Fedora 25: Install and build Flatpak

1. Update ostree
2. Install flatpak package
3. Install application and runtime
4. Build application
5. Structure of Flatpak

1 Update ostree

The ostree package in Fedora 24/Fedora 25 will cause segmentation fault on flatpak.

Segmentation fault(core dumped) flatpak –user install gnome org.gnome.Platform 3.22

This will be resolved by 21aca3fa83d7365376f6be2056fc1bac33f9998d. Update ostree to this commit.

#!/bin/shsudo dnf install -y rpm-buildsudo dnf builddep -y ostreednf download –source ostreerpm -i ostree-2016.15-1.fc25.src.rpmcd ~/rpmbuildgit clone ostreegit checkout 21aca3fa83d7365376f6be2056fc1bac33f9998d -b v2016.15.1cd ..mv ostree ostree-2016.15.1tar cf SOURCES/ostree-2016.15.1.tar.xz ostree-2016.15.1sed -e ‘s/^Version: 2016.15/Version: 2016.15.1/g’ -e ‘s/^%autosetup.*/%setup -q -n %{name}-%{version}/g’ -i SPECS/ostree.specrpmbuild -ba SPECS/ostree.specsudo dnf install -y RPMS/x86_64/ostree-2016.15.1-1.fc25.x86_64.rpm

2 Install flatpak package

flatpak package is a tools for installing and building Flatpak. Install flatpak and flatpak-libs with dnf.

$ sudo dnf install -y flatpak flatpak-libs

3 Install application and runtime

Install application and runtime for user.

Import GPG key of GNOME repository.

$ wget flatpak –user remote-add –gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome

Import remote repository.

$ flatpak –user remote-add –gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome-apps

Install org.gnome.Platform which is runtime. Runtime will be installed to ${HOME}/.local/share/flatpak/runtime.

$ flatpak –user install gnome org.gnome.Platform 3.20

Install org.gnome.gedit which is application. Application is installled to ${HOME}/.local/share/flatpak/app.

$ flatpak –user install gnome-apps org.gnome.gedit stable

Run org.gnome.gedit.

$ flatpak –user run org.gnome.gedit

gedit window is poped.

3.1 Install Flatpak to system for sharing with all user

Running flatpak command without –user option but with privilege will install application to /var/lib/flatpak/app and runtime to /var/lib/flatpak/runtime. All user can access to these application and runtime.

$ sudo flatpak remote-add –gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome sudo flatpak remote-add –gpg-import=gnome-sdk.gpg gnome-apps sudo flatpak install gnome org.gnome.Platform 3.20$ sudo flatpak install gnome-apps org.gnome.gedit stable$ flatpak run org.gnome.gedit

3.2 List of Flatpak in repository

Run remote-ls command with remote repository name.

$ flatpak remote-ls gnome-appsorg.gnome.Builderorg.gnome.Builder.Debugorg.gnome.Builder.Localeorg.gnome.Calculatororg.gnome.Calculator.Debugorg.gnome.Calculator.Localeorg.gnome.Calendarorg.gnome.Calendar.Debugorg.gnome.Calendar.Localeorg.gnome.Charactersorg.gnome.Characters.Debugorg.gnome.Characters.Localeorg.gnome.Dictionaryorg.gnome.Dictionary.Debugorg.gnome.Dictionary.Localeorg.gnome.Epiphanyorg.gnome.Epiphany.Debugorg.gnome.Epiphany.Localeorg.gnome.Evinceorg.gnome.Evince.Debugorg.gnome.Evince.Localeorg.gnome.Mapsorg.gnome.Maps.Debugorg.gnome.Maps.Localeorg.gnome.Polariorg.gnome.Polari.Debugorg.gnome.Polari.Localeorg.gnome.Rhythmbox3org.gnome.Rhythmbox3.Debugorg.gnome.Rhythmbox3.Localeorg.gnome.Todoorg.gnome.Todo.Debugorg.gnome.Todo.Localeorg.gnome.Weatherorg.gnome.Weather.Debugorg.gnome.Weather.Localeorg.gnome.bijibenorg.gnome.bijiben.Debugorg.gnome.bijiben.Localeorg.gnome.clocksorg.gnome.clocks.Debugorg.gnome.clocks.Localeorg.gnome.eogorg.gnome.eog.Debugorg.gnome.eog.Localeorg.gnome.geditorg.gnome.gedit.Debugorg.gnome.gedit.Localeorg.gnome.iagnoorg.gnome.iagno.Debugorg.gnome.iagno.Locale

3.3 List of installed Flatpak

Run list command.

$ flatpak listorg.gnome.gedit

4 Build application

Please build application with flatpak build. Building application withou flatpak build is for tutorial and building application with flatpak build is compatible with original building way (You only need to wrap command with flatpak build).

4.1 Building application without flatpak build (Not recommended)

Create simple application which run /bin/sh on SandBox.

Create directory.

$ mkdir shell$ mkdir shell/files$ mkdir shell/files/bin$ mkdir shell/export

Application provides command which named shell.sh.

Running /bin/sh with arguments.
Running /bin/sh when no arguments.

$ cat <<EOF > shell/files/bin/shell.sh#!/bin/shif [ $# -eq 0 ]; then PS1=”shell> ” /bin/shelse echo “shell> $@” eval “$@”fiEOF$ chmod a+x shell/files/bin/shell.sh

Create metadata which includes configuration of application.

Application name is com.example.shell. Application name is ${name} in this article.
Using org.gnome.Platform as runtime.
Running com.example.shell will call shell.sh.
Application access to “hosts” filesystem.

$ cat <<EOF > shell/metadata[Application]name=com.example.shellruntime=org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.20command=shell.sh[Context]filesystems=host;EOF

Export shell directory to repo directory.

$ flatpak build-export repo shell$ ls repo/config objects refs state summary tmp uncompressed-objects-cache

$ flatpak –user remote-add –no-gpg-verify example-repo repo$ flatpak –user install example-repo com.example.shell

4.2 Building application with flatpak build (Recommended)

flatpak build command can build application on SandBox. This is not cross compile but own compile.

Install org.gnome.Sdk for building application.

$ flatpak –user install gnome org.gnome.Sdk 3.20

This article will simple make source tree, but flatpak supports various build system like configure and cmake.

In case of normal binary is as below.

$ sudo dnf install -y ncurses-devel SDL2-devel SDL2_image-devel$ git clone cd tetris-sdl-and-ncurses$ make$ ./jni/src/ncurses # or ./jni/src/sdl

Build Flatpak as below.

flatpak build-init starts flatpak build.
Wrapping command with flatpak build is running on SandBox.
flatpak build-finish finishes flatpak build.

$ flatpak build-init tetris com.hiroom2.tetris org.gnome.Sdk org.gnome.Platform 3.20$ git clone cd tetris-sdl-and-ncurses/$ flatpak build ../tetris make all install DESTDIR=/app$ cd ..$ flatpak build-finish tetris –command=ncurses

flatpak build uses org.gnome.Sdk and flatpak run uses org.gnome.Platform.

metadata is as below. You can change metadata manually.

$ cat tetris/metadata[Application]name=com.hiroom2.tetrisruntime=org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.20sdk=org.gnome.Sdk/x86_64/3.20command=ncurses

$ flatpak build-export repo tetris$ flatpak –user remote-add –no-gpg-verify tetris-repo repo$ flatpak –user install tetris-repo com.hiroom2.tetris

Run application.

$ flatpak run com.hiroom2.tetris

tetris is running.

4.3 Update application

Change source tree and export source tree to repo.

$ # update shell or tetris-sdl-and-ncurses directory$ flatpak build-export repo shell # or tetris-sdl-and-ncurses

flatpak udpate receives application update. flatpak update without application will receives all application update.

$ flatpak –user update com.example.shell # or com.hiroom2.tetris

4.4 Runtime

There are GNOME runtime and KDE runtime. It is nice to create daemon runtime for server and minimum runtime for embedded system.

GNOME runtime size is as below. This runtime can be shared with multiple application.

$ du -sh .local/share/flatpak/runtime/org.gnome.Platform613M .local/share/flatpak/runtime/org.gnome.Platform$ du -sh .local/share/flatpak/runtime/org.freedesktop.Platform/391M .local/share/flatpak/runtime/org.freedesktop.Platform/

5 Structure of Flatpak

This article will describe structure of Flatpak according to this.

5.1 /app

Application is in ${HOME}/.local/share/flatpak/app/${name}/. When running application, files directory in this directory will be mounted to /app on SandBox. And /app is append to PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH on SandBox.

shell> echo $PATH/app/bin:/usr/binshell> echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH/app/lib:/usr/lib/GL

5.2 /usr

Runtime is in ${HOME}/.local/share/flatpak/runtim/${name}/. When running application, files directory in this directory will be mounted to /usr on SandBox.

$ ls .local/share/flatpak/runtime/org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.20/active/files/bin etc include lib64 local sbin srccache games lib libexec manifest.json share var$ flatpak run com.example.shell ls /usrshell> ls /usrbin etc include lib64 local sbin srccache games lib libexec manifest.json share var

/bin is linked to /usr/bin, /lib is linked to /usr/lib, and /lib64 is linked to /usr/lib64.

$ flatpak run com.example.shell ls -l /shell> ls -l /total 44drwxrwxr-x 3 hiroom2 hiroom2 4096 Jul 2 06:22 applrwxrwxrwx 1 hiroom2 hiroom2 7 Jul 2 06:27 bin -> usr/bindrwxr-xr-x 4 hiroom2 hiroom2 300 Jul 2 06:27 devdrwxr-xr-x 20 hiroom2 hiroom2 1000 Jul 2 06:27 etcd
rwxr-xr-x 3 nfsnobody nfsnobody 4096 Jun 22 04:59 homelrwxrwxrwx 1 hiroom2 hiroom2 7 Jul 2 06:27 lib -> usr/liblrwxrwxrwx 1 hiroom2 hiroom2 9 Jul 2 06:27 lib64 -> usr/lib64drwx—— 2 nfsnobody nfsnobody 16384 Jun 15 01:25 lost+founddrwxr-xr-x 2 nfsnobody nfsnobody 4096 Feb 4 07:10 mediadrwxr-xr-x 2 nfsnobody nfsnobody 4096 Feb 4 07:10 mntdrwxr-xr-x 2 nfsnobody nfsnobody 4096 Feb 4 07:10 optdr-xr-xr-x 147 nfsnobody nfsnobody 0 Jul 2 06:27 procdrwxr-xr-x 4 hiroom2 hiroom2 120 Jul 2 06:27 runlrwxrwxrwx 1 hiroom2 hiroom2 8 Jul 2 06:27 sbin -> usr/sbindrwxr-xr-x 2 nfsnobody nfsnobody 4096 Feb 4 07:10 srvdrwxr-xr-x 7 hiroom2 hiroom2 140 Jul 2 06:27 sysdrwxr-xr-x 3 hiroom2 hiroom2 60 Jul 2 06:27 tmpdrwxrwxr-x 13 hiroom2 hiroom2 4096 Jul 2 06:11 usrdrwxr-xr-x 5 hiroom2 hiroom2 140 Jul 2 06:27 var

5.3 /etc

/etc files on SandBox are mounted from /etc files on host machine.

shell> cat /proc/mounts | grep /etc/ /etc/passwd tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0 /etc/group tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/machine-id ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/shells ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/default ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/issue ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/timezone ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/host.conf ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/filesystems ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0/dev/mapper/fedora-root /etc/xdg ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0<snip>

/etc/passwd and /etc/group includes only user who run application and nfsnobody.

shell> cat /etc/passwdhiroom2:x:1000:1000:Unknown:/home/hiroom2:/bin/shnfsnobody:x:65534:65534:Unmapped user:/:/sbin/nologinshell> cat /etc/grouphiroom2:x:1000:hiroom2nfsnobody:x:65534:

5.4 /dev

Basic device file is mounted.

shell> ls /devconsole full null ptmx pts random shm stderr stdin stdout tty urandom zero

5.5 /proc

Running “ps a” on SandBox outputs as below.

shell> ps a PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND 1 ? S+ 0:00 /usr/libexec/flatpak-bwrap –args 13 shell.sh ps a 2 ? S+ 0:00 /bin/sh /app/bin/shell.sh ps a 3 ? R+ 0:00 ps a

This tells that flatpak-bwrap is running command.

flatpak-bwrap -> /bin/sh -> shell.sh

/proc on SandBox is as below. Only application’s PID files are there. PID 1 is flatpak-bwrap, PID 2 is /bin/sh, PID 3 is shell.sh and PID 70 is ls command.

shell> ls /proc/1 cpuinfo iomem latency_stats partitions sysvipc2 crypto ioports loadavg sched_debug thread-self3 devices irq locks schedstat timer_list70 diskstats kallsyms mdstat scsi timer_statsacpi dma kcore meminfo self ttyasound driver key-users misc slabinfo uptimebuddyinfo execdomains keys modules softirqs versionbus fb kmsg mounts stat vmallocinfocgroups filesystems kpagecgroup mtrr swaps vmstatcmdline fs kpagecount net sys zoneinfoconsoles interrupts kpageflags pagetypeinfo sysrq-trigger

5.6 /sys

Basic /sys files is mounted.

$ ls /sys/block bus class dev devices firmware fs hypervisor kernel module power$ flatpak run com.example.shell ls /sysshell> ls /sys/block bus class dev devices

5.7 /var

/var has writable directories.

Host machine Shell ${HOME}/.var/app/${name}/cache /var/cache ${HOME}/.var/app/${name}/config /var/config ${HOME}/.var/app/${name}/data /var/data

5.8 Context filesystems in metadata

Application can use writable directory with Context filesystems in metadata.

Context filesystems supports below directories.

host Host Mahine filesystem except dev, proc, /sys and /var home User homedirectory xdg-xxx XDG_XXX variable directory Absolute path opt/path/to or ~.local/path/to

The mapping xdg variable and XDG variable are as below.

xdg variable XDG variable Fedora 24 xdg-desktop XDG_DESKTOP_DIR ${HOME}/Desktop xdg-documents XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR ${HOME}/Documents xdg-download
XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR ${HOME}/Downloads xdg-music XDG_MUSIC_DIR ${HOME}/Music xdg-pictures XDG_PICTURES_DIR ${HOME}/Pictures xdg-public-share XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR ${HOME}/Public xdg-templates XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR ${HOME}/Templates xdg-videos XDG_VIDEOS_DIR ${HOME}/Videos xdg-run XDG_RUNTIME_DIR /var/user/<pid>

You can use multiple directory with ; like org.gnome.gedit.

filesystems=xdg-run/dconf;host;~/.config/dconf:ro;

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