Hi everyone,
I would like to install evince as a flatpak on Silverblue. When I enter flatpak install evince I get two options:
Remotes found with refs similar to ‘evince’:
1) ‘fedora’ (system)
2) ‘flathub’ (system)
If I choose the fedora remote I am required to install a large Fedora platform package:
ID Branch Op Remote Download
1. org.fedoraproject.Platform f37 i fedora < 779.6 MB
2. org.gnome.Evince stable i fedora < 32.8 MB
If I choose the flathub remote I see a collection of smaller modules instead:
ID Branch Op Remote Download
1. org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default 22.08 u flathub < 137.7 MB
2. org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default 22.08-extra u flathub < 137.7 MB
3. org.freedesktop.Platform.VAAPI.Intel 22.08 u flathub < 13.6 MB
4. org.gnome.Evince.Locale stable i flathub < 1.5 MB (partial)
5. org.gnome.Platform.Locale 43 u flathub < 340.4 MB (partial)
6. org.gnome.Platform 43 u flathub < 325.2 MB
7. org.gnome.Evince stable i flathub < 10.8 MB
The size of the Evince package is also smaller in the second option.
I was wondering what is the benefit in installing the same package from the fedora remote when the flathub remote seems to offer a more modular approach with reusable pieces. Is there any advantage in going with the flathub version? Some extra features? Works better on Fedora in some way?
My question is about evince here, but I am interested in the answer more broadly as I’ve seen this option with some other packages too and my concern is that after installing a large Fedora platform, I might be still installing the other modules from Flathub anyway for different packages that are not in the Fedora remote. And after new versions come out, I might be installing different Fedora platforms instead of just updating certain modules that were updated.