I recently moved my work machine from Windows to Linux and chose Debian Trixie + KDE Plasma for the stability. The advice is that if stability is your priority, you should try to avoid breaking Debian. I understand that adding third-party sources can cause dependencies conflicts, and must be avoided at all costs. I also understand that Flatpaks, AppImages, Snaps, and Docker/Podman images are safe because they don’t interfere with the system dependencies. So far, so good. What I don’t understand is what happens with other ways of installing software (eg .deb, tarballs).
I know it’s a contentious subject but if stability is the priority, how would you rank different methods? I may be wrong but my take is:
Debian repository > Flatpak > Appimage > Docker/Podman > Snap > tarball
To be avoided: .deb for Debian > .deb for Ubuntu > PPAs
Eg Viber is available as an official AppImage (with certain bugs), unofficial flatpak (with other bugs), and an official .deb for Ubuntu (which is probably a bad idea for Debian anyway). Viber support told me they don’t support my OS.
Im pretty appimage is stable to use on your system. It contains all of the dependencies inside of it. Just one file for all of its needs. Only issue that ive had is that you need to manually update them (ie download the newest version).