Synaptic

Post by pinnerite
I arived at Mint from Mageia.
Mageia's application installation program is very user-friendly.
Synaptic by contrast is a bit ... user-hostile.
Remarks on the Sharing-folders thread seem to suggest it is no longer installed by default.
If not, what is replacing it?

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very
impressive. Kudos to them for that.

Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite
package manager.

There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much,
so Software Manager under the name mintinstall is also installed in LM
by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic over managers
like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)

Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of
package management; and its packages are .rpm.

Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.

--
Mike Easter

pinnerite

2025-01-23 16:59:32 UTC

On Thu, 23 Jan 2025 08:40:53 -0800

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very
impressive. Kudos to them for that.
Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite
package manager.
There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much,
so Software Manager under the name mintinstall is also installed in LM
by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic over managers
like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)
Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of
package management; and its packages are .rpm.
Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.
--
Mike Easter

Although I became increasingly proficient with .rpm, I really took
to .deb very quickly but from the command line. I feel that synaptic
feelsa more like a work-in-progress.

Search for an application and it throughs in everything and the kitchen
sink.

Alan

--
Linux Mint 21.3 kernel version 5.15.0-127-generic Cinnamon 6.0.4
AMD Ryzen 7 7700, Radeon RX 6600, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD, 2TB Barracuda

Mike Easter

2025-01-23 17:06:57 UTC

Post by pinnerite
Search for an application and it throughs in everything and the kitchen
sink.

Sometimes that is what I want. You can adjust your search to just the
name instead of the default name & description.

It is very common that I want more info about something than mintinstall
gives me.

--
Mike Easter

RonB

2025-01-23 21:28:49 UTC

Post by pinnerite
On Thu, 23 Jan 2025 08:40:53 -0800

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very
impressive. Kudos to them for that.
Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite
package manager.
There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much,
so Software Manager under the name mintinstall is also installed in LM
by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic over managers
like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)
Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of
package management; and its packages are .rpm.
Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.
--
Mike Easter

Although I became increasingly proficient with .rpm, I really took
to .deb very quickly but from the command line. I feel that synaptic
feelsa more like a work-in-progress.
Search for an application and it throughs in everything and the kitchen
sink.
Alan

Install the Xapian "Quick Filter" for a much better search experience. They
used to do that by default, I'm not sure why they stopped.

Just two commands...

sudo apt install apt-xapian-index
sudo update-apt-xapian-index -vf

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Alan K.

2025-01-23 17:08:17 UTC

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very impressive. Kudos to them for that.
Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite package manager.
There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much, so Software Manager under the
name mintinstall is also installed in LM by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic
over managers like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)
Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of package management; and its
packages are .rpm.
Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.

No, Synaptic is NOT istalled by default in LM22.1.
Read the release notes. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php

You CAN install it if you wish. I found looking for a program with mininstall seems to work much
like synaptic.

--
Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon 6.4.6, Kernel 6.8.0-51-generic
Thunderbird 128.5.2esr, Mozilla Firefox 134.0.1
Alan K.

Mike Easter

2025-01-23 17:15:18 UTC

No, Synaptic is NOT istalled by default in LM22.1. Read the release
notes. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php
You CAN install it if you wish. I found looking for a program with
mininstall seems to work much like synaptic.

Oh; I didn't know that about 22.1.

Aptkit replaces aptdaemon, providing a streamlined library for
package management operations with updated functionality. Captain
unifies the features of GDebi and apturl into a single, easy-to-use
utility. All the tools previously reliant on aptdaemon, synaptic or
apturl now use these replacements.

Notice that neither Aptkit nor Captain is said to actually replace synaptic.

I'll have to take a look at all that to see how it suits me.

--
Mike Easter

Alan K.

2025-01-23 18:15:37 UTC

No, Synaptic is NOT istalled by default in LM22.1. Read the release
notes. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php
You CAN install it if you wish. I found looking for a program with
mininstall seems to work much like synaptic.

Oh; I didn't know that about 22.1.

Notice that neither Aptkit nor Captain is said to actually replace synaptic.
I'll have to take a look at all that to see how it suits me.

Yes, you're right. It's just left out since they seem to want to go with something else. Unlike
other things, they didn't remove it. I think that implies (IMHO) that they aren't quite sure they
should. oops.

On the same line of minor changes, I have a desktop theme that I really like. I upgraded 22>22.1 3
times and had to re-image the partition each time to get it working. The desktop was horrible.
Finally on a suggestion due to my bug report, I changed the theme to one of the built-in ones.
Sure enough it worked. And I found the bug later. Sloppy coding in the cinnamon.css file.
Duplicated some of the sections of code. That was relatively easy to find, just took time.

--
Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon 6.4.6, Kernel 6.8.0-51-generic
Thunderbird 128.5.2esr, Mozilla Firefox 134.0.1
Alan K.

RonB

2025-01-23 21:35:59 UTC

No, Synaptic is NOT istalled by default in LM22.1. Read the release
notes. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php
You CAN install it if you wish. I found looking for a program with
mininstall seems to work much like synaptic.

Oh; I didn't know that about 22.1.

Notice that neither Aptkit nor Captain is said to actually replace synaptic.
I'll have to take a look at all that to see how it suits me.

Synaptic does more than just install (or uninstall applications). You can
also set up your repositories, repair broken packages, etc. As long as I can
still install it, it's going to be part of my install.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Mike Easter

2025-01-23 23:01:03 UTC

Notice that neither Aptkit nor Captain is said to actually replace synaptic.
I'll have to take a look at all that to see how it suits me.

What I see in default LM 22.1 in available programs is mintinstall as
Software Manager which appears to be somewhat improved, but
unsatisfactory to me compared to Synaptic. Apparently Aptkit and
Captain are 'secret' tools, no man entry for either, no command line
action for sudo aptkit or sudo captain.

So, as far as I'm concerned, the default LM 22.1 is deficient in my kind
of package manager and needs an immediate installation of the synaptic
from the repo/s, which incidentally has never reached version 1 at
0.91.3build 4 Its package is 0.7 meg and it needs 3.2 meg diskspace.

mintinstall calls Captain a system package (like synaptic) and describes
it as a collection of apt tools, like the release notes. It is not
removable. Locate finds a number of captain files and a binary.

Locate finds a LOT more aptkit files, which apparently operates as a
python app. mintinstall has very little to say about it as a
description, only 'transaction based package manager'.

It seems to me that there isn't much negative about synaptic except the
negative generalities in the LM 22.1 release notes; and that it is still
being dev/d for Ub and Deb distro/s. Since I'm not a dev, I don't know
what is going on about the patches or the problems getting things to
work properly in such as Wayland or variations of DEs.

--
Mike Easter

RonB

2025-01-23 21:33:35 UTC

Post by Alan K.

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very impressive. Kudos to them for that.
Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite package manager.
There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much, so Software Manager under the
name mintinstall is also installed in LM by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic
over managers like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)
Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of package management; and its
packages are .rpm.
Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.

No, Synaptic is NOT istalled by default in LM22.1.
Read the release notes. https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_xia_whatsnew.php
You CAN install it if you wish. I found looking for a program with mininstall seems to work much
like synaptic.

I rarely use the Software Manager (minstinstall). And I don't allow Update
to update flatpaks. I do that manually. (Some flatpaks update "constantly"
and I find that to be a pain in the neck.)

During my first test of LM 22.1 I discovered Synaptic wasn't installed by
default. I hope they reverse course on that. But at least I can still
install it.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

RonB

2025-01-23 21:25:05 UTC

Your qx inspired me to visit the Mageia wiki which I found very
impressive. Kudos to them for that.
Synaptic is /still/ installed by default in LM and it is my favorite
package manager.

Not as of 22.1. The LM developers said they may "put it back in," though.
Hopefully they do, but as long as I can install it, I'm okay with it.

Post by Mike Easter
There is an 'attitude' among some that users don't like synaptic much,
so Software Manager under the name mintinstall is also installed in LM
by default. I prefer software managers 'like' synaptic over managers
like mintinstall, but maybe more people are like you than like me :-)
Mageia's wiki has quite a lot of coverage of its various methods of
package management; and its packages are .rpm.
Depending on circumstances, sometimes I just use apt from the command line.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

RonB

2025-01-23 21:23:09 UTC

I like Synaptic a lot, especially when used with the Xapian "Quick Filter."
As of Linux Mint 22.1 they no longer install Synaptic by default. It will be
one of the first applications I install, along with the JOE editor. I don't
like the Package Manager — it takes too long to rebuild its cache and, in my
opinion, it's "clumsy" when compared to Synaptic.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

RonB

2025-01-23 21:38:38 UTC

"Package Manager" is synaptic. I meant to say "Software Manager"
(mintinstall).

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Alan K.

2025-01-23 21:47:42 UTC

"Package Manager" is synaptic. I meant to say "Software Manager"
(mintinstall).

It's possible (I'm a forever optimist) they may put some of these features from synaptic into the
Software Manager. (yeah right).

How do you put a hold on a package if not in synaptic, wait until it hits the update manager and
hope you catch it in time?

--
Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon 6.4.6, Kernel 6.8.0-51-generic
Thunderbird 128.5.2esr, Mozilla Firefox 134.0.1
Alan K.

RonB

2025-01-24 02:10:15 UTC

Post by Alan K.

"Package Manager" is synaptic. I meant to say "Software Manager"
(mintinstall).

It's possible (I'm a forever optimist) they may put some of these features from synaptic into the
Software Manager. (yeah right).
How do you put a hold on a package if not in synaptic, wait until it hits the update manager and
hope you catch it in time?

Synaptic is a "central location" for a several utilities. And, even if
mintinstall added these features, it's still "clumsier" and slower to use
than Synaptic — at least it is for me.

--
“Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy
what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Killadebug

2025-01-24 18:00:02 UTC

Post by Alan K.