MX-21 Repository: FreeFileSync

[justcosmic1]

I had major stability issues with the versions in both the main and test repositories (version 11.x) - so I installed the flatpack, which is the latest version (V13.3) for all OS's.
It is now rock solid as per my experience of using it previously on Win7.

Is it the case that the latest version can't be installed via the standard repositories because of dependencies or something?

In any case I thought I should report that the so called "stable version" is way less stable than the latest version of the package in this case.

[Stevo]

I just backported 13.3 from upstream Debian for the MX 23 test repositories, but MX 21 uses gcc-10 for a compiler, and 13.3 has a hard build-dependency on gcc-12 or above. Debian started releasing it with the 12.2 in Bookworm repos.

I haven't checked into whether it's possible to build it there using the clang compiler, which usually has more advanced features than gcc, though.

[justcosmic1]

Thankyou @Stevo for taking note. Much appreciated.
I am a bit new to some of this: is it the case that effectively a Flatpack is pre-compiled and hence the GCC versions don't affect it?
That said, I am on AVL-MXE 21.1 - so there may be some differences to account for.

[davidy]

I just unloaded a TB of what I consider bloat by simply replacing as many flatpaks as I could with their appimage counterparts. Falkon I went back to the repo version and will stay with it permanently. I only have 4 flatpak aps now (5 with flatseal). Freefilesync will check for updates automatically using their bult-in api.freefilesync.org host url and can be installed easily with the run file they provide. Great ap I've been using for years and never more than right now. I use it to clear caches and configs as well as for simple backups. Adding it to the repos seems somewhat redundant, but, considering how useful it is, not surprising. It has issues with my nas, or I do, but that's irrelevant. Calibre was tricky as I had to use the txz file and build it to install it but works perfect now and checks for updates itself too. Best yet is the latest version of qbittorrent enhanced's appimage now works. Flatpak? Not if I can help it.
IOW, my suggestion is try to use appimages if at all possible over flatpaks and don't worry about the latest in the repo if an appimage exists.

[Stevo]

Thankyou @Stevo for taking note. Much appreciated.
I am a bit new to some of this: is it the case that effectively a Flatpack is pre-compiled and hence the GCC versions don't affect it?
That said, I am on AVL-MXE 21.1 - so there may be some differences to account for.

Once a binary program is compiled, one can often run it on an older gcc base. It all depends on what the programmer has in their code.
In this case, the flatpaks are precompiled.

[justcosmic1]

Thanks @Davidy for your input re using app images over Flatpaks: I am starting to use more of them now - although with Freefilesync I don't want to mess up any of my settings, so I may just stay with the Flatpak.