Re:Ask HN: Do you run apps bare metal?
by Brian_K_White on Friday June 04, 2021 @04:28PM
(#27398711)
I personally can not stand when an app comes with it's own entire surrounding operating system. I already have an operating system whose very job is to provide a standardized environment for processes to run in. I don't want 50 OS's where I used to have 50 processes. I can't stand AppImage, snaps, flatpack, docker images, etc for mere local desktop apps.
It's fine to serve as a reference, and for reproducible builds, and for appliances like a mail server. But I never opt to run an app that way even just to try it out, and I especially can not stand when an app developer only offers that as the only way they distribute an app (there are some, and not open source so you really have no choice). This prioritizes the developers convenience over the users. If it's their right to do so, then it must be exactly equally my right to say I don't like that and try to avoid using their apps.
Re:Ask HN: Do you run apps bare metal?
by trog on Friday June 04, 2021 @10:54PM
(#27401654)
Full agreement here. Drives me nuts when I see a Docker image for something that should be a simple zip file and some basic deploy or build instructions, but I can see why people prefer it.
It's fine to serve as a reference, and for reproducible builds, and for appliances like a mail server. But I never opt to run an app that way even just to try it out, and I especially can not stand when an app developer only offers that as the only way they distribute an app (there are some, and not open source so you really have no choice). This prioritizes the developers convenience over the users. If it's their right to do so, then it must be exactly equally my right to say I don't like that and try to avoid using their apps.