Package Control is not a package the Sublime HQ maintains and ships. So it’s not a built in way of managing packages. When someone says built-in, I’d expect to just grab a fresh copy of said software and without my intervention, the said feature needs to work. In case of PC, I need to install it first (ST doesn’t even come shipped with any of PC’s code).
Open Source Sublime Text
bitsper2nd
#66
So much useless semantics here. Package Control is a first class citizen in Sublime Text. Being pedantic over this is useless, when the user can simply go to the menu Tools and select Install Package Control. It’s that easy.
0 Likes
UltraInstinct05
#67
I am just stating facts and correcting your previous statement.
My reply wasn’t towards how easy it is to install PC. It was whether PC is built into ST, which you think it is, when in reality it’s not. ST just makes it very simple to install PC, that’s all.
Anyways, I can see these conversations steering into unproductive waters, so I am going to stop.
3 Likes
bitsper2nd
#68
still you replied. 
Okay. Then let me rephrase this. There is no need for a built-in package manager. Package Control fills that already. Its a first class citizen on Sublime Text. Really easy to install and use.
2 Likes
deathaxe
#69
An “ordinary user” is someone who installs an application to get its job done. He’s not interested/willing (or capable) to study all the internals of an application or spend days to find out to setup a simple working environment.
Of course repos can be cloned into Packages folder manually without Package Control, but it already requires investigation to find the source repo, destination folder and several manual tasks, which are easy for an expert or power use, but a burden for new users. If you don’t believe that, just skim the forum for all the “why is this so complicated” complaints. Hence it’s not too wrong to call it “literly impossible” from a user’s perspective.
I don’t complain for my self. I guess I’ve learned the least required lessons to work with ST, but the status quo is why I am the only one left in our company. All other’s have moved to VS Code due to its simplicity in setting up new environments or exploring and installing required extensions. It’s even harder to convince new engineers.
Sure, Package Control can be installed with one click, which is easy, but that was not the point of @PetrKrysl’s first comment about this topic. All reactions prove you guys either haven’t read or understood his comment.
2 Likes
facelessuser
#70
I always thought when Will (who created Package Control) started to work for SublimeHQ, that they would end up having either Package Control or some similar tool built-in that the company maintained. That never happened, unfortunately, though I do appreciate that it is now easy to install it.
I don’t deny that Package Control is a great community-driven tool, but I’ve always feared that if you lose the pillars that hold up that tool, the infrastructure behind Sublime Text crumbles. I’ve never fully understood why SublimeHQ has not invested resources to take hold of this very important infrastructure themselves.
I’m fine if Package Control persists as a community-driven tool assuming there is always someone to maintain it, but I’ve always thought that is a bit risky for Sublime. With all of that said, I guess the tool is open source though, so if the community behind it ever disappeared, they could probably just fork it and get it up and running again themselves 
.
5 Likes
mrsean2k
#71
“Hence it’s not too wrong to call it “literly impossible” from a user’s perspective.”
Horsefeathers.
0 Likes
UltraInstinct05
#72
FWIW, SublimeHQ does sponsor Will for his open source work via GitHub sponsors. So in a way, they have done investment in making sure the continued existence of Package Control and Will’s other open source work (which mainly includes crytpo based Python packages, which PC makes use of as dependencies IIRC) 
0 Likes
marrbhi
#74
The best open source alternative to Sublime Text is Atom . It’s not free, so if you’re looking for a free alternative, you could try Notepad++ or Vim.
0 Likes
bitsper2nd
#75
Atom work and will continue to work for some time in the future. Do note that it has been discontinued. This means no more updates or bug fixes.
0 Likes
maegul
#76
Realistically Atom died the moment Microsoft bought GitHub … AFAICT no significant work has occurred on it since then.
Interestingly, the people who started Atom have since left GitHub and started their own independent text-editor and company (written in Rust of course!): Zed.
0 Likes
Lozminda
#77
I’m not gonna contribute any thing useful at all to this conversation and merely make an observation.
Woo hoo, this conversation again, funny how these conversations come round every couple of years or so. 
0 Likes
maegul
#78
Tell me about it … it probably reveals a relatively anaemic culture and understanding of open source amongst mainstream developers and computing consumers.
0 Likes