If I install software from .deb file, do I still get the updates & upgrades when I run sudo apt update / upgrade ? Or is flatpak the way to go? I’m not very familiar with flatpak, so I’m trying to avoid, but it seems that cons are limited. I’m currently running mint cinnamon (how original, I know), and asking because i can’t seem to add mullvad-vpn stable repo. Thank you for your help,

  • abrasiveteapot
    3·
    1 day ago

    Doesn’t always work - for example the mullvad browser won’t install on mint with the ubuntu instructions as OS version gets reported as Xia not noble (if I’m recalling the issue correctly it was 6-9 months ago)

    Yes you can amend the commands to get it to work but it’s definitely not beginner level, I had to faff around for an hour or so before I worked it out

    • bizdelnick@lemmy.ml
      1·
      13 hours ago

      What do you mean by “won’t install”? If you install it with apt from repo, apt doesn’t check the distro codename, it just checks if the package dependencies are satisfied.

      • abrasiveteapot
        1·
        12 hours ago

        Really sorry, it’s too long ago to remember the exact error,

        but IIRC

        when you followed the ubuntu instructions for adding the repository it would kick an error because the command included a reference to noble and mint os name is xia so the contents of the osrelease when checked didnt match and it threw an error.

        Could be wrong, I didnt document it.

        The work around was to edit the commands.

        All a moot point now as

        a) the instructions now on the mullvad site don’t reference noble and

        b) mullvad now appears to be in the mint store (which is how you should always install if possible

        Not correct, only true if you’ve manually added the repo

        • bizdelnick@lemmy.ml
          1·
          12 hours ago
          disclaimer

          I’m a Debian user and not a Mullvad user. When installing software, I carefully read instructions and almost never follow them because in most cases I know how to deal with my distro better than developers.

          There is a repo for noble, I’ve checked this before writing my answer. It is always possible to edit apt sources config manually and specify any repo you want regardless your distro codename. IDK what is Mint Store, isn’t it about flatpacks that TS doesn’t want to use?

          • abrasiveteapot
            1·
            12 hours ago

            Ok we’re talking at cross purposes.

            Yes, mullvad has a noble repo, it doesnt have a xia repo (which is the mint equivalent version name)

            Attempting to add the mullvad repo using the old ubuntu instructions failed because noble =/= xia

            Yes you can work around that but its not beginner level.

            Op asked if Flatpaks was the answer whivh imho it isnt, the best answer is downloading the .deb