for the simple reason of having a larger user base than opensuse.
I'm still curious to try out opensuse tumbleweed but fedora has just kept going and I've felt no need to fix or switch.

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