Flatpak --user install?

Bluefin
1

Hi! I prefer using installing and updating Flatpak/Flathub apps via Konsole over using Discover to do it.

When I use the CLI, is it recommended to --user install for the apps, considering the immutability of the system?

2

Why would this be predicated on having an atomic OS? AFAIK, the default is to install somewhere in /var and /var is fully mutable. I also don’t see any significance on being from the command-line. It’s really as simple as “do you want the app to be system-wide or user-specific?”

2 Likes
3

Yeah this is personal choice, though we ship with system ones by default so you might want to stick to that for consistency.

1 Like
4

Maybe there is little bit of confusion here with what does “system” word means.

Immutable (or “atomic” or “image based”) is system level software.

Flatpaks are user application level software which is in case of Blufin completely separate layer from “system level” software. Inside flatpak there are two options, to install software as:

  • system (default), this just means flatpaks are installed for all of the users = system (you log in into particular user at logon screen) - this has nothing to do with “system level software”
  • user, means flatpaks are only installed for user currently logged in - it is rarely needed to install flatpaks on one particular user level (for example user1 whats version of some program 1.0 and user2 wants version 1.1, both of the users install there own flatpak versions with --user switch).
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5

To add to this, the default for Bluefin/Aurora is Flathub (System) is due to a few applications requiring certain functionality and keeping dependencies between separate users.

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6

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