Portable Applications

[mekineer]

Does Linux have portable versions of programs, that don't require a package manager? Portable in the sense that it carries all its own requirements in one zip file, and can be copied to, and run within most any Linux distribution.

Excuse my crude understanding of computer science, but in using portable applications, as opposed to having shared libraries, you may end up consuming more memory because duplicate versions of libraries will load into RAM. Did I say that right?

 

[sp331yi]

No.
The only thing I can think of that comes close to what you speak of is Alpine email client, but some would call it an OS in itself. Linux has portable systems which include software.

 

[mekineer]

Did this guy create modules that were portable, in an earlier rendition of Slax?

Slax modules: your pocket operating system

 

[LorenDB]

Take a look at AppImage programs.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @mekineer and welcome to linux.org

I use Appimage sometimes with the Waterfox web browser, and with the mkusb iso burning solution, and find it quite good.

There is also something to be learned by Googling

linux snap

and

linux flatpak

Snap is being heavily promoted by Ubuntu, but with the release of Linux Mint 20, Clement Lefebvre and his team have placed restrictions by default on snap, although you can circumvent these if wished.

Flatpak is already installed and supported on your Mint.

HTH and enjoy your Linux

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[sp331yi]

Hadn't tried AppImage -- does it work Slackware to Debian, independents like Solus?

 

[wizardfromoz]

Solus - google

appimage solus

and read at least the first entry you find, stick with the newer ones

If you Google

chromium appimage

it appears there is also an "ungoogled chromium" supported by appimage

appimage slackware

makes for an interesting read

"Do the research" is not just a maxim that people some like to call "Noobs" should apply, Wile E.

Get off your bum and take a look

Cheers

Wizard

 

[darry1966]

Funny you guys should be talking about this cos at Puppy central.......

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=549&start=10

starts about halfway down the page Mikslr talking to Mike Walsh

 

[LorenDB]

AppImage is simply an all-dependencies-bundled executable, so there's no reason why it shouldn't work on any distro.

 

[Tolkem]

Check here https://appimage.github.io/apps/ there are appimages for pretty much anything you can think of. This https://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=8584 is a nice post listing some appimages people have already use and confirmed they work as well as giving some tips & tricks on how to use them. I use a few ones myself; keepassxc, gsubs, freetube and ferdi.