Another plea for a pain-free updating experience on Linux
Tl;dr
Discord purports it loves open source. [6] However, it allegedly seems to treat the Linux community differently – offering some less functionality compared to Windows and Mac and not prioritizing the Linux community. I aim to highlight the importance of the community and propose possible solutions.
Problems
The approximate market share of Linux operating systems is anywhere from 2-4% depending on who you ask. MacOS has approximately 12-21% and Windows approximately 60-75%. [1,2] As such, strictly from a business and financial perspective it may not make much sense to address community concerns over features requested by the Linux community. That said, at least a low-effort, low-priority attempt to address the community's concerns may be warranted and is argued here.
The Linux community has posted numerous feedback posts either complaining about the required updates, the fact there is no auto-update functionality for the Linux client, or both. [3,4,5]
Remarks and Suggestions
Considering the small market share of the Linux ecosystem the cold, logical, yet arguably sensible thing to do may be to ignore the majority of the Linux community due to limited cost-benefit. However, this is a trade off as this alienates the community who run Linux and the Linux client on their machines. Further, it increases the chance of someone who is new to Linux being turned off by the extra steps Linux users often have to take due to proprietary software often not being very mindful of Linux users. This in turn, could be the “last straw” for some new Linux users resulting in them returning back to Windows or MacOS. These are hypotheticals but not unlikely to happen.
The problem with groups of people (companies for example) treating Linux as a second class citizen is that it's the status quo. I'd argue that choosing to run Linux, especially as a daily driver, is a choice based on love and sacrifice for the sake of using something better, open, and more elegant. When (most) companies hand out second class software for Linux users it results in some of its users, especially new users, being turned off once they learn that things aren't quite the same in the realm of Linux compared to running Windows or MacOS. Once they have been running Linux for a while they can become tired and worn out due to the extra effort that must be put in to use proprietary software due to its frequent shortcomings compared to Windows and MacOS.
Discord purports it loves open source. [6] However, my opinion is that the Linux client is allegedly treated differently than its clients that run on closed source operating systems. I'm sure I can safely speak for both the GNU Linux and open source community when I say: We want to be heard and treated fairly.
I propose that Discord considers the following:
- A low-priority approach to offering automatic updates or semi-automatic update functionality (such as a button that must be pressed by the user to start the update process) for the Linux client, provisionally. That provision being that the goal be to eventually get this feature tested and added in a reasonable time, such as a few months – heck perhaps even 6-12 months.
- The solution could be kept very simple and require a button-press when the user is prompted to update to kick off a script to run the necessary commands to download the .deb/.tar.gz and install/extract it – prompting for root password if/as needed. If I were a PM at Discord I'd consider this a “backburner” task, but something that I want to get out there within a few releases – chipping away at development over time when dev time permits from sprint to sprint, carrying over the task as needed to the next sprint, and eventually releasing it to the community to keep things fair between the Windows, MacOS, and Linux clients.
- I would be willing to help QA test in multiple Linux environments, if my help is desired.
- Or, an explanation from a human being acknowledging the current requirement of manually updating the Linux client and why Discord has no plans to provide automatic or semi-automatic updates for the foreseeable future. At least a clear acknowledgement and explanation might at least address the community.
- I acknowledge that some distros might offer Discord via non-oss / community repos or similar methods for “automatic updates”, but these tend to have issues when the repos are not quickly kept up to date (there are one or more feedback posts about this). My concerns are over users who install Discord via the “recommended method” via the /download page on the Discord.com website (the .deb or .tar.gz). [7]
Your response and consideration of this request is greatly appreciated as is Discord's dedication and commitment to awesome software.
Respectfully,
David N.
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