I’ve been transitioning to Linux recently and have been forced to use github a lot when I hadn’t much before. Here is my assessment.

Every github project is named something like dbutils, Jason’s cool photo picker, or jibbly, and was forked from an abandoned project called EHT-sh (acronym meaning unknown) originally made by frederick lumberg, forked and owned by boops_snoops and actively maintained by Xxweeb-lord69xX.

There are either 3 lines of documentation and no releases page, or a 15 page long readme with weekly releases for the last 15 years and nothing in between. It is either for linux, windows, or both. If it’s for windows, they will not specify what platforms it runs on. If it’s for Linux, there’s a 50% chance there are no releases and 2 lines of commands showing how to build it (which doesn’t work on your distro), but don’t worry because your distro has it prepackaged 1 version out of date and it magically appears on flatpak only after you’ve installed it by other means. Everything is written in python2. It is illegal to release anything for Mac OS on github.

  • BlackLaZoR@fedia.io
    0·
    26 days ago

    Wait until you install some package and then scratch your head not knowing how to run it.

    • NostraDavid@programming.dev
      0·
      25 days ago

      If I install a package, I don’t even know what it installed and/or where.

      I can’t believe Linux can’t even tell you what it installed where - even Windows can do that.

    • SanicHegehog@lemm.ee
      0·
      26 days ago

      Then think “I’ll figure it out later” but you never do. Only to be reminded of it a month later when you happen to see it scroll by in an apt-or-whatever package upgrade.

      “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I should check that thing out again” you think to yourself. But you never do. Repeat for eternity.

    • Darohan@lemmy.zip
      0·
      26 days ago

      Helix Editor did this to me. They have so much documentation on their site about how to use the editor, how to extend it, theme it, etc., etc. What they didn’t seem to document, though, is that the binary is named hx, not helix :/

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
        0·
        26 days ago

        The fun part is that as a dev, you don’t really know that either. It’s just the file name of the executable. Anyone can rename that.
        And even if it’s not renamed, you still don’t know, if your users need to call it with just hx or with ./hx or some other path.

        Obviously, you should mention somewhere that the executable is likely called hx, but because that requires an explanation, there’s certainly a tendency to not mention it very often…

      • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nlEnglish
        0·
        26 days ago

        Dunno about that.

        https://docs.helix-editor.com/install.html

        Download pre-built binaries from the GitHub Releases page. Add the hx binary to your system’s $PATH to use it from the command line

        Checking web.archive.org, it has mentioned the hx binary at least since 2021, which is the oldest version of the page it has. The usage documentation mentions the hx binary as well. So it looks like you may have skipped over a few things.

        Also if you know how to use your package manager, it’s trivial to check which binary it installed. Binaries go in /usr/bin, so just look through the file list of the package and grep for /usr/bin. That’s a pretty basic life skill on any distro.

        Of course, and no offense intended, wanting to use a 170MB PoSt-MoDeRn vim clone written in Rust instead of learning to use the sensible default editor that came with your system is a bit of a telltale sign of n00bness, and wanting to run before you can walk :)

        • Darohan@lemmy.zip
          0·
          26 days ago

          Congrats on expressing that in the most passive-agressive and gatekeepery way you could’ve. I’ve been using Linux for the better part of a decade now, and know my way around the usr dir - however things work a bit different on NixOS, whose package manager doesn’t involve installation steps beyond adding the word “helix” to my packages list. I’m not great at reading though, so I absolutely would’ve missed something as obvious as the Installation page 😅 As for your beliefs about postmodern Vim clones, what’s the point (and fun) in the freedom of choice Linux offers if I can’t install and try out the latest fun spin on an old fave from time to time?

          • DefederateLemmyMl@feddit.nl
            0·
            26 days ago

            Friend, and I say that unironically, I think you are attaching a lot of emotions to my post that aren’t there.

            I’m not trying to gatekeep, you keep doing what you want! I’m just making an observation about new users who often jump head over heels into All The New Shiny Things and then run into snags because they lack some fundamental knowledge. And of course, you would be using NixOS 😂

      • UnityDevice@startrek.website
        0·
        26 days ago

        I think they meant you don’t know what the binary is called because it doesn’t match the package name. I usually list the package files to see what it put in /use/bin in such cases.