Flatpak is a utility for software deployment and package management for Linux. Flatpak offers a sandbox environment in which users can run application software in isolation from the rest of the system.
Flatpak can be used by all types of desktop environments and aims to be as agnostic as possible regarding how applications are built.
In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to install Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04.
Prerequisites
- Have Ubuntu 22.04 server up and running
- User with sudo privileges
- Have basic knowledge of terminal commands
Table of Contents
- Run system updates
- Install Flatpak
- Install Flatpak support for GNOME
- Reboot the system
- Conclusion
1. Run system updates
To begin our installation, we need to run system-wide updates, Updates are necessary for every system in order to make the system packages up to date.
$ sudo apt update && apt upgrade -yAfter the updates are complete we can proceed to install the Flatpak
2. Install Flatpak
Flatpak can be installed after all the prerequisites have been met. To install Flatpak run the following command in your terminal;
$ sudo apt install flatpakPress Y to accept the instalaltion.
Sample output
The following additional packages will be installed:
adwaita-icon-theme alsa-topology-conf alsa-ucm-conf at-spi2-core bubblewrap dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service desktop-file-utils
fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core glib-networking glib-networking-common glib-networking-services gsettings-desktop-schemas
gtk-update-icon-cache hicolor-icon-theme humanity-icon-theme libappstream-glib8 libasound2 libasound2-data libasyncns0 libatk-bridge2.0-0
libatk1.0-0 libatk1.0-data libatspi2.0-0 libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libavahi-glib1 libcairo-gobject2
libcairo2 libcanberra0 libcolord2 libcups2 libdatrie1 libdconf1 libdeflate0 libepoxy0 libflac8 libfontconfig1 libfuse2
libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-0 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-bin libgdk-pixbuf2.0-common libgraphite2-3 libgtk-3-0 libgtk-3-bin libgtk-3-common libharfbuzz0b
libjbig0 libjpeg-turbo8 libjpeg8 liblcms2-2 libltdl7 libmalcontent-0-0 libogg0 libopus0 libostree-1-1 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0
libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpipewire-0.3-0 libpipewire-0.3-common libpipewire-0.3-modules libpixman-1-0 libproxy1v5 libpulse0 librsvg2-2
librsvg2-common libsndfile1 libsoup2.4-1 libsoup2.4-common libspa-0.2-modules libtdb1 libthai-data libthai0 libtiff5 libvorbis0a
libvorbisenc2 libvorbisfile3 libwayland-client0 libwayland-cursor0 libwayland-egl1 libwebp7 libwebrtc-audio-processing1 libx11-xcb1
libxcb-render0 libxcb-shm0 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxinerama1 libxkbcommon0 libxrandr2 libxrender1
libxtst6 p11-kit p11-kit-modules pipewire pipewire-bin pipewire-media-session rtkit session-migration sound-theme-freedesktop ubuntu-mono
x11-common xdg-dbus-proxy xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
Suggested packages:
avahi-daemon malcontent-gui libasound2-plugins alsa-utils libcanberra-gtk0 libcanberra-pulse colord cups-common gvfs liblcms2-utils
opus-tools pulseaudio librsvg2-bin accountsservice evince xdg-desktop-portal-gnomeAfter the installation, we can confirm the version of Flatpak installed.
$ flatpak --version
Flatpak 1.12.7Next, we can install Flatpak GNOME support because Flatpak runs on the desktop environment
3. Install Flatpak GNOME packages
$ sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpakThis process will install many dependencies, and wait for them to complete.
Sample output
appstream apt-config-icons aspell aspell-en dictionaries-common emacsen-common enchant-2 gcr gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-freedesktop
gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-handy-1 gir1.2-harfbuzz-0.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-snapd-1 gnome-desktop3-data
gnome-keyring gnome-keyring-pkcs11 gnome-session-bin gnome-session-common gnome-software gnome-software-common gnome-software-plugin-snap
gnome-startup-applications hunspell-en-us libaspell15 libcairo-gobject-perl libcairo-perl libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2
libdrm-radeon1 libegl-mesa0 libegl1 libenchant-2-2 libextutils-depends-perl libflatpak0 libgbm1 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1 libgcr-ui-3-1
libgl1 libgl1-amber-dri libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libgles2 libglib-object-introspection-perl libglib-perl libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0
libglx0 libgnome-desktop-3-19 libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common libgspell-1-2 libgspell-1-common libgtk3-perl libhandy-1-0
libhunspell-1.7-0 libice6 libimobiledevice6 libllvm13 libpam-gnome-keyring libpangoxft-1.0-0 libpciaccess0 libplist3 libsecret-1-0
libsecret-common libsensors-config libsensors5 libsm6 libsnapd-glib1 libupower-glib3 libusbmuxd6 libvulkan1 libwayland-server0
libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-sync1 libxcb-xfixes0 libxft2 libxkbregistry0 libxshmfence1
libxxf86vm1 mesa-vulkan-drivers pinentry-gnome3 python3-dateutil python3-software-properties python3-xkit software-properties-common
software-properties-gtk ubuntu-advantage-desktop-daemon ubuntu-drivers-common upower usbmuxd
Suggested packages:
aspell-doc spellutils wordlist apt-config-icons-hidpi hunspell openoffice.org-hunspell | openoffice.org-core libfont-freetype-perl
libenchant-2-voikko libxml-libxml-perl libusbmuxd-tools lm-sensors pinentry-doc python3-aptdaemon.pkcompat
The following NEW packages will be installed:
appstream apt-config-icons aspell aspell-en dictionaries-common emacsen-common enchant-2 gcr gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-freedesktop
gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-handy-1 gir1.2-harfbuzz-0.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-snapd-1 gnome-desktop3-data
gnome-keyring gnome-keyring-pkcs11 gnome-session-bin gnome-session-common gnome-software gnome-software-common
gnome-software-plugin-flatpak gnome-software-plugin-snap gnome-startup-applications hunspell-en-us libaspell15 libcairo-gobject-perl
libcairo-perl libdrm-amdgpu1 libdrm-intel1 libdrm-nouveau2 libdrm-radeon1 libegl-mesa0 libegl1 libenchant-2-2 libextutils-depends-perl
libflatpak0 libgbm1 libgck-1-0 libgcr-base-3-1 libgcr-ui-3-1 libgl1 libgl1-amber-dri libgl1-mesa-dri libglapi-mesa libgles2
libglib-object-introspection-perl libglib-perl libglvnd0 libglx-mesa0 libglx0 libgnome-desktop-3-19 libgoa-1.0-0b libgoa-1.0-common
libgspell-1-2 libgspell-1-common libgtk3-perl libhandy-1-0 libhunspell-1.7-0 libice6 libimobiledevice6 libllvm13 libpam-gnome-keyring
libpangoxft-1.0-0 libpciaccess0 libplist3 libsecret-1-0 libsecret-common libsensors-config libsensors5 libsm6 libsnapd-glib1
libupower-glib3 libusbmuxd6 libvulkan1 libwayland-server0 libxcb-dri2-0 libxcb-dri3-0 libxcb-glx0 libxcb-present0 libxcb-randr0
libxcb-sync1 libxcb-xfixes0 libxft2 libxkbregistry0 libxshmfence1 libxxf86vm1 mesa-vulkan-drivers pinentry-gnome3 python3-dateutil
python3-xkit software-properties-gtk ubuntu-advantage-desktop-daemon ubuntu-drivers-common upower usbmuxd
The following packages will be upgraded:
python3-software-properties software-properties-common
2 upgraded, 99 newly installed, 0 to remove and 53 not upgraded.
Need to get 46.4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 196 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y4. Reboot the system.
We can reboot the system so that changes can take effect. Use the following command;
$ sudo reboot -nNow we can explore how to use Flatpak.
5. Flatpak usage
Flatpak can be used like other packages used for running installation such as snap. We use Flatpak like this;
$ flatpak [OPTION] commandTo start installing applications using Flatpak we need to instruct Flatpak to retrieve them from the Flathub store. First, add Flathub remote repository to the system then you now install apps using Flatpak.
$ sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepoNow you can proceed to install any app found on Flathub. Let’s say we want to install Vlc on our system using Flatpak, we can do the following;
$ flatpak install flathub org.videolan.VLCSample output
Looking for matches…
Required runtime for org.videolan.VLC/x86_64/stable (runtime/org.kde.Platform/x86_64/5.15-21.08) found in remote flathub
Do you want to install it? [Y/n]: y
org.videolan.VLC permissions:
ipc network pulseaudio x11 devices file access [1]
dbus access [2] bus ownership [3]
[1] host, xdg-config/kdeglobals:ro, xdg-run/gvfs
[2] com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar, org.freedesktop.Notifications, org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver, org.freedesktop.secrets,
org.kde.kconfig.notify, org.kde.kwalletd, org.kde.kwalletd5, org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player
[3] org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.vlc
ID Branch Op Remote Download
ID Branch Op Remote Download
1. [✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default 21.08 i flathub 132.0 MB / 131.3 MB
2. [✓] org.freedesktop.Platform.openh264 2.0 i flathub 1.8 MB / 1.5 MB
3. [✓] org.kde.KStyle.Adwaita 5.15-21.08 i flathub 6.7 MB / 6.6 MB
4. [✓] org.kde.Platform.Locale 5.15-21.08 i flathub 162.7 MB / 345.4 MB
5. [✓] org.kde.Platform 5.15-21.08 i flathub 252.7 MB / 306.1 MB
6. [✓] org.videolan.VLC.Locale stable i flathub 13.5 MB / 13.4 MB
7. [✓] org.videolan.VLC stable i flathub 39.3 MB / 31.5 MB
Installation complete.Follow the prompts to accept the installation of Vlc.
To run the application using Flatpak, you can run it like this:
$ flatpak run org.videolan.VLCConclusion
We have successfully installed and run apps using Flatpak on Ubuntu 22.04. Continue exploring to learn more.
