Flatpak support

Stardust

Flatpak is Top20?

Yes, I checked yesterday by sorting Feature Requests by upvotes

But in my personal rating I would place it at #1

DoctorG

@Stardust Ah, ok, i had not used that new forum sort feature yet.

XLN

@DoctorG The one I made a couple of months ago works very well and it was extremely easy to set up. I basically just had to copy what other people had done with other flatpak chromium browsers (because they all have a flatpak package).

https://github.com/BuonHobo/com.vivaldi.stable

There is only one issue. Vivaldi downloads some codecs on first boot and that doesn't work (yet) inside the flatpak. It's probably a very easy problem to solve and I just need someone who knows flatpak and someone who knows how Vivaldi does that thing.

It would take very little (VERY little) effort for the vivaldi team to make a working flatpak package and it would help the linux community very much (VERY much).

Also Vivaldi is now the only browser that doesn't have a flatpak package so I'd say it's some kind of tech debt. They are about user empowerment and being feature rich. So making a flatpak aligns with their philosophy.

I'm honestly surprised (and disappointed) that we still don't have a flatpak.

For those who are not interested in a community supported flatpak:
The flatpak packaging is open source and it is very easy to see that no sketchy things are being done. It's basically a script that downloads Vivaldi's official .deb and anyone can verify.

Hadden89

@XLN said in Flatpak support:

Vivaldi downloads some codecs on first boot and that doesn't work (yet) inside the flatpak

This, maybe?

https://gist.github.com/ruario/995728dd8123540d331052e0ce648439

https://gist.github.com/ruario/fd278f3fdc947e045f3b09b3ad792588

Can't be installed as post-install or something similar?

XLN

@Hadden89 Yeah it's probably an easy fix but I'm not experienced enough to make it. I don't know how to run post-install scripts with flatpaks.

luetage

@XLN If you can’t do it, then it’s probably not that easy. You make assumptions. Fact is no one is able to bring on a working flatpak and there’s been ample time and opportunity.

XLN

@luetage The matter is that I don't know anything about flatpaks and I don't know anything about Vivaldi's first boot routines. All I did was copy someone else's work and replace "edge" with "vivaldi" basically. That was already enough to have a completely working browser.
But Vivaldi is different from the other browsers for some reason because it does some stuff after being opened for the first time, so copying isn't enough.
Fixing it would require:

Knowledge of Vivaldi (Which the Vivaldi team has)
Knowledge of Flatpak (Which the Vivaldi team has access to)

They also have the resources to just pay a contractor to do the first set-up.

Every other browser has a flatpak package, and most modern applications (even from indie devs) are published as flatpaks. I'm sure the Vivaldi team wouldn't have the slightest issue with it.

Their scripts and deps and rpms are already probably much harder to maintain

DoctorG

@XLN Add the code from the gist and try to build a working Flatpak. //edit: Ah, i missunderstoond, you duplicated only a repo and have no konwledge on packing.

I can not as having no knowledge on Flatpacking.

DoctorG

@XLN said in Flatpak support:

They also have the resources to just pay a contractor to do the first set-up.

Your assumption that Vivaldi team is willing to do this at this time. Currently the owners of Vivaldi Technologies wont spend money and time for this. That is a fact.

If you need to ask Vivaldi Team member, try at https://social.vivaldi.net/@ruario

XLN

@DoctorG I tried reaching out. I'll update you asap

DoctorG

For Flatpak a confirmed request (labelled most-requested!) for is now n bug tracker and was posted by a Vivaldi Linux dev. And the forum thread is linked.

Let us wait some weeks and see what we will get, i hope, soon.

jane.n

@DoctorG, we discussed it yesterday and agreed that we'll try to do it, but we don't know when yet.

Stardust

@DoctorG said in Flatpak support:

For Flatpak a confirmed request (labelled most-requested!) for is now n bug tracker and was posted by a Vivaldi Linux dev. And the forum thread is linked.

Oh! Good news! Gonna be the 1st one to test the 1st Vivaldi Flatpak version!

DoctorG

@Stardust said in Flatpak support:

to test the 1st Vivaldi Flatpak version!

Me, too.

Stardust

@DoctorG said in Flatpak support:

Me, too.

but only 2nd one
1st place is reserved!

Stardust

@jane-n said in Flatpak support:

@DoctorG, we discussed it yesterday and agreed that we'll try to do it, but we don't know when yet.

there is a flatpak-beta repo, that could be used for testing

XLN

@jane-n This is great news! Thanks for hearing us out!
Can't wait to install it

viesta2015

@jane-n Let me know when it's out so i can start using it.

LocutusOfBorg

@XLN said in Flatpak support:

@luetage The matter is that I don't know anything about flatpaks and I don't know anything about Vivaldi's first boot routines. All I did was copy someone else's work and replace "edge" with "vivaldi" basically. That was already enough to have a completely working browser.
But Vivaldi is different from the other browsers for some reason because it does some stuff after being opened for the first time, so copying isn't enough.
Fixing it would require:

Knowledge of Vivaldi (Which the Vivaldi team has)

Knowledge of Flatpak (Which the Vivaldi team has access to)

They also have the resources to just pay a contractor to do the first set-up.

Every other browser has a flatpak package, and most modern applications (even from indie devs) are published as flatpaks. I'm sure the Vivaldi team wouldn't have the slightest issue with it.

Their scripts and deps and rpms are already probably much harder to maintain

The first is an ASSumption. The second just because every other browser has a flatpak don't mean Vivaldi has to. And the last while it would be nice to see Vivaldi use flatpak it's a nonissue for most of us.

Hadden89

@LocutusOfBorg but not from a marketing pov. Clearly is not prioritary because only affect a subset of linux users