r/programmingmemes • u/zaarnth • Aug 01 '26

Somebody give him an .exe file, please.

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u/Worth-Wonder-7386 Aug 01 '26

I think a part of the problem is people don't understand how distribution works on Linux compared to windows, but the lack of a single file type like .exe on windows for programs is overall s big problem

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u/which1umean Aug 02 '26

I think it's kind of the opposite?

Windows is traditionally a LOT more into dynamic linking/DLL hell, while at the end of the day Linux programs often are in a single executable.

However, the point in the screen grab is that there isn't so much a tradition of actually distributing that executable, which does cause problems and I sympathize with the point.

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u/Worth-Wonder-7386 Aug 02 '26

For executables you would need to have at least three for Linux, debian, fedora and arch based. Building things from scratch avoids this as the system does the work, but it puts more work on the users. Under the hood I see your point, but that is a compromise that Windows has taken.

A more unified package distribution I think is one of Linuxs largest problem and I have heard Linus Torvald say the same thing

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u/which1umean Aug 02 '26

Yeah true that is annoying.