Flatpak repo for just libre software?

11 replies [Last post]
t3g
t3g
Offline
Joined: 05/15/2011

When most people use Flatpak, they use Flathub which contains non-free software. Has there been any work on a Flatpak repo for just libre software? Either a standalone or a way to clone Flathub and filter for just libre software.

PublicLewdness
Offline
Joined: 03/15/2020

To my knowledge such a thing doesn't currently exist but it sounds like a worthwhile project/fork.

Legimet
Offline
Joined: 12/10/2013

I think andyprough said that Fedora and KDE have Flatpak repos which are fully free software, but they are dependent on the runtimes from Flathub.

Lef
Lef
Offline
Joined: 11/20/2021

So far I know of:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists fedora oci+https://registry.fedoraproject.org
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists gnome-nightly https://nightly.gnome.org/gnome-nightly.flatpakrepo
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists kdeapps --from https://distribute.kde.org/kdeapps.flatpakrepo

There doesn't seem to be very many flatpak repos.

andyprough
Offline
Joined: 02/12/2015

If all you want is fully libre packages, just use guix. I'm beginning to get a lot of use out of it. Works fantastic on Trisquel.

t3g
t3g
Offline
Joined: 05/15/2011

Having a libre Flatpak repo with universal and up to date user space packages could benefit PureOS, Trisquel, or anyone who wants free software. It would help Trisquel as the releases are old and lag behind in up to date packages.

andyprough
Offline
Joined: 02/12/2015

What would be the benefit over guix?

Malsasa
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016

Hello Andy, for visual people like me, Flatpak is already integrated well into GNOME Software Center, while Guix is not. In desktop scene, GNU/Linux users at Fedora, elementaryOS and GNOME are already accustomed to Flatpak as their alternative software source, more than Guix. In other words, Flatpak is more desktop oriented than Guix and that's why people who use Terminal less would feel Flatpak is more suitable to them than Guix. PS: I use Guix too on desktop and I also agree with you it works well installing GUI apps.

Regards,

Malsasa

Malsasa
Offline
Joined: 12/01/2016

Hello, t3g, what a nice suggestion and I have the same idea apparently. It would certainly be nice if there is a fully free software Flatpak repository, perhaps we can call it Libre Flathub. I second Lef and Legimet above about Flatpak repositories of KDE, GNOME and Fedora. I think the closer one to Libre Flathub at the moment is Fedora's given that the Flatpaks are built from the Fedora's own RPMs.

Regards,

Malsasa

oysterboy

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 02/01/2011

Seems like there is something planned:

" We also plan to publish a separate repository that contains only these verified first-party uploads (without any of the community contributed applications), as well as providing a repository with only free and open source applications, allowing users to choose what they are comfortable installing and running on their system."

From https://foundation.gnome.org/2022/01/21/further-investments-in-desktop-linux/

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 07/24/2010

There is a little more on https://discourse.flathub.org/t/seeking-contractors-for-work-on-flathub-project/1889/3 :

If we have this repo splitting functionality, it also makes sense to publish another repository that includes only those apps which are under a FOSS license, as this will correct another long-standing issue which people have given us feedback about. (We have a choice between whether this repository is free apps, verified or not, or only apps that are both free and verified. Ideally we’d prefer not to have four…!)

There is that encouraging reply:

The new summary format supported by recent versions of Flatpak already has support for splitting a repo into subsets so I think this shouldn’t be terribly complicated.

The technical discussion on getting a "free subset" then goes on and ramcq announces:

We’re pleased to announce that we have awarded the contract to two different applicants who have started work this week. Codethink are the main contractor, and they provided a complete proposal and will have a number of engineers working on the project over the coming weeks. They will be supplemented by James Westman who made a proposal focused on the verification and web parts of the project, and will work closely with the Codethink team to deliver certain work packages.

It is happening (on GitHub unfortunately): https://github.com/orgs/flathub/projects/2

andyprough
Offline
Joined: 02/12/2015

Is this going to be a free version of flathub? KDE and Fedora both already have flatpak repos that don't include obviously non-free software, but you have to have the full version of flathub installed to get the various runtimes to run the apps from the fedora and KDE repos.