We are still going to produce Fedora flatpaks – you know this software has gone through our package review process, is built with our security-focused build flags, has a package maintainer, etc.
“Unfiltered” Flathub will be available if you opt-in to third-party repositories. Is there somewhere we have inadvertently given the impression that we’re shifting to making that preferred?
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The topic is well explained in the (accepted) change proposal:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/UnfilteredFlathub#Detailed_Description
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Actually what will happen to fedora flatpak repo i could not able to find that make me worry.
Will i have to delete apps that i have installed from flatpak-fedora and reinstall them from flathub.
There was some confusion about this when we made the Mastodon post yesterday as well, and we tried to clarify what the situation will be in replies. It could be worth having a Magazine post explaining what exactly this change is and what the new status quo will be for how Flatpaks are presented in Fedora, to overcommunicate.
We have the Fedora RPM repo, Fedora Flatpak repo, and then if you enable it you have the Flathub repo. If you have a Fedora Flatpak installed, this change will not affect that flatpak. All this change is doing is unfiltering the default access provided by the Flathub third party repo toggle. You’re current packages will not be affected. If you uninstalled a package and it happened to be duplicated in the Fedora Flatpak repo AND Flathub, all that would happen is that the Fedora Flatpak would be presented as the default option in Gnome Software, and you would manually have to select the Flathub version if that’s what you wanted.
I could be wrong, but I believe the priority in presenting the default package in Gnome Software would be RPMs, then Fedora Flatpaks if there is no RPM, then Flathub if there is no RPM or Fedora Flatpak.
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I could be wrong as well, but the change proposal
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/UnfilteredFlathub#Detailed_Description
states that
Adjust GNOME Software so that it uses the following priority order when deciding which package to offer by default:
Fedora Flatpaks
RPMs
Flathub Flatpaks
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Ah ok, I guess that’s the new order! Wow, I surprised by that, I didn’t think we got to the point of putting our flatpaks over our RPMs. Would also be good to mention if a Magazine post explainer comes out. Good catch!
I think that would be a mistake. Those of us who prefer to remain pure RPM as much as reasonably possible might be impacted by that sequence.
While I totally agree that the fedora flatpaks should be priority over the flathub flatpaks, please explain why I should not be concerned if, for example, I want to install VLC which is available in both flatpak and RPM, and the priority sequence says the flatpak is the preferred form.
Is it only that the flatpak requires a flatpak install <package> vs dnf install <package> for rpms, or would something else come into play there.
If using gnome software for the install that seems to blur the distinction and shift the type of package installed to having the flatpak preferred.
For those choosing to use RPMs only, this would seem to force them to the command line and using dnf instead of the gnome software tool
Not expressing an opinion one way or the other, but to clarify what I expect will happen in Gnome Software. I guess it will show Fedora Flatpak as the default but you can still choose from other options in the drop down below the install button, like so.
Why force? You can still disable the Fedora Flatpak repository and install only RPMs from GNOME Software.
In both Gnome Software and KDE Discover you can reorder the priority. So no, nobody is being forced.
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Nice. Is it a GUI option (that I’ve never spotted), or via gsettings? Is it documented somewhere?
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I don’t know that how to reorder in gnome software
I think there is no problem with Fedora Flatpaks at all, its really great that they are reviewed and have a maintainer.
The only issue is that on RPM-Ostree based systems you will have a Flathub runtime installed just to get an equal amout of apps, Fedora Flatpaks are still very few.
Why not use the freedesktop.org runtime too? This would reduce RAM usage and I would actually like to use it. If its not a problem with codec support, e.g. Firefox, Handbrake, VLC, … Fedora Flatpaks should be the better choice?
sometimes it have issues like gimp does not have avif support when installed from flatpak-fedora but works when installled from flathub
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That has been the priority for several years now. The only change is adding unfiltered Flathub at the lowest priority (only if you opt-in to third party repos).
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