Flatpak

This material is work-in-progress ...

More documentation and testing is needed, but everything currently here should be safe to follow.
(Last edited by Bbbhltz on 1 Jun 2023.)

Flatpak is a technology for building and distributing applications with the goal of having a universal package format for all Linux distributons, it is similar to Snap,

Setup / Installation

From: https://flatpak.org/setup/Alpine/

Note: To install Flatpak you will need to enable the Community repository, See: Repositories - Managing repositories

To install Flatpak run:

# apk add flatpak

Next you need to add a repository, for this guide we will use the recommended repository, Flathub.

$ flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Now reboot to complete setup

Note: graphical installation of Flatpak apps may not be possible with Alpine.

Usage

To get all of the available options to use with the flatpak command run: flatpak --help or flatpak -h,

Search

To search for applications run flatpak search <appplicationname>

Example:

~$ flatpak search chromium Name Description Application ID Version Branch Remotes Chromium Web Browser The web browser from Chromium project org.chromium.Chromium 96.0.4664.93 stable flathub Chromium B.S.U. Fast paced, arcade-style, top-scrolling space shooter net.sourceforge.chromium-bsu 0.9.16.1 stable flathub ungoogled-chromium A lightweight approach to removing Google web service dependency com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium 96.0.4664.45 stable flathub

Install

To install a package run flatpak install <applicationname>

Contents of $ flatpak install com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium

Looking for matches…

com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium permissions:
    ipc             network                 cups                   pulseaudio               wayland                       x11
    devices         file access [1]         dbus access [2]        bus ownership [3]        system dbus access [4]

    [1] /run/.heim_org.h5l.kcm-socket, home, xdg-run/pipewire-0
    [2] org.freedesktop.FileManager1, org.freedesktop.Notifications, org.freedesktop.secrets, org.gnome.SessionManager
    [3] org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.chromium.*
    [4] org.freedesktop.Avahi, org.freedesktop.UPower


        ID                                                      Branch             Op            Remote             Download
 1.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Codecs             stable             i             flathub              < 1.1 MB
 2.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Locale             stable             i             flathub            < 112.8 kB
 3.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium                    stable             i             flathub            < 119.0 MB

Proceed with these changes to the system installation? [Y/n]:

or if you dont know or dont want to type the exact package name:

Contents of $ flatpak install chromium

Looking for matches…
Similar refs found for ‘chromium’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

   1) app/net.sourceforge.chromium-bsu/x86_64/stable
   2) runtime/com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Codecs/x86_64/stable
   3) runtime/org.chromium.Chromium.Codecs/x86_64/stable
   4) app/org.chromium.Chromium/x86_64/stable
   5) app/com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium/x86_64/stable

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-5]:

Remove

To remove a package run: flatpak remove <applicationname>

Contents of $ flatpak remove com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium

        ID                                                     Branch           Op
 1.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium                   stable           r
 2.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Codecs            stable           r
 3.     com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Locale            stable           r

Proceed with these changes to the system installation? [Y/n]:

or if you dont know or dont want to type the exact package name:

Contents of $ flatpak remove chromium

Similar installed refs found for ‘chromium’:

   1) app/com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium/x86_64/stable (system)
   2) runtime/com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Codecs/x86_64/stable (system)
   3) All of the above

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-3]:

Developers

Flatpak - available runtimes

These are all hosted on Flathub.org.

Troubleshooting

Permission errors

If you receive errors about permissions then you may need to add your user to the flatpak group.

Note: You need to log out and log back in or reboot for the group change(s) to take effect

Fixing audio issues

If you have a minimal setup and don't have access to audio devices you will need to set the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR variable. Save the following script in /etc/profile.d/xdg_runtime_dir.sh and re-login to have it set up properly.

if test -z "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}"; then
  export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/$(id -u)
fi

When you launch a Flatpak you will need to start pulseaudio as well:

$ pulseaudio --start && flatpak run com.example.Example

Links