Silverblue and relocateable rpm's

Ask Fedora
1

Working my way to Silverblue full time however, I have a couple of apps that don’t play well with an immutable OS. In this example, I am trying to get a VPN rpm working.

How do I handle an app that installs in /opt, /usr/bin, and /user/share? Can I redirect the /usr* portion to /var/usrlocal?
I think layering this package is the best option instead of attempting a Toolbox install.

I executed rpm -qpi and received the following.
Name : mullvad-vpn
Version : 2021.3.0
Release : 1
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: (not installed)
Group : default
Size : 291411818
License : GPL-3.0
Signature : (none)
Source RPM : mullvad-vpn-2021.3.0-1.src.rpm
Build Date : Tue 27 Apr 2021 05:46:14 AM EDT
Build Host : app-build-linux
Relocations : /
Packager : Mullvad VPN support@mullvad.net
Vendor : Mullvad VPN support@mullvad.net
URL : GitHub - mullvad/mullvadvpn-app: The Mullvad VPN client app for desktop and mobile
Summary : Mullvad VPN client

Should I give up and ask / beg the vendor to make the change?
I have Wireguard configured but there are features the app provides that would be difficult to duplicate manually.

2

According to Technical Information :: Fedora Docs,

/opt is linked to /bar/opt, which is writable. If the RPM package only need write access to those writable locations, it should install without issues in Silverblue, in general.

For VPN clients, another option is to use NetworkManager plug-ins.

“Mullvad - ArchWiki” Mullvad - ArchWiki

3

Thanks for the info but in this case the one application installs to three different paths. I am looking for a workaround / solution for the /usr/* folders that are read only in Silverblue. After installing and rebooting, the app doesn’t launch because it can’t find the executable in /usr/bin

Also, I am aware of manually installing via Wireguard (I have it working now) but as I mentioned the app provides features that aren’t covered in that Arch link. I prefer not to duplicate the features the app provides manually

4

I got this via Internet Search