This is sick. Have you considered adding a local translation feature?
No, don't do that. That's how you break your system:
https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian
It looks like pika os is based off of debian sid, which is not compatible with debian stable.
If you want newer packages on debian stable, try backports or experimental, which target the debian stable repos and are guaranteed to be compatible and explicitly tested against with debian stable
Otherwise, it's best to switch to a distro or release (like switiching to debian sid. Don't use testing though). Or you can use distrobox/containers.
If you're not on archlinux, you should probably switch. It has the latest packages of everything, and the Arch User Repos are essentially compiling whatever xyz program you want from source, in one command.
You should also be careful with doing stuff like installing deb/rpm's directly from sites, because that's how you can break your system. Also, I suspect you installed pip packages to the system itself, which can also can break your system.
Anyway, mesa, a "system" package is definitely more challenging as well, since it needs to be deeply integrated into the system. If you actually need a newer version of it, then the easiest is to just switch to a distro that has a newer version, or if you only need the userspace version, you can use it within a docker container like the one's offered by distrobox or junest.
If you were wanting a newer version of an "application", flatpak would probably be good enough to get it onto your system. "Applications" don't need to be as integrated with the rest of your system.
As a rebuttal to your post though, there is a very good reason why Linux does packaging the way it does. Installing a program on Windows is nowhere as simple as it may seem to you.
You probably have an adblocker, and use a non google search engine, and know your way around sites. But consider the average users actual process of installing a program on Windows. It looks something more like:
Of course, to you the process probably takes 15 seconds. But to a real average, non advanced user, this experience is fraught with risks. If they select wrongly, then they get malware on their computer. Compare this to installing software on Linux from a distro's repos:
No risk. No pain. Simple.
There is a very good reason for older packages in distro repos as well. There are two main reasons:
The first is stability. Stability vs unstability doesn't mean anything about system reliability, but is instead about lack of change. I like to say that a stable release distros doesn't just mean you older packages, it means you get the same system behavior over a period of time. Instead of a constantly changing set of bugs, you deal with the same set.
I like Arch. I like new packages. I can find workarounds for the current annoying bug this update cycle. But the average user probably doesn't want to have to deal with that. They probably don't want to have to deal with the bug of the week, and they would rather just have some predictable bug that stays there for a few years that they already know their way around.
I remember watching a twitch streamer hit this, actually. They were complaining about new packages, and I pointed out that the reason why older packages are there is to have the same predictable set of bugs, instead of a changing set. They dismissed me, claiming they needed new packages, which is understandable. But then they (an ArchLinux user) immediately encountered an issue with Dolphin (Linux file browser) where the top bar / UI wouldn't load at all and got really frustrated. I didn't say anything, but I did laugh to myself and feel vindicated when it happened. Of course, eventually that bug will be fixed. But new ones will come along.
The second reason, is supply chain security. Debian, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, where not affected by the XZ utils backdoor, due to having a policy of only doing carefully cherry picked security updates. I won't go into detail here, but I have another comment about it.
This is so much fun.
I'm not a mod, but I get really frustrated seeing posts like this in one of the only technical cybersec communities I have found.
Why not link to the actual technical breakdown mentioned in the article instead?
https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/vanguard-security-update-motherboard
I am so deeply annoyed that
Vanguard demands this level of control over user systems
Vanguard seems to be the only entity handling a threat vector most people simply ignore. I suspect not even crowdstrike and the like could handle malicious pci devices. Well, vanguard can't either, it's just a cat and mouse game. But they are definitely trying in an area where most seem to have given up, but it's absurd that it's a fucking game anticheat that's doing this.
Docker compose's don't really need to be maintained though. As long as the app doesn't need new components old docker composes should work.
EDIT: Oops, it does look like spacebarchat's docker images have last been updated over 2 years ago:
https://hub.docker.com/r/spacebarchat/server
EDIT2: Although this is outdated, I think their github repo has an action to autobuild docker images on pushes. Still investigating.
EDIT3: Okay, they don't seem to be actually ran.
But using nix to build a docker image is pretty cool.
EDIT4: Oh shit, the docker image build workflows were added just 2 hours ago. Of course they haven't been ran!
Docker support soon, probably.
EDIT5: the workflow ran, but it looks like it's private for now.
There are many, I think. Like what other people have mentioned, sometimes the new standard is just better on all metrics.
Another common example is when someone creates something as a passion project, rather than expecting it to get used widely. It's especially frustrating for me when I see people denigrate projects like those, criticizing it for a lack of practicality...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MQ1ZMZ-l4
This is a trailer for NBA 2k20, that shows more gambling content than actual gameplay.
The top comment is:
Hey 2k, theres a basketball minigame in your gambling simulator, can you fix it please?…
Termux recently got moved off of the play store (kinda), and is now only available on f-droid/github, because Google was further locking down what they allowed on their store.
And in addition to that, they recently added a restriction in later versions of Android: "Child process limit". Although this limit used to not there, when enabled, it prevents users from truly running arbitrary linux programs, like via termux.
Although the child process limit can still be disabled in developer options, it doesn't bode well for how flexible base android in the future will be, since many times corpos like Google move stuff into the "secret" options before eventually removing that dial all together.
TLDR: Termux has been, and is a thing... for now.
Also, I want to shout out winlator. It uses a linux proot, similator to termux, and has box64 and wine inside that proot that people can use to play games. I tested with Gungeon, and it even has controller support and performance, which is really impressive.
Many people who are visually impaired and rely on TTS don't want it to sound "better". The ultra robotic voices, have extremely consistent sounds, which makes it possible to make out what they are saying at many time accelerated speeds. Though it seems to take some practice.
On the other hands, "more natural" sounding voices, slur into eachother at high speeds, and aren't comprehensible. They are only listenable to at slower speeds.
example: https://web.archive.org/web/20220525081607/https://www.vincit.fi/en/software-development-450-words-per-minute/
The og site seems to be down. The audio files work for me though. It sounds like gibberish to me, but it's comprehensible easily to the author.