I’m surprised no one has mentioned package managers yet. I feel like a barbarian when trying to install software on other OSs. Especially macs. I feel like mac software is collectively pulling a prank on me.
Whenever I try to help my newbie friends with computer issues I’ll be like “uh just install croc and I can give you another command to run”. But then I remember that installing software on a system without a package manager is pain. “Okay you have to go to this random github address, then download this specifically-named package, then extract that to a random directory that you’ll never move it from, then you have to put that directory in your PATH variable.” But wait, modifying your PATH variable needs its own set of instructions!
On a related note, if I could just give people on other OSs one-liners to fix all their problems it would fix all my problems. I could absolutely bang out a one-liner to fix your problem, but if we have to do it through the GUI then we gotta screenshare.
In theory, Homebrew should solve this, but I’ve just had so many bad experiences with it over the years, I won’t touch it. All the problems you can imagine from trying to tell a non-techy friend over voice, without screensharing, how to do all that stuff you just listed? Brew seems to make those same mistakes half the damned time, and leave your system / the app in a weird, half-installed state. It seems like most app devs have come to the same conclusion and just make actually good installers. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to that, but there ya go. I honestly have no idea if that’s a Homebrew problem or if it’s just doing its best with what apple gives it to work with, but either way.
I’ve had better experiences with Chocolatey on Windows, but for casual / everyday use it’s just so rare I need to install something that doesn’t have its own nice installer, so I very rarely run it.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned package managers yet. I feel like a barbarian when trying to install software on other OSs. Especially macs. I feel like mac software is collectively pulling a prank on me.
Whenever I try to help my newbie friends with computer issues I’ll be like “uh just install
crocand I can give you another command to run”. But then I remember that installing software on a system without a package manager is pain. “Okay you have to go to this random github address, then download this specifically-named package, then extract that to a random directory that you’ll never move it from, then you have to put that directory in your PATH variable.” But wait, modifying your PATH variable needs its own set of instructions!On a related note, if I could just give people on other OSs one-liners to fix all their problems it would fix all my problems. I could absolutely bang out a one-liner to fix your problem, but if we have to do it through the GUI then we gotta screenshare.
In theory, Homebrew should solve this, but I’ve just had so many bad experiences with it over the years, I won’t touch it. All the problems you can imagine from trying to tell a non-techy friend over voice, without screensharing, how to do all that stuff you just listed? Brew seems to make those same mistakes half the damned time, and leave your system / the app in a weird, half-installed state. It seems like most app devs have come to the same conclusion and just make actually good installers. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to that, but there ya go. I honestly have no idea if that’s a Homebrew problem or if it’s just doing its best with what apple gives it to work with, but either way.
I’ve had better experiences with Chocolatey on Windows, but for casual / everyday use it’s just so rare I need to install something that doesn’t have its own nice installer, so I very rarely run it.