I recently moved my work machine from Windows to Linux and chose Debian Trixie + KDE Plasma for the stability. The advice is that if stability is your priority, you should try to avoid breaking Debian. I understand that adding third-party sources can cause dependencies conflicts, and must be avoided at all costs. I also understand that Flatpaks, AppImages, Snaps, and Docker/Podman images are safe because they don’t interfere with the system dependencies. So far, so good. What I don’t understand is what happens with other ways of installing software (eg .deb, tarballs).
I know it’s a contentious subject but if stability is the priority, how would you rank different methods? I may be wrong but my take is:
Debian repository > Flatpak > Appimage > Docker/Podman > Snap > tarball
To be avoided: .deb for Debian > .deb for Ubuntu > PPAs
Eg Viber is available as an official AppImage (with certain bugs), unofficial flatpak (with other bugs), and an official .deb for Ubuntu (which is probably a bad idea for Debian anyway). Viber support told me they don’t support my OS.
I agree with the popular view that Debian Stable + KDE Plasma + Flatpaks (or Appimage, Docker) strikes a balance between system reliability and freshness in selected applications when that counts. I may be missing updates for KDE Plasma but v6 is quite mature so I don’t mind. I know storage is cheap but I am instinctively uneasy with containerisation as it’s done by Flatpaks etc because of the duplication you get with all-in. But if that’s the price of reliability, so be it. It’s just that sometimes there is only a PPA or a .deb, which is why I asked.
EDIT: I just tried distrobox for the first time. It is amazing how efficient it is. I ran Firefox on Arch and I couldn’t tell the difference in resources. Amazing really.