Continuing the discussion from "flatpak" problems, trying to check/update apps:
What happens to these when Ubuntu gets upgraded?
Thank you.
Ubuntu Version:
Desktop Environment (if applicable):
Problem Description:
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What I’ve Tried:
Nothing happens to them if you use the standard tools to upgrade.
Ubuntu’s package managers for deb packages (apt) and snap packages (snap) have never heard of Flatpaks, have no way of knowing that any Flatpaks are installed, do not track Flatpaks, and have no way to remove Flatpaks.
So any Flatpacks will remain, untouched, on your system.
If you upgrade using some exotic (and unsupported) method, you might have some unexpected impact, but that’s why exotic methods are not supported.
To be clear: A stock install of Ubuntu includes zero Flatpaks. Upgrades in the Ubuntu repositories include zero Flatpaks. Flatpaks are ONLY installed when a human orders the system to install them.
It’s ALWAYS the human’s responsibility to exercise good judgement when installing software. The machine will obey human orders, no matter how unwise.
Flatpaks are not forbidden. You can install them if you wish.
They might not be “forbidden”, but it sure sounds like they are not a part of the installation. What are these, and why do I even have them, then? I thought this was just another way to run software, same as the others you mentioned.
Ubuntu is a deb based system for all releases using the year.month format (eg. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop), but includes snap packages as a secondary choice.
Ubuntu Core releases are snap based products (eg. Ubuntu Core 24, a specialist version of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Server), with these systems limited to snap packages only.
Flatpaks are not forbidden, but any install of a modern Ubuntu system does NOT include any flatpaks by default, and no flatpak command/utilities are included either.
Some no-longer supported flavors did include flatpak commands by default; but no flatpak packages were included; only the capacity to use flatpak commands and add packages post-install yourself.
If you’re using a modern Ubuntu system with flatpaks, you’ll have added them yourself via package installs.
You’ll have added them, you can view the manifest file you can obtain when you download a Ubuntu ISO (eg. the file for the Lubuntu system I’m using currently would be found here) which can pretty quickly show the deb packages included on the ISO, plus the snap packages also found on ISO/media (at the bottom), a search will show no flatpak mention in that manifest file thus not found on ISO I used to install my system.
Yes flatpak packages are another way to install & run software; you are correct there, and myself I like more alternatives, even if I’ve almost never needed to use a flatpak.
[ I provided a link to a plucky manifest; a quick check and this install was made with a questing daily, so that technically isn’t what I installed; but the daily I used no longer exists online for me to provide; the plucky I provided far closer than the modern questing daily ]
If I wanted to explore why flatpaks were on this system (and they’re not), I’d probably start with grep flatpak /var/log/apt/history.log and view any results (none here) then search command history for clues (or use flatpak list if I wanted to know what I was looking for). My system is actually more involved, as I dirty install this on occasion (ie. non-destructive reinstall) which means some stuff from prior installs (which isn’t found in system logs as they start from last install) is still located on my disk. You need to be aware of your systems history for specific clues; myself I keep some of my history in text files I create on this system.
A post was split to a new topic: Benefit of Flatpak?
I suggest you just ask Google “Why use Flatpaks?” and it will generate a AI response that will probably answer most of your questions.
I use them because they are kept up to date with the latest versions and fixes provlded by the app developers themselves. And, there are great applications that are currently only available as Flatpak packages. For example Upscayl, which I use frequently.
Read and learn more about Flatpak on the web.
I probably found some software I wanted to use, and that is what was recommended. Why would they not follow the more standard way of installing, if such a thing exists?
Good question. Here’s an answer from the Alex Larsson, the creator:
"the reason for the existence of Flatpak is not technical. I created flatpak because the Linux application desktop ecosystem is fundamentally broken. As a app developer you have no sane way to distribute the result of your work to users.
Unless you have massive resources, the only realistic way is to wait for distributions to pick up your app. However, there are many problems with this. First of all, not all distros pick up all apps, and even if they do they often wait until the app is well known leading to a chicken-and-egg problem for new apps. And when they finally ship it you have no control of what version is shipped, or when it is updated.
With Flatpak, the goal is for the upstream developer to have control of updates. If the developer fixes an important bug, a new stable version is released that users can immediately use. Any bugs filed will be against the latest stable version, so they are not stale, and once the bug report is closed the user will actually get the fix. That means reporting bugs is useful to the user. Similarly, any new feature development will get immediate feedback, and user feedback will be based on the current state of the app."
For us, it gives us access to new applications that haven’t yet or never will make it into the repos of some Linux distros.