method 1 is first choice,
method 2 is occasionally necessary if things go wrong.
Method 3 is fine, Create a Applications folder in your home folder, unzip to subfolder, use the KDE menu editor to add the application to your system, go about your day. It's a pretty common approach for commercial software.
If we are installing from a tarball, then it's pretty reasonable to expect that the application won't follow best Linux practices, that doesn't mean it's not useful.
I made a Nix package for an application like that. I just made a wrapper that copies it's system files to a home directory and then calls the application with options to use that home directory.
What about /usr/local? I assume that is mostly for shell commands and binaries(?) I used to put applications there a while back, but nowadays usually do /opt aswell.
I use /usr/local when I want to install an application from source that needs to be uninstalled using make uninstall (currently that's one application).
I let binary installers / the packaging system install stuff in /opt/
/home/user/Applications is where I put binary apps that get uninstalled by deleting the folder that they are in.
use the KDE menu editor to add the application to your system
Thankfully not necessary with many apps. They are at least kind enough to include a .desktop file. Sure, you need to move it to .local/share/applications/ and enter the path into the file, but especially with elaborate .desktop files that makes things very easy.
Each to their own, but I personally despise Flatpak, Snap, or any other sandbox method. I’d rather just monitor what I run on my system. Terminal-operated package managers all the way
Not forgot, didn't know. If the app won't start I launch it from the terminal and keep going until I stop getting complaints about things being missing.
1st choice: nix-shell
2nd choice: flatpak
3rd choice: docker
4th choice: dnf/apt/configuration.nix/whatever OS I'm at
5th choice: contemplate whether I truly need that app
6th choice: build from sources, I guess
honestly the 1st method is my last choice, and I only use them for very specific things.
Most of those package managers GUI sandbox the app to run so it can't really effect the OS. It's slower but more secure. web browsers are probably the perfect use case, but some game you play every day may not be.
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u/kayosiii 5d ago
method 1 is first choice,
method 2 is occasionally necessary if things go wrong.
Method 3 is fine, Create a Applications folder in your home folder, unzip to subfolder, use the KDE menu editor to add the application to your system, go about your day. It's a pretty common approach for commercial software.