[SOLVED] Can programs be installed in any DE?

[Kyowash]

It can be a bad idea to mix desktop environments (DE), but I was wondering if I could install a program meant for a DE in another. For example, installing Okular (KDE) and Xfburn (Xfce) in Cinnamon. Are there any risks of doing so?

[fungus]

Usually not a problem.. But you will need to install a lot of runtimes and framework stuff belonging to KDE and Xfce also and this may cause small programs to take up a lot of space.

EDIT: The meaning of my post got bashed by a brain fart, now corrected..

[lmuserx4849]

It can be a bad idea to mix desktop environments (DE), but I was wondering if I could install a program meant for a DE in another. For example, installing Okular (KDE) and Xfburn (Xfce) in Cinnamon. Are there any risks of doing so?

Yes.

Some additional information.

When a software developer creates a program, there are always additional libraries used. The libraries consist of code that does specific common functions, often at a lowever level (i.e., graphic ui), that makes life easier for everyone. Those libraries can be complied into the program (static) or not (dynamic) in which case they have to reside on the system. Larger issues can arise when there are major version changes of these libraries, but that has been infrequent.

If you are using at least LM 18.3, you might want to look to see if there is a flatpak package of the application. This is a new way of packaging an application with libraries, which is contained. This has its' pluses and minuses too.

If you install the application via apt-get there is an option, -s or --simulate. I'm not sure why there are additional options, but --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act all do the same thing. You can see everything that will be installed without installing it. Synaptic Package Manager will also show this information.

Cinnamon, mate, xfce, lxde are all based on the gnome toolkit. KDE is based on the qt toolkit, as is lxqt. Therefore, as you can imagine, if you install a kde or qt app on Cinnamon, more libraries will be installed, and visa versa. Unless you are running really tight on resources, this should not be a problem.

I run gtk apps on a kde desktop, like gimp, inkscape. I run qt apps on mate like, okular, dolphin, konsole.

I ran into a problem once, but I think I would have had the problem regardless of desktop because the app was old. I think if you stick to the major, highly used applications, there is less of a chance.

[Kyowash]

Thank you both for clarifying my doubt! I was worried I could mess something up.