[NBLUG/talk] preferences on software package versions, thoughts on Snap/Flatpak/Appimage

[Brad Morrison]

Hi all,

As I'm fairly new to Linux, I'm sure that there are reasons for why the 
software packages in the Ubuntu repositories are often not the latest 
versions available via the various projects' websites. I tend to prefer 
to not use Flakpak/Flathub, after reading a blog post from Clem, the 
project lead of Linux Mint (which is the distro I use) about his 
concerns about Snap (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3906). But I have 
noticed that for both FreeCAD and gnuCash, the Flatpak versions are 
considerably more recent/updated than the "Ubuntu" version (is that what 
you call it?) also available in the Linux Mint software manager.

FreeCAD: 18.4 for the Ubuntu version v. 19.4 for the Flathub version - 
https://www.freecadweb.org/

gnuCash: 3.8b for the Ubuntu version v. 4.10+ for the Flathub version - 
https://www.gnucash.org/
<https://www.gnucash.org/>

I could also download the appimage from the FreeCAD website, but I like 
centrally managed updates.

Does anyone else have any thoughts to share on this? Preferences?

And I've also wondered how the desktop version of Signal is set up so 
that the package is installed via the Linux Mint software manager, but 
the updates come via the web (from Signal). Is that another approach to 
similar issues?

Thanks!

Brad
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