A QUICK REFERENCE TO… APPIMAGE

Generally, installing software on Linux is easy. You open your distro’s package manager, find the package you want and hit the Install button. The package manager sorts out any dependencies or conflicts associated with the package. However, what happens when the software you want isn’t in your distro’s repository? You then have to download the source, install the dependencies and compile from scratch – and after all that you have to keep up with updates.

The good news is that an increasing number of projects are releasing their software as AppImages. This is a single file that contains not only the compiled application, but all of its dependencies too. You don’t even have to unpack the file, just set the executable bit and run it: $ chmod +x neatprogram.AppImage $ ./neatprogram.AppImage

The catch is you end up with extra copies of libraries inside the AppImage that you probably already have on your system, and program startup is slower as the AppImage has to be mounted – the AppImage file contains a compressed filesystem. On the plus side, there’s only one file to download. You do it as a normal user without any need for root permissions, and updating is as simple as downloading a new AppImage.

If all this is still too much work for you, check out AppImage Launcher (https://github.com/TheAssassin/ AppImageLauncher). This is a GUI that adds AppImage software to your desktop menu, removing the need for any terminal work. And if AppImage Launcher isn’t available for your distro then it’s not a problem – just download it as an AppImage!