Flatpak

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Flatpak is a package management framework aiming to provide support for sandboxed, distro-agnostic binary packages for Linux desktop applications. Just as chroot, Docker, and LXD provide a means to isolate primarily server-based applications from the underlying operating system, Flatpak provides a mechanism to isolate primarily desktop-based applications from the underlying operating system. When combined with features like systemd-homed, it becomes possible to contain a user and all of that user's applications within a single directory, the user's $HOME, in a manner that is portable across systems of the same CPU architecture.

Installation

USE flags

USE flags for sys-apps/flatpak Linux application sandboxing and distribution framework

X Add support for X11
doc Add extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc). It is recommended to enable per package instead of globally
introspection Add support for GObject based introspection
policykit Enable PolicyKit (polkit) authentication support
seccomp Enable seccomp (secure computing mode) to perform system call filtering at runtime to increase security of programs
systemd Enable use of systemd-specific libraries and features like socket activation or session tracking
test Enable dependencies and/or preparations necessary to run tests (usually controlled by FEATURES=test but can be toggled independently)
Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2025-05-23 05:48 More information about USE flags

Xorg session users will want X enabled.

Emerge

Note
Chromium-based browsers suggest disabling the suid USE flag for sys-apps/bubblewrap for performance reasons. Also there are technologies such as Valve Pressure Vessel (used in Steam) which requires it to work. Without suid, bubblewrap requires the kernel option CONFIG_USER_NS=y to be set.
Note
Flatpak installation guide suggested to restart the system after installation. This might be no longer necessary.
root #emerge --ask sys-apps/flatpak

Add flathub repository

Tip
All operations with flatpak can be performed as user or as root, if performing as user --user flag can help if there are issues with permissions.
user $flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Configuration

Files

  • /var/lib/flatpak — global flatpak state (system-wide installed apps and repos)
  • $HOME/.local/share/flatpak — per-user flatpak state (locally installed apps and repos)
  • $HOME/.var/app/ — per application state (configuration files and cache)

Permissions

In some instances, it may be necessary to edit the sandbox permissions of a flatpak application. The most convenient way of doing this is via the GUI tool Flatseal.

user $flatpak install com.github.tchx84.Flatseal

Basic usage

To install an application, e.g. Thunderbird, run:

user $flatpak search Thunderbird

Get the Application ID: org.mozilla.Thunderbird and install the application:

user $flatpak --user install org.mozilla.Thunderbird

To run the application, use created .desktop file or run:

user $flatpak run org.mozilla.Thunderbird

To update installed applications and runtimes:

user $flatpak update

To remove the application:

user $flatpak uninstall org.mozilla.Thunderbird

Theming

Flatpak documentiation offers a good guide about desktop integration and theming.

GTK

Flatpak applications don't follow the system's GTK theme by default. First find out what's the current GTK theme, e.g. Materia-dark-compact, and then install it for Flatpak applications to use. [1]

user $gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme
user $flatpak install flathub org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Materia-dark-compact

Desktop integration for Wayland

When using WMs such as Sway, installing an xdg-desktop-portal implementation is needed for full integration. Available implementations include:

Please note that these are separate entities that do not substitute each other and some of them may not be run at the same time as some of the others.

Installation

First, emerge sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal:

root #emerge --ask sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal

Then emerge any needed backends:

root #emerge --ask sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk gui-libs/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr gui-libs/xdg-desktop-portal-lxqt sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
Note
Desktop environment backends such as xdg-desktop-portal-gnome or xdg-desktop-portal-lxqt may be installed by default depending on how the desktop environment was installed

Ensuring portals are running

Please note that sometimes these libraries aren't pulled automatically by the OS and need to be run by the user, for example they can be pulled in Sway configuration:

FILE ~/.config/sway/configRunning xdg portals
exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk -r
exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr -r
exec /usr/libexec/flatpak-portal -r
exec "sh -c 'sleep 5;exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal -r'"

Troubleshooting

Installed applications' desktop entries do not show in launchers

It is important to reboot the system after first installing Flatpak. Otherwise, installed applications' desktop entries may not show in launchers.

After updating nvidia-drivers 3D applications crash or become slow

Make sure to update the flatpak nvidia platform.

user $flatpak update

Flatpaked GTK apps under Wayland and jagged fonts

Some users report jagged fonts on Wayland. This happens because if GTK apps can't detect whether they should perform font antialiasing, they disable ones by default. It obtain info ether from the system or via xdg-desktop-portal-gtk if flatpaked. It also requires setting up the proper wayland scheme for it from gnome-base/gsettings-desktop-schemas, but that package already in list of flatpak dependencies.

So a workaround is to install xdg-desktop-portal-gtk and reboot/restart the desktop:

root #emerge --ask sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

To make sure if it is launched, see "Ensuring portals are running" topic above.

Since in early 2022 GTK wayland schemas are moved from gnome-base/gnome-settings-daemon to gnome-base/gsettings-desktop-schemas, the gnome settings daemon is no more required and can be uninstalled.

Certain flatpak applications failing to access proper cursor

Some flatpaks such as com.discordapp.Discord or com.spotify.Client have an issue where they cannot find the systems cursor, and so default to the ugly default cursor that is used when no proper replacement is found.

A solution to this is to copy the systems icon directory to a location in the users home directory. In this example ~/.local/share/icons will be used:

Note
/usr/share/icons is one of the several directories icons can be used from. You could also use /usr/share/cursors
user $cp -r /usr/share/icons ~/.local/share/

Next, use flatpak-override to give the flatpak in question (com.discordapp.Discord in this example) access to the home directory in which the cursors are inside:

root #flatpak override --filesystem=home com.discordapp.Discord

To remove the filesystem override, run:

user $flatpak override --nofilesystem=home com.discordapp.Discord

After the filesystem override is set, the XCURSOR_PATH and XCURSOR_THEME variables must be set, where XCURSOR_PATH is the path to the theme and XCURSOR_PATH is the name of the theme like so:

user $flatpak override --env=XCURSOR_PATH=/home/$USER/.local/share/icons com.discordapp.Discord
user $flatpak override --env=XCURSOR_THEME=Adwaita-dark com.discordapp.Discord

Finally, run the flatpak to see the applied changes:

user $flatpak run com.discordapp.Discord

File Chooser or similar Dialogues not opening

File Chooser, App Chooser, Email, Print, or Notification dialogues (and more) are provided by an XDG Desktop Portal, as per Desktop Integration for Wayland. Check also whether your XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP environment variable corresponds to the UseIn attribute for your XDG Desktop Portal. Flatpak's logic for this has been changed[1] to mimic that of xdg-desktop-portal more closely and thus requires the environment variable to be set, otherwise matching interfaces will be ignored even if there is only one implementation.

For instance xdg-desktop-portal-gtk has its UseIn defined in /usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/portals/gtk.portal as UseIn=gnome. Therefore your XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP environment variable should be set to gnome if not automatically done so by your desktop environment (users without DE may need to set this in ~/.xinitrc or another appropriate location) for the GTK portal to be used as a file chooser (and similar).


Searching for any package returns "No matches found"

See "Add flathub repository" section of this documentation

flatpak: /usr/lib64/libxmlb.so.2: no version information available (required by /usr/lib64/libappstream.so.5)

Issue:

root #emerge --oneshot dev-libs/libxmlb dev-libs/appstream

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.linuxuprising.com/2018/05/how-to-get-flatpak-apps-to-use-correct.html
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