this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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Privacy
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Not sure if this fits your definition of OS, proper, or install, but FWIW you can already download an apk directly from github using most Android browsers and it will open (or give you the option to open) it with the system's package installer.
Yep and that's exactly what we doing with Signal to avoid the Play Store. It's a bit of a PITA and it's the same on desktop. It's because they don't want third parties maintaining their packages.
My crazy utopian idea is for some kind of protocol (or equivalent) that would allow native package managers (mobile or desktop) to "plug in" to the website repos of authors, directly.
Isn't this basically the same thing as clicking a .apk or .exe link in a browser (which already works on mobile/desktop)?
Other than (a) having to use a browser and (b) no update mechanism, yes.