> Package management on Linux is a real mess. It works great if you're running a server with standard software from official distro repos that is infrequently updated.
> As soon as you go outside that it quickly goes wrong in my experience (I've been using Linux since around 1999).
My entry to Linux was slightly later, but I have the same opinion. What's worse is that it is maddening when you try and express this to the Linux Desktop community, they will tell you its 'insecure' to use third party packages and you shouldn't do it[0], or that you should put everything in a container[1], or explain that because freedom you can always compile from source[2]!
We are fortunate that parts of the community are finally waking up to the problem and trying to deal with it with things like AppImage[3] and Flatpak[4], at least for desktop software.
[0] There isn't really any greater theoretical insecurity with third party packages than first, but more importantly I'm not going to refrain from running software I need to run because it hasn't been blessed by some volunteer third party who almost certainly hasn't actually reviewed the code anyway. If the alternative is not running software then I'll take the risk, it is mine to take.
[1] Ever wonder why other desktop operating systems don't need to do this? It's adding a bunch of unnecessary complexity and extra management to what should be one of the primary things one can do with a personal computer!
[2] Leaving aside that that is a pretty ridiculous expectation, build environments are often complicated enough that projects distribute theirs in a container to avoid dealing with all the problems that could be caused because of conflicts and missing or out of date packages. Basically the same problems as compiled software!
[3] AppImage has been around a long time and so had its earlier incarnations (ROX AppDirs and Klik). I love it, but it isn't as popular as Flatpak seems to be.
[4] I have my issues with implementation, but at least it is dealing with a lot of the traditional model's problems including finally allowing me to install software to a different disk. Still has a ways to go to become ubiquitous, but it is making a lot of headway.