Steps to building a cool program (the really cool way)

1. Clone the GitHub repository
2. Open command prompt
3. Run the build command
4. It fails because the repository owner uses a different c++ compiler and it only works with that one
5. It fails again, realize you installed visual studio wrong somehow so spend an hour trying to get the visual studio installer to find and uninstall it before deleting the installation directory entirely and installing the required version again
6. It still fails, the project looks for version “” of protobuf but you have “3.1.10.1” so you reconfigure it to look for a real version of protobuf
7. It fails again, some tool that isn’t in the readme is required to build it
8. It fails again, it’s not actually compatible with windows yet
9. Give up and wait for pre built binaries

Edit: did the other guy that responded block me? I got a notification about it but can’t load the comment

STUPID FUCKING SMELLY NERDS

I can kinda vibe with that. Worst I’ve ever seen was installation instructions posted in a Discord server.

A meme made in response (not by me):

Creates something free to use and ask for nothing in return

People complain because they have to chmod +x a Shell file

A tale as old as the internet.

I agree that github is for developers or people who at the very least don’t mind learning a bit of development and getting their hands dirty. The poster demanding an exe is quite entitled - and also from what I understand the repo he is referring to is a python repo, so there normally wouldn’t be an exe, it’d just be run via a python command.

There’s a bigger problem here, which is that technical skill in newer generations is also decreasing - as someone on reddit had once said “I’m a millennial and I’m doing tech support for my parents as well as my children”. A generation raised on tablets and phones have gotten the false impression of being tech savy, when their actual technical skill is using end products.

Expecting every github repo to provide you with something you just click-and-run is overlooking the complexities and reality of how code is. By it self that isn’t a problem, but the entitlement it takes to publicly and arrogantly post that on a public forum is astounding and counter-productive to people who work on those small repos.

I hate when the installation takes like 20 steps. Never heard of an installation script and a interactive installation? I’ve installed far more complex software, that gets this but your shitty programm can’t do it?

And they wonder why nearly nobody uses Linux. In Windows nearly all software comes as an executable. Imagine offering a software under windows, where you need to do the setup manually in a shell.