Multiple app installers in Software Center. Which one to choose?

General Help
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Hello. I'm using Zorin 16 Core, and loving it! I'm still fairly new to Zorin & Linux, so this is a newbie question about installing software. When installing software using the software center, I notice there are often multiple choices of the same program. For instance, like with Blender, there is one from ubuntu-focal-universe, and one from flathub. I'm unsure if it matters which one to install on my OS. Does it matter? I thought I should ask before installing software, I don't want to mess up my smooth running OS.

Thanks!

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Deb files are installation files packaged only for Debian based Linux distributions (ex : Ubuntu, mint , zorin, Debian itself).

Flatpaks are similar package managment but it will run in all the distribution (eg : opensuse, fedora, Ubuntu, Manjaro), it's not bound by any distribution.

There are two more similar techs like flatpaks. 1. Snap 2. appimage. These two will also run in any distributions.

The only thing is, flatpaks and snaps are too large consumes lot of disk space unlike traditional package managment like .Deb, .rpm..etc...

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I edited the title for clarification.

Your observation is correct.

Many apps have more than one installer options:

  1. apt (traditional installer)
  2. FlatPak (Redhat pushing this)
  3. SNAP (Canonical pushing this)

My preference is in the order above.

FlatPak and SNAP are both bloated and sometime fail to access to external drives and network due to their SandBox nature.

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I do not think Appimage is included in Software (yet).

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I just copied it from google because i was to lazy to write it my self :woozy_face:

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Aren't we all :woozy_face:

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Thank you @Michel and @FrenchPress for your quick replies. Much appreciated.

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If you think your problem is solved, I will mark the thread as solved.
@Michel
Is it OK I select my own answer as solution? I think I covered all aspects of possible options in Software.

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Sure why not :kissing_heart:

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Yes, I believe it is solved.

Thank you!

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