3 Solutions to Linux Mint’s Problems

Distributions such as Mint and Ubuntu are easier for beginners because of the low amount of effort or knowledge required to set up and maintain the system.   These are stable release distributions, so rarely does new software break the system or cause problems.  However, the downside of this stability for the most widely used software, is that newer software or even just less popular software may cause issues because you can’t get the newest version with some feature you want.

Mint is even worse than Ubuntu in this regard, because Mint is based off Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is based off Debian.  So it goes first to Debian, then Ubuntu, and last Mint.  

How can you solve this?

On Mint, there’s a few ways to deal with the fact that your package manager has old versions of software.

Solution 1) Get the newer version via a Flatpak, AppImage, or even Snap
Very often software is released in other formats that work cross-distro.  For example the video tools Kdenlive or OBS may likely have a much older version in your package manager using “sudo apt install”, than their Flatpak versions.   Don’t forget to update your Flatpaks as well as the main system!

Solution 2) Get the required packages and dependencies that are missing from the Debian repository
Debian’s repos are on their website:
https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages
Very often these underlying files can be used on Mint to get newer software to work.  For example I did this for Kleopatra PGP, where I got the Debian version of these cryptographic libraries to get it to work on my old version of Mint.

Solution 3) You could spin up a VM of a different rolling release distro, such as Arch, for the newer software you want.
Some will scoff at this as silly, why not just run the rolling newer distro on the bare metal then?  The reason is that you might NEED stability for your core computer functioning like a tight schedule dayjob, but only be willing to tolerate breaking packages and problems for this new software.  By limiting the software in this new VM, you limit how many things might go wrong or break. 

 I get most my cutting edge via PPA on Mint. 

 Almost all desktop apps are newer version from flatpak than from repos of my latest Debian.
I understand. For coder is much easier to test one version than all available distros.
And for maintainers the same. Too much apps to test.
Flatpak/AppImage/snap creates mess in system (oh, snap!) but for user it's a way to have good working environment.
Don't hesitate to use it. 

 I remove Snap from Ubuntu and lock it out so it can't be reinstalled in a system upgrade.

 

 I don't like it too. Have it on the working notebook with corporate image. Using flatpak at home.

But. To be ordinary Ubuntu user (who never run "mount" command), it's better to use snap than years old apps versions. 

 You don't have to use old apps. You can get everything through PPA, flatpak, and appimage. 

 I just didn't get your point as you are writing exactly the same as me.