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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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What has been your experience with Flatpak? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've been involved with Linux for a long time, and Flatpak almost seems too good to be true:
Just install any app on any distro, isolated from the base system and with granular rights management. I've just set up my first flatpak-centric system and didn't notice any issues with it at all, apart from a 1-second waiting time before an app is launched.

What's your long-term experience?

Notice any annoying bugs or instabilities? Do apps crash a lot? Disappear from Flathub or are unmaintained? Do you often have issues with apps that don't integrate well with your native system? Are important apps missing?

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I avoid it like the plague. It's fat and slow, and the Arch repos + the AUR have just about everything anyway (I use Arch btw, in case you're wondering). I'll sooner build from source than touch anything flatpak.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

AUR can be an unstable mess at times (yes, it's very convenient, but it has flaws and arch isn't the only distro out there. Also the space argument just makes no sense, yes the 1st time you download a flatpak, it downloads like 1~2GB of dependencies, but after that all other flatpaks use said dependencies and are a fraction of the size. So ironically, flatpaks end up using less space than AUR packages, if you don't clean out their cache...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I'm always wary of what I install from the AUR, never more than 1 or 2 packages on any given system. But a surprising amount of stuff can be found even in the main arch repos, so the AUR is rarely necessary.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are too many, especially outdated runtimes in use. That is a problem. I have like 7GB of runtimes, somewhere a year ago when I roughly counted it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

flatpak remove --unused

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

All in use by like one app. Sorted them 100 times, still some need it and I need the app

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's fat and slow

With modern hardware neither of those really are an issue. You can get a 1 TB nvme ssd for €50 and 2 TB for less than a 100. That should lend you plenty of storage and speed

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I still find it noticeable 🤷 I do have an nvme ssd, and while 50 eur is negligible to you or me, not everyone is so lucky, + there's no reason to create e-waste when your older hardware is working fine.