Flathub and distro collaboration

mattdm · April 6, 2022, 3:19pm

Hi everyone! I’m Matthew Miller, and I am the Fedora Project Leader.

Some time ago, so long ago that it’s embarrassing, I promised I’d show up here for some discussions about the Flatpak ecosystem, Flathub, and Linux distributions. Then I didn’t. Which is terrible. I’m sorry.

But let me try again! I’m interested in seeing what we can do together!

castrojo · April 6, 2022, 4:47pm

Heya Matt! I was hoping that we’d have regular community meetings by now but everything’s been moving so fast, heh. Perhaps it might be useful for some of us to drop by one of your existing Fedora meetings?

nmcgovern · April 6, 2022, 5:13pm

Are you coming along to Linux App Summit by any chance?

mattdm · April 6, 2022, 9:56pm

Sure! There are two possibilities … well, more than that, but two that stand out.
First, there’s the regular Fedora Workstation team meetings. Those are Tuesdays at 9:30am US/Eastern (eg 2022-04-13T13:30:00Z using the magical Discourse date feature which should hopefully show you the converted timezone wherever you are!) This’d be good for tactical, practical talk

Second, we could have you or someone else on for a Fedora Council video meeting — more of a high-level strategic view, recorded for our channels, probably with a presentation. Those are generally Wednesday morning US/Eastern, but we could change to accomodate.

So, as of in between the time when I read this message and now: yes.

cub · April 7, 2022, 6:59am

If it won’t be too crowded, I’d like to listen in if there will be a session on April 13? Though @castrojo should do any talking.

castrojo · April 7, 2022, 1:16pm

We could split it? Cub and I go to the workstation meetings and perhaps Neil can do the high level stuff?

mattdm · April 7, 2022, 1:45pm

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Council/Video_Meetings

April 14, not 13, this time, apparently, and the topic is our KubeDev SIG. You’re welcome to join — calls are not usually overloaded. The May one is currently canceled but we could do it a week other than that one, and post-LAS might be a good time!

nedrichards · April 8, 2022, 8:17pm

I won’t be able to make it on the afternoon of the 14th but very happy to join the chat whenever I can.

nedrichards · April 10, 2022, 4:55pm

Also @mattdm I was reminded of this just looking at the Quick Setup for flatpak.

https://flatpak.org/setup/Fedora

I think this might need to be updated with the latest state of the art on Fedora since the filtered remote is on by default isn’t it?

github.com

flatpak/flatpak.github.io/blob/source/data/distro.yml#L39

      
        
                    <pre><code>
                      <span class="unselectable">$</span> flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
                    </code></pre>
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <h2>Restart</h2>
                    <p>To complete setup, restart your system. Now all you have to do is <a href="https://flathub.org/">install some apps</a>!</p>
                  </li>
                </ol>
            
            
- name: "Fedora"
              logo: "fedora.svg"
              info: >
                <ol class="distrotut">
                  <!-- Flatpak has been installed by default on Fedora Workstation since F25. Previous versions are past end of life, so don’t need to be mentioned. -->
                  <p>Flatpak is installed by default on Fedora Workstation, Fedora Silverblue, and Fedora Kinoite. To get started, all you need to do is enable Flathub, which is the best way to get Flatpak apps. Just download and install the <a class="btn btn-default" href="https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo">Flathub repository file</a>.</p>
                  <p>Now all you have to do is <a href="https://flathub.org/">install some apps</a>!</p>
                  <p>The above links should work on the default GNOME and KDE Fedora installations, but if they fail for some reason you can manually add the Flathub remote by running:
                    <pre><code>
                      <span class="unselectable">$</span> flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
                    </code></pre>

Has the copy if anyone wants to send a PR.

castrojo · April 13, 2022, 1:22pm

In my experience doing the explicit command overrides the filter, however it probably wouldn’t hurt to point to Overview - fedora-flathub-filter - Pagure.io for reference/information?

mattdm · April 13, 2022, 2:45pm

It’s on by default if you toggle “third party repos”. And, yeah, what @castrojo says is important — if people want to go from the filtered view to the full one, they’ll need that.

We actually just got legal clearance to include the unfiltered view if we so decide. I think the biggest issue there is over non-open-source applications. I really like how GNOME Software presents this now, but as building a free and open source software world is one of our goals, I’d like it to be easier for our users to be intentional about it. Is there any progress towards making that kind of split on the flathub side?

nmcgovern · April 13, 2022, 2:51pm

Yup. It’s one of the work packages we’re paying for. I think it’s probably the next bit of work that’ll start soon.

cub · April 13, 2022, 4:20pm

Ah, the 14th I won’t make it. Family commitments Easter holiday thingies.

TheEvilSkeleton · April 17, 2022, 5:32pm

As much as I respect the Fedora Project for sticking with open source as much as possible, it’s also really important to make proprietary programs accessible for users.

Many users who switch from Windows are likely to expect to have the software they use on Linux too. Shoving them (or giving the impression to shove) our biases and political views might seem unwelcoming.