I’m gonna dip my toes into volunteering as a Flatpak/Flathub developer advocate—basically, providing a human contact at a real company that can help larger apps/companies get their apps in front of Linux (and thus Steam Deck!) users.
What are some of the biggest apps you think are missing from Flathub—or for apps already there, which are the ones you’d like to see verified?
There are many reasons to dislike Nvidia on Linux. Here is a little thing that bugs me all the time, the updates. Normally the system updates would be quick and fast, but with the proprietary drivers of Nvidia involved, it gets quiet slow process. And I am not even talking about any other problem I encounter, just about the...
I'll keep saying it, because it keeps coming up. If you're working in the FreeDesktop, Linux, or Flatpak spaces, you need to understand this, even if you don't personally care about gaming or Steam Deck.
Canonical has poisoned search results for many apps plus a Linux distro name. For example, Googling “Spotify elementary OS” returns an auto-generated page on the Snap Store site that requires using a terminal, installing a whole package manager as root, and missing out on details and updates in AppCenter.
elementary would point you to Flathub where you can install w/two clicks and then get AppCenter integration.
Instead of complaining about app developers and Flatpak, maybe it's time Linux based OS developers focus on moving forward with things they are responsible for:
Home encryption
Authenticated boot
Read-only /
Atomic upgrades
It's 2023 and I still can't install and leave Linux unattended to family members and friends.
Flatpak solves real problem and it only gets better with time because it is the right infrastructure for apps on Linux.
When you install flatpaks from the command line, there is no warning about what permissions will be used by that flatpak, and whether or not this is proprietary software. Again, much worse than what we are used to with regular packages.
#Flatpak isn’t the future. It’s the present. If you’re not already building for and around Flatpak, you’re behind. It’s already mainstream, it’s already successful. Where have you been?
Since there are a bunch of misconceptions around Flatpak, I decided to make a guide to dispel these, and explain how to do a few things, like theming all applications, using the command line interface to manage them, installing them from your web browser, and more:
I don't understand what is the point of releasing an IDE via #flatpak, when that flatpak doesn't include all the necessary dev tools, and it can't access the ones outside its sandboxing. Honestly. What's the point? I'm looking at you, #Geany.
Personally, I can't stand flatpaks or #snap. #Appimage is nicer just because it's just one delete away from within the file manager and doesn't leave crumbs everywhere. But overall, I prefer #apt, and #dnf.
Steam will soon use the desktop portal file picker.
In practice, it means Steam will use your native desktop method for selecting and saving files, resulting in better user experience and desktop integration.
This is one of many things Flatpak and GNOME pioneered that improves the Linux desktop for everyone.
Do you guys use #Flatpak on your #Linux system? 🙂
Currently, I do not need external software - everything I need is in the repo or available in a external repo (#Debian)
Curious to know how your experiences are with #Flatpaks (Or #AppImages for that matter)
As #flatpak has become more popular, I have tried to help make #plugin (s) Flatpak ready.
Interestingly, I keep coming across a general rejection, like "it's not worth the effort", "it's not the future", etc.
I am aware that it has drawbacks. But are you also against it?
Apart from the amount of space it can take up, I have to say that I've never really had any complaints, and I've sort of already accepted it as a kind of convenient, non-system #linux#packagemanager, I guess. #linuxaudio
To everyone who considers themselves a fan of Flatpaks:
I just installed a single app (Fractal) and it now occupies two and a half gigabytes on my sixteen gig tablet.
Are you sure this is the right way to disrtribute software?
A top-10 ISV has asked if Flathub can provide how many installs of their app are coming from Steam Deck users.
Today, we can’t—we’d need a change in Flatpak itself to add the OS name/version to the user-agent sent along with install/update transactions. The best we may be able to do today is see the exact versions of OSTree and Flatpak that are included in SteamOS, check if those are relatively unique, and provide a rough estimate based on that.
Do we have an implementation or even plan for apps on Linux to handle URL ownership? E.g. if I have a Flathub link and my app store has a Flathub remote, it would be neat to just pop me into the native app store. Or if I have a link out to matrix.to, it would be nice to just open it in my chat app directly.
I know we can do protocol-level stuff like apstream:// but I mean Android- and iOS-style link handling.
As far as I know Workbench is the first app that outright refuses to run outside of Flatpak.
You don't like it? I don't care. I make it, I get to decide. And you know what? I know what's best for its users.
Workbench is a learning platform for future Linux app developers. It let's anyone run arbitrary code. The sandbox make it safe for everyone to experiment and have fun.
It's libre, you can patch and fork but don't come to me for support.
Working on a little thing for Home Assistant that I hope to submit to Flathub soon. Not really all that special or complex, but I don't love how PWAs are handled by any browser on Linux, and I want to eventually add some more interesting functionality to the header to make it feel even more native... but this is a start.
I already explained the main differences between most packaging formats, but now, it’s time to look at them in a more critical manner:
Performance benchmarks, missing features, advantages and drawbacks, for #Snaps, #Flatpak, #AppImage and regular good old packages:
Rant about Nvidia related updates on Linux
There are many reasons to dislike Nvidia on Linux. Here is a little thing that bugs me all the time, the updates. Normally the system updates would be quick and fast, but with the proprietary drivers of Nvidia involved, it gets quiet slow process. And I am not even talking about any other problem I encounter, just about the...