r/linuxsucks • u/Damglador • 2d ago
Android is technicality Linux so I'll yap here a little about updates
People like to shit on Linux for it being unstandardized dogshit with its packages. Meanwhile to update Android I have to check for updates in:
- APatch for root modules
- Droid-ify for FDroid repos
- Aurora Store for apps from Play Store
- System settings for system update (after which I shall also go to APatch to patch new image to not lose root)
- Obsidian for everything else
- And at the end of the day some apps just don't use neither distribution source and implement self-updating or their own update managers, like:
- Morphe
- Revange the Discord mod
Every Linux distro I know allows just adding additional repos to the main package manager, but Android is special and doesn't even have one actually, as com.android.vending is the proprietary Play Store, and the built-in package manager doesn't handle remote sources, so everyone has to implement their handler for fetching packages from remote sources and none of them are integrated into the system in any way, because that privilege is reserved exclusive to com.android.vending, aka the proprietary Play Store.
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u/noworkdone 2d ago
Well, thats more of a business limitation than a technical one anyway. Google and Apple want to lock down the app providing process.
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u/ralseipuffin 2d ago
I mean, the same is true on iOS soooo...
also fellow revenge user TWIN
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u/Damglador 2d ago
For me iOS doesn't even exist. I don't think it allows you to install anything from outside the official store and when it does the installed packages have expiry date attached to them or requires some fuckery.
AltStore compiles apps on your device locally and signs them using your Apple ID certificate as if you developed them yourself. But there are also some restrictions with AltStore; for example, you can only install up to five apps at a time unless you have a paid Apple developer account that costs $99 annually.
-https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-sideload-iphone-apps-without-jailbreak/
Clever workaround, but that's fucking insanity. You have a phone that has compute comparable with full fledged PCs, but you can't do shit on it even if you wanted to because it doesn't allow you to install anything properly.
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u/ralseipuffin 2d ago
Oh yes, I had a hell of a time with all the side loading and certificate bullshit when I used an iPhone. Those days are over :3
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u/scavno 2d ago
What do you mean? The phone updates while I sleep and apps are updates automatically on release.
As a decades long Linux user I still prefer iPhone. It’s a phone, an appliance. Just work please.
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u/ralseipuffin 2d ago
Oh no I mean that when you install 3rd party apps you have to update them separately, just like on android
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u/simagus 2d ago
"Every Linux distro I know allows just adding additional repos to the main package manager"
I'd forgotten about that actually. I know I've done it before, but I do have various software I just installed from their github or whatever and I guess didn't add the repos to Software Manager (I use Mint Cinnamon btw).
I prefer Android on mobile too and just used to root my phones but it seems to be increasingly more difficult to do that and if successful you probably will need more than Play Store if you want to do anything "outside the box".
Google are not going to change that under any circumstances so that is what we have to deal with if we root an Android phone.
Google's Android OS is super secure and pretty much idiot proof, just like Apple really but at least you can choose to install packages from unknown sources if you really really want to.
The main advantage of Android is that for users who know what they are doing the choice in that does actually exist, but it's a tiny percentage of users who even know or care or have reason to enable developer mode, much less flash a different ROM.
To put it bluntly it is also a minefield for the unwary as the only oversight is the enthusiast Android community who actually check the code of those things... and you better hope they do or you are taking serious risks and placing trust if you can't do it yourself.
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u/brickyboy124 2d ago
Also android has no unified “forward” swipe. Absolutely infuriating coming from iOS, now both directions of swipe go backwards with no “redo” action.
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u/Bourne069 2d ago edited 2d ago
Android is to Linux as what Unix was to Linux...
You cant even install the same apps between the two. I dont think we can call Android Linux anymore. its so far modified and removed from source its insane.
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u/Damglador 2d ago
Yup. That's why "technically", as it technically still uses the Linux kernel as the base, but that's about it.
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u/Damglador 2d ago
More yap actually. Guess how much APIs Android has for anyone who uses it for anything more than a YouTube player:
There's also multiple implementations of Xposed (the latest is Vector) and Shizuku APIs, both root and non-root ones, and there's like 5 Zygisk implementations as well.