Introduction to Flatpak
Flatpak allows you to download apps and run them in a sandbox. It
downloads all of the dependencies of a given package in a sandbox
and allows you to run the package as if it was not in a sandbox.
Some packages only exist as a Flatpak, and some packages have a lot
of dependencies that it might be worth it to install the Flatpak
version instead.
Flatpak Dependencies
Required
AppStream, dbus,
Fuse3,
GLib2,
gpgme,
json-glib,
libsoup3, elogind,
OSTree-2025.4, p11-kit,
and
pyparsing
Recommended
appsteam-glib, Avahi,
Bubblewrap, cURL,
DConf,
docbook-4.5-dtd, docbook-xml-4.5,
docbook-xsl-nons,
GTK-Doc,
libarchive,
libseccomp, libXau,
libxml2,
libxslt,
xdg-dbus-proxy,
xdg-desktop-portal, and xmlto
Optional
malcontent
(for parental features), socat-1.8.0.3
(for tests), and Valgrind
Installation of Flatpak
Install Flatpak by running the
following commands:
mkdir build &&
cd build &&
meson setup --prefix=/usr \
--buildtype=release \
-D systemd=disabled \
-D system_bubblewrap=bwrap \
-D tests=false \
.. &&
ninja
Now, as the root user:
ninja install
Command Explanations
--buildtype=release:
Specify a buildtype suitable for stable releases of the package, as
the default may produce unoptimized binaries.
-D systemd=disabled: This
parameter disables Systemd support.
-D system_bubblewrap=bwrap:
Ensures the build system doesn't download Bubblewrap.
-D tests=false: This
parameter disables tests. Remove this parameter if you have
socat installed.
Contents
Installed Programs:
flatpak, flatpak-bisect, flatpak-bwrap,
flatpak-coredumpctl, flatpak-dbus-proxy,
flatpak-oci-authenticator, flatpak-portal,
flatpak-session-helper, flatpak-system-helper,
flatpak-validate-icon, and revokefs-fuse
Installed Shell Script
Triggers: desktop-database.trigger, gtk-icon-cache.trigger, and
mime-database.trigger
Installed Libraries:
libflatpak
Installed Directories:
/usr/include/flatpak,
/usr/lib/sysusers.d, and /usr/share/flatpak/triggers
Short Descriptions
|
desktop-database.trigger
|
is a trigger that updates a flatpak's application cache
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|
flatpak
|
can run containerized and sandboxed applications
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flatpak-bisect
|
can do a git-style bisect of a flatpak application
|
|
flatpak-bwrap
|
is used by flatpak to utilize
Bubblewrap features
|
|
flatpak-coredumpctl
|
can debug an application in gdb that crashed inside flatpak.
|
|
flatpak-dbus-proxy
|
is used by flatpak to utilize
xdg-dbus-proxy features
|
|
flatpak-oci-authenticator
|
is used by flatpak to athenticate
with the Oracle OCI SDK
|
|
flatpak-portal
|
is used by flatpak to access the
xdg-desktop-portal
|
|
flatpak-session-helper
|
is used by flatpak to help with
session management
|
|
flatpak-system-helper
|
is used by flatpak to help with
the flatpak system.
|
|
flatpak-validate-icon
|
is used by flatpak to validate
icons
|
|
gtk-icon-cache.trigger
|
is a trigger that updates a flatpak's GTK icon cache
|
|
mime-database.trigger
|
is a trigger that updates a flatpak's MIME database cache
|
|
revokefs-fuse
|
makes a basepath visible at a given mountpoint
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libflatpak
|
contains functions used by the Flatpak utilities
|