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feat(site): offer the .deb alongside the AppImage for Linux - #17

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doylefermi-kv merged 1 commit into
mainfrom
feat/site-linux-downloads
Aug 20, 2026
Merged

feat(site): offer the .deb alongside the AppImage for Linux#17
doylefermi-kv merged 1 commit into
mainfrom
feat/site-linux-downloads

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@doylefermi-kv

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Why

Every release publishes four Linux builds — .deb, .rpm, .AppImage, .tar.gz — and the download page linked exactly one of them. A colleague on Ubuntu was handed an AppImage, which needs a chmod +x and integrates with nothing, while the .deb that gives them a menu entry, an icon and apt remove sat unlinked on the Releases page.

What changes

Linux visitors get two buttons:

Primary Download Argos for Linux…-linux-amd64.deb · For Linux (Deb)
Secondary Download the AppImage instead…-linux-x86_64.AppImage

Everyone else sees Other platforms: Mac (Intel) · Windows · Linux (Deb) · Linux (AppImage) — the single "Linux" entry split in two — and no second button.

On Linux, both entries are dropped from "Other platforms", since both are already buttons two inches above it.

Why .deb leads

A browser cannot tell Debian from Fedora — there is no distribution in the user agent and no API that exposes one. So this is a bet on the audience, not a detection.

The AppImage stays one click away for exactly that reason: it runs on any distribution, so nobody outside Debian or Ubuntu is left holding a file their system cannot open. .rpm and .tar.gz remain on the Releases page.

Also

The no-JS fallback href still pointed at v1.12.3 — three months stale for anyone with JavaScript disabled. Updated to 1.15.0.

Verification

  • Mac view driven live in a browser
  • Linux view verified by running the page's own script against a stub DOM with a Linux user agent — that branch is unreachable by spoofing in-browser
  • Every generated filename checked against the real v1.15.0 release assets, so no link 404s. Worth doing: the arch names differ per packager (amd64 for deb, x86_64 for AppImage and rpm, x64 for the tarball) and are easy to get wrong.

Release

No tag or app build needed — this is site/** only, so pages.yml deploys it on merge.

Four Linux builds are published every release; the download page linked one
of them. A colleague on Ubuntu was being handed an AppImage — which needs a
`chmod +x` and integrates with nothing — while the .deb that gives them a
menu entry, an icon and `apt remove` sat unlinked on the Releases page.

Changes:
- Linux visitors get two buttons: the .deb as the primary download, and
  "Download the AppImage instead" beneath it.
- "Other platforms" now lists Linux (Deb) and Linux (AppImage) separately
  instead of a single "Linux".
- Both Linux entries are dropped from "Other platforms" when the visitor is
  already on Linux, since both are buttons directly above it.

The .deb leads because a browser cannot tell Debian from Fedora — there is
no distribution in the user agent — so this is a bet on the audience rather
than a detection. The AppImage stays one click away for exactly that reason:
it runs anywhere, so nobody outside Debian or Ubuntu is left holding a file
their system cannot open. The .rpm and .tar.gz builds remain on the
Releases page.

Also fixes the no-JS fallback href, which still pointed at v1.12.3 — three
months stale for anyone with JavaScript disabled.

Verified both paths: the Mac view live in a browser, and the Linux view by
running the page's own script against a stub DOM with a Linux user agent,
since the Linux branch is unreachable by spoofing in-browser. Every
generated filename was checked against the real v1.15.0 release assets, so
no link 404s — the arch names differ per packager (amd64 for deb, x86_64
for AppImage) and are easy to get wrong.
@doylefermi-kv
doylefermi-kv merged commit 5696fed into main Aug 20, 2026
1 check passed
@doylefermi-kv
doylefermi-kv deleted the feat/site-linux-downloads branch August 20, 2026 09:19
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