Install Flatpak on Ubuntu Linux Systems. Flatpak (XDG-APP) is an universal Linux Packaging Format. Flatpak allows the same app to be installed on different Linux distributions, including different versions. Flatpak has many features of the linux kernel (bind mounts, namespaces, seccomp, etc) to create the sandbox that Flatpak apps are running in. In technical terms, Flatpak is a application sandboxing and distribution framework for Linux Distros.
1. Install Flatpak
Before you can install applications with Flatpak, you need to install Flatpak itself. Currently this has to be done using the command line. Flatpak is available for the most common Linux distributions. After installing it, it is necessary to log out and in again for Flatpak apps to appear in your desktop.
Install Flatpak On Ubuntu
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak
sudo apt update
sudo apt install flatpak
After installing it, it is necessary to log out and in again for Flatpak apps to appear in your desktop.
Install Flatpak On Debian
For Debian Jessie, there is a custom apt repository available. To install, run the following as root:
wget -O - https://sdk.gnome.org/apt/debian/conf/alexl.gpg.key|apt-key add -
echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://sdk.gnome.org/apt/debian/ jessie main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/flatpak.list
apt update
apt install flatpak
After installing it, it is necessary to log out and in again for Flatpak apps to appear in your desktop.
2. Add repositories
Flatpak allows you to install software from remote repositories. For this example we’re going to use two repositories: one which contains GNOME apps, and one which contains the runtime that provides the dependencies they need.
wget https://sdk.gnome.org/keys/gnome-sdk.gpg
flatpak remote-add --gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome https://sdk.gnome.org/repo/
flatpak remote-add --gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome-apps https://sdk.gnome.org/repo-apps/
3. Install a runtime
The runtime provides the dependencies needed by the apps in the GNOME repository.
flatpak install gnome org.gnome.Platform 3.20
Once this is complete, you’re all set to install some apps!
4. View, install and run apps
To view which apps are available in the gnome-apps repository, just run:
flatpak remote-ls gnome-apps --app
To download and install an app, like gedit, run:
flatpak install gnome-apps org.gnome.gedit stable
Installed applications should appear in the usual place in your desktop. You can also run them from the command line:
flatpak run org.gnome.gedit