The average experience of interacting with end users 😭

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[–] 143 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)
  • [–] 71 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    ugh where is my exe to install the linux app on my windows

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  • [–] 66 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

    They managed to somehow open a pull request 😭

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  • [–] 30 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    I'm 50% sure it's just a joke, but then reality is way dumber than fiction, so who knows

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  • [–] 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    idk opening a pr instead of an issue is exactly what I would expect someone who has no idea how github works to do

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago

    I'm pretty sure linux kernel on github only had pull requests available at the time, which wrre useless since linux on github is just a mirror, and it seems since then they've been disabled

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  • [–] 58 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 107 points 3 weeks ago (15 children)

    I am this person. Every time I hit github I think to myself ' oh shit, here we go again' as I have to rediscover how it works.

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  • [–] 60 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)
  • [–] 49 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

    Most likely in the "releases" section

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  • [–] 29 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

    Yeah seriously. A lot of devs also point out where to download from in the readme.

    Because they WANT ppl to use their software!

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  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

    I dunno.... I see more build instructions and whatnot, myself.

    to be fair, that's probably a bias on my part 'cos I'm only slightly improved from the original meme

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  • [+] -12 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)
  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

    Oh yeah, just ask the hallucination machine to compile your software from the GitHub repo, what could possibly go wrong?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    It's 2026. AI agents can follow build instructions from a readme.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Sure, 90% of the time. Maybe even 99%. But I wouldn't trust a person who randomly spouts nonsense 1% of the time, or who gets trapped in loops of repetitive cloying bullshit with anything I care about, and I sure as hell am not going to trust the shitty slop machine. You do you though. Even the name is just pathetic, but you do you. Enjoy feeling like you're special because you have an 'agent' that can do things for you.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago*

    It's not special. If anything, it's the opposite; Almost anyone can have an AI agent.

    Not everyone knows how to manually follow build instructions from a readme though, so you can enjoy feeling like you're special for that, I guess.

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  • [–] -2 points 3 weeks ago

    I meant that as an insult but whatever.

    But seriously, there are more uses to AI than just asking it to compile software. If you’re a noob, you can ask it to ELI5 and go hard on following instructions. Plus, AI has stolen all of StackOverflow, so it can absolutely help debug issues along the way.

    No need to ask it to compile it all from scratch.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    Honestly, ten seconds into trying to figure it out I usually reevaluate if I really need it and close the tab.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 weeks ago

    This is often on purpose. I have my own, and contribute to, many projects. Some of them have easy docs to get going, find things, etc, because they happen to be easy to manage. Others do not, because the only support time I have to give is to those who also have the time to put in the work.

    And to be clear, it's not that we look down on "those who aren't willing to learn" or anything at all like that, we recognize others don't have the time either. It's just a natural filter that has to exist in free software.

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  • [–] 17 points 3 weeks ago

    I'm doing the opposite, whenever a program's website smells of marketing talk and I can't find what exactly it does and how in five seconds, I hit Github instead and read the Readme. Surprisingly, devs consistently want to wax eloquent on the project site, but get straight to the point on Github.

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  • [–] 43 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 27 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    Your link contains a tracker at the end, you'll want this one.

    github/comments/1at9br4/i_am_new_to_github_and_i_have_lots_to_say/

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  • [–] 87 points 3 weeks ago* (22 children)

    This is me without all the swearing, lol. I am not a code person but I am into FOSS for ethical and privacy reasons and some github pages can be truly frustrating especially if it's an app that's description is exactly what you're looking for yet it's out of reach.

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  • [–] [S] 71 points 3 weeks ago (18 children)

    The Releases page! Check the releases 😭
    If it's not there and there are build instructions instead...be afraid. Be very afraid.

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  • [–] 23 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    I'm OPs defense, there isn't always one. I've run into some that say you gotta compile it yourself, use docker, or whatever.

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  • [–] 39 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    Bro just:

    curl -s http://raw.githubusercontent.com/Juche1948/NotABackdoor/master/packaging/linux/install.sh | sh
    

    Trust me bro

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  • [–] 40 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

    What's annoying is when the build is not just "git pull then run python main.py"

    And it's like "compile this using this special library no one else uses called Blueberries, then wrong it through Rust v4.8279 (no other version works), then it will output a blob of text to copy the API key from that you put in this other special compiler, and if you mess up any of these steps it is all permanently irreversible. Also the person making the code forgot like 3 random steps in there because it's second nature, duuuh."

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  • [–] 16 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    99% of the time you need to install pip packages and if you do this without venv/uv/conda you're sort of fucking up your python install for other repos you're running from source

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  • [–] 18 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

    My pet peeve is the releases page always being so hidden. For some reason half the time it's in the sidebar??

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  • [–] -1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    if by "half the time" you mean "every single time on every single github repo," then you probably shouldn't be fucking around trying to compile code. this is a skill check.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago

    I don't WANT TO COMPILE CODE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR APP OH MY GOD

    To be clear, I myself am perfectly capable of getting software working; I've debugged some pretty weird stuff to get apps to install, including nix-ld + systemd library linking dependency shenanigans on NixOS.

    The point is that github is a code repository, not a software distribution service, and it shows: The options to view, modify, and request changes to the code are front and center, while the option to download the product of said code (or other related artifacts) is hidden to the point where it is annoyingly difficult to find it in comparison. It's a tiny section hidden underneath the social metrics and like the privacy policy and coding language breakdown iirc, which is NOT discoverable at all. I'll also note that releases are not always found in the sidebar-- that section is toggleable, and some projects do not use the official releases feature to release their software.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

    On phones it's at the bottom iirc, together with other info from the sidebar. Perhaps that's what they was remembering, but of course on one platform the link stays in the same place (after they finished the redesigns some years ago, anyway).

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  • [–] 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    “INSTALL: build from source” 😬

    it’s just as much my fault for needing weird niche programs and not just learning, but christ i swear every time i’ve done it the steps have been completely different hahahah

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  • [–] 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 child)

    Once big reason it's building from source is to accommodate as many installation scenarios as possible. It's different for each because everyone builds things differently but they all should be able to run from source on anything ideally. (This is a very boiled down explanation)

    If the project is actively maintained, you can always ask for an installer to be provided. Often developers don't put in the effort if they don't think anyone would need it

    I always try to build installer scripts at a minimum, usually with automatic dependency resolvers baked in to try and make it as easy as possible. The downside of doing things this way is that I spend about 15-30% more time on my releases vs writing pure features/bugfixes/security, and sometimes script installerrs can be brittle (they break between different systems or updates). I choose to do that because my apps are all intended to be end-user facing and ND-primary focus so it makes sense for me to put that effort in.

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  • [–] 21 points 3 weeks ago

    Pfff .exe I'll take my .deb like the basic mint bitch I am.

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  • [–] 36 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    What's funny is, half the time there IS an exe file, but it's in the sidebar under builds and not always obvious like a big green "DOWNLOAD HERE" AD.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 weeks ago

    least annoying arch user

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  • [–] 72 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (30 children)

    Most based opinion ever. I don't understand why GitHub can't have a dedicated "download" button; why they can't put it right on the top of the page, and make it a requirement? I'm tired of having to hunt around for the "releases" section, assuming it's even there to begin with (and half the time it isn't)! Sometimes the developer buries the download button in the middle of the description instead, sometimes they don't include it at all and expect you to compile it yourself. It's inconsistent and bullshit.

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  • [–] 24 points 3 weeks ago (14 children)

    GitHub is designed for sharing code. Executable downloads are not really supposed to be there, but small projects with no budget won’t put in the effort and money to host their own downloads on a separate website.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    Don’t worry, these days some scammer will use an LLM to generate a site for your project and fill it with malware.

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  • [+] -17 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

    That's a poor excuse because oftentimes the only place you can download the program from is GitHub. Developers are literally placing a link to the GitHub on their websites.

    Therefore it doesn't matter what GitHub is designed for, it matters what it's used for. You develop around the need, not the intention.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

    Beggars can’t be choosers my dude. People giving away their hobby projects for free don’t owe you anything.

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  • [+] -15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    What a piss poor attitude. Regardless, this isn't a developer problem, it's a website problem. Microsoft needs to fix this regardless of what you people think.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago

    What solution do you propose to compile every type of language that has or has not been written into executable formats that have or have not been made yet for systems that do or will exist? I'm just curious about how that should happen, given your expert opinion on the matter.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 weeks ago

    If you don’t know how to navigate Github then you are not the target audience for that specific program.

    You’re wandering out of the walled garden into the jungle and then you complain there aren’t any neatly maintained trails.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    You do realize that for most of the projects you talk about, the devs are volunteers producing code on their free time, and they put it on Github so that other devs can re-use that code?

    They don't owe you a "release" or a ".exe" or whatever you're expecting. They have no excuse to give you.

    And more often that not, when there is no ready-to-click download button with a nice .exe, that's because the dev is spending more time working on the code itself and considers it not ready for everyone's use. And during that time, yes: some people can still try out the app, and yes, there is a technical barrier to do so, and that is totally part of the plan!

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  • [–] 2 points 3 weeks ago

    And they developed the tool, and they're rarely paid enough to spin up a separate Web host just to share a wizard. GitHub is perfectly fine for simple archives and executables with little setup and provisioning. You also need to buy a static address to host your own content or use DynDNS, which adds more provisioning and setup.

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  • [–] 8 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

    I know you're actually serious, but this is coming off as satire. Did you read the OP?

    You can't make this shit up.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

    Yes I know it's satire but read the room. Several comments are saying basically the same thing.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (4 children)

    the releases section is in the same place every time, on every github repo everywhere. if you struggle to find it after the first time, then the skill check is working. come back when your basic pattern recognition is turned back on.

    if there is no binary release and you can't figure out how to proceed, the skill check is working and you probably shouldn't be fucking around with it until you know what you're doing.

    everything doesn't have to be for everyone.

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  • [–] -5 points 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    I didn't say that the releases section isn't in the same place every time, I'm saying that the download isn't always placed in the releases section. Sometimes it's in the description instead, sometimes it's somewhere else entirely, sometimes there is no download at all because they expect you to compile it.

    Don't put words into my mouth.

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