How to Use Flatpak

Flatpak is a popular software package management system that allows you to easily install and manage Linux applications. Flatpak works by bundling applications together with their dependencies, libraries, and runtime components, which allows for easy distribution and installation across different Linux distributions. Here are the steps to use Flatpak on your Linux system:

Install Flatpak

To install Flatpak on Linux from the command line, follow the steps below:

On Debian/Ubuntu-based distros:

1. Open the terminal on your system.

2. Update the package index:

sudo apt update

3. Install the Flatpak package:

sudo apt install flatpak

4. Add the Flatpak repository:

sudo flatpak remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

5. Update the package index again:

sudo apt update

6. Install the gnome-software-plugin-flatpak package to enable the Flatpak plugin in the Ubuntu Software Center:

sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak

On RPM-based distros:

1. Open the terminal on your system.

2. Install the Flatpak package:

sudo dnf install flatpak

3. Enable the Flatpak repository:

sudo flatpak remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4. Install the gnome-software-plugin-flatpak package to enable the Flatpak plugin in the GNOME Software Center:

sudo dnf install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak

On Arch-based distros:

1. Open the terminal on your system.

2. Install the Flatpak package:

sudo pacman -S flatpak

3. Enable the Flatpak repository:

flatpak remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4. Install the gnome-software-plugin-flatpak package to enable the Flatpak plugin in the GNOME Software Center:

sudo pacman -S gnome-software

Install Flatpak applications

Once you have installed Flatpak and added the Flathub repository, you can start installing Flatpak applications. To install an application, you can use the following command:

flatpak install <application-name>

For example, to install the GIMP image editor, you can run the following command:

flatpak install org.gimp.GIMP

Launch Flatpak applications

After installing an application, you can launch it like any other application on your system. You can search for it in your application menu or use the following command:

flatpak run <application-name>

For example, to launch GIMP, you can run the following command:

flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP

Update Flatpak applications

Flatpak applications can be easily updated using the following command:

flatpak update

This will update all installed Flatpak applications to the latest version.

Summary

Overall, Flatpak provides a simple and convenient way to install and manage Linux applications on your system. With its easy-to-use command-line interface, you can quickly install, launch, and update applications with just a few commands.