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@navi@social.vlhl.dev

Post #1081497

2026-03-22 13:23 UTC

saying "sideloading programs" in a linux desktop context is wild, please fucking don't there's not supposed to be one and only "official" loading, where everything else is "side" to it it's called installing programs

Replies (19)

  • @fiore@brain.worm.pink 2026-03-22 13:24

    @navi phonebrain is taking over

    Open ##1081515

  • @navi@social.vlhl.dev side loading on ubuntu via apt ​:neodog_googly_woozy:​

    Open ##1081516

  • @ivan@possum.city 2026-03-22 13:26

    @navi@social.vlhl.dev ive always thought of it as just installing a program from a repo that isnt managed by your distro

    Open ##1081518

  • @navi@social.vlhl.dev sideloading on my Fedora Silverblue by rpm-ostree installing something

    Open ##1081520

  • @tusharhero@mathstodon.xyz 2026-03-22 13:33

    @navi the dangerous side loading app called guix|nix

    Open ##1081524

  • @navi Writing "linux desktop" is insane - please don't insult the GNU OS by referring to it with the name of a proprietary kernel. Unlike Linux, GNU of course doesn't hesitate to point of the freedom to install.

    Open ##1081525

  • @2something@transfem.social 2026-03-22 13:36

    @navi@social.vlhl.dev The next updates to both Android and Ubuntu will rename your Downloads folder "Sideloads" because it holds stuff that wasn't installed from Google Play or the Snap Store.

    Open ##1081526

  • @navi the term should never be used, even on a phone

    Open ##1081527

  • @navi sideloading games on my sideloading games launcher installed using sideloaded package manager that has been itself sideloaded by a sideloaded operating system that runs on a sideloaded kernel booted from a sideloaded bootloader on a sideloaded computer

    Open ##1081528

  • @RavenLuni@furry.engineer 2026-03-22 14:16

    @navi Who be saying that? Point them out for shaming

    Open ##1081529

  • @navi me over here sideloading on NixOS /j From a perspective of installing something on NixOS, it is in fact so much easier to do it using nixpkgs if its already packaged than any other way; IMO installing things on NixOS outside of using nixpkgs is more friction than "sideloading" is on Android, while using nixpkgs and the Play Store are similar amounts of friction

    Open ##1081530

  • @ineemio@rivals.space 2026-03-22 19:16

    @navi imho. there is an 'official" and recommended loading which is your distro's traditional package manager and its default repos

    Open ##1081531

  • @navi installation vs compilation

    Open ##1081532

  • @rachel@transitory.social 2026-04-10 15:28

    @navi@social.vlhl.dev oh gah what docs did that term end up in?

    Open ##1081533

  • @lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me 2026-04-10 16:34

    @navi Yeah, every time I've seen it (first was system-installed extensions for Mozilla Firefox…) it's been for install methods that are either deprecated or soon will be, in favor of a vendor-controlled ecosystem rather than user-controlled. Meanwhile one of the distinguishing features of Unix have been the open APIs, none of them being locked away behind some sort of special license or NDA. (macOS somewhat broke that, because of course closed garden HQ would do this)

    Open ##1081535

  • @kura@hai.z0ne.social 2026-04-10 18:00

    @navi@social.vlhl.dev I sideload my apps through pacman, aur, flatpak and appimage.

    Open ##1081536

  • @SuperDicq@minidisc.tokyo 2026-03-22 13:29

    @navi@social.vlhl.dev I don't say "sideloading" in the context of phones either. Just say "installing". I have never had an Android phone with Google Play on it in my life. Installing APKs or using F-Droid were always the normal way of installing things on my phone. "sideloading" is a term that makes it sound like a thing that is not normal, or something only "power users" should be able to do. I prefer to see the headline: "Google is preventing users from installing software" vs. "Google is preventing users from sideloading" One sounds a lot more serious.

    Open ##1316643

  • @q@social.quotequack.xyz 2026-03-22 14:36

    @navi þey are prob a mobile only user cause imagine smn calls installing windows apps from exe sideloading? þey have to have never touched a pc ever

    Open ##1316654

  • @mvilain@sfba.social 2026-04-10 21:14

    @navi Isn't "sideloading" on Unix the same as "compiling and installing from source". I remember building stuff before package managers. All those dependencies were a PITA.

    Open ##1316667