Flatpak is a popular technology for packaging and distributing applications on Linux. It allows developers to create applications that run in a sandboxed environment, ensuring they work consistently across different distributions. One of the key components of Flatpak is the Runtime, which provides the necessary libraries and environment for applications to run. If you're curious about which flatpak applications use a specific runtime, this guide will show you how to find them.
Table of Contents
List All Installed Applications
The first step is to list all the Flatpak applications installed on your system. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:
flatpak list --app
This command will display a list of all installed applications, along with their runtime and SDK information.
Find Flatpak Applications that Use a Specific Runtime
If you want to narrow down the list to only show applications that use a specific runtime, you can filter the output.
For example, if you're interested in applications that use the org.freedesktop.Platform runtime, you can use the following command:
flatpak list --app --columns=application,runtime | grep "org.freedesktop.Platform"
This command lists the application IDs and the runtimes they use, then filters the output to show only those that mention org.freedesktop.Platform.
Sample Output:
com.anydesk.Anydesk org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 com.github.marktext.marktext org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 com.xnview.XnConvert org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 com.xnview.XnSketch org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 eu.betterbird.Betterbird org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 io.podman_desktop.PodmanDesktop org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 md.obsidian.Obsidian org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 net.cozic.joplin_desktop org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 net.sourceforge.artha.Artha org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 org.jdownloader.JDownloader org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 org.localsend.localsend_app org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/24.08 org.mozilla.firefox org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 org.upscayl.Upscayl org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08 xyz.rescribe.rescribe org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08
Search for Applications in Remote Repositories
If you want to find applications in remote repositories, like Flathub, that use a specific runtime, you can use the flatpak remote-ls command to list all applications in a remote repository and then filter them by runtime.
For instance, to search for applications that use the org.freedesktop.Platform runtime from flathub repository, run:
flatpak remote-ls flathub --app --columns=application,runtime | grep "org.freedesktop.Platform"
This command lists the application IDs and their runtimes from the flathub repository, then filters the output to show only those that use org.freedesktop.Platform.
To list all applications in a remote repository like Flathub, you would run:
flatpak remote-ls flathub --app
This command lists all applications available in the Flathub repository.
Check the Runtime of a Specific Application
If you want to check the runtime of a specific application, you can use the flatpak info command.
For example, to check the runtime of the org.mozilla.firefox application, run:
flatpak info org.mozilla.firefox
This command displays detailed information about the application, including the runtime it uses.
Sample Output:
Firefox - Fast, Private & Safe Web Browser
ID: org.mozilla.firefox
Ref: app/org.mozilla.firefox/x86_64/stable
Arch: x86_64
Branch: stable
Version: 133.0
License: MPL-2.0
Origin: flathub
Collection: org.flathub.Stable
Installation: system
Installed: 269.6 MB
Runtime: org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/23.08
Sdk: org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/23.08
Commit: f2b5f650df6fe5075668a89b87d17124bc905c8bf4f7e6077a7e702f7c949f5a
Parent: 11438883450673dfec7cf95422f42330bfc9df82e72bfc040cc7f236b4c18047
Subject: Export org.mozilla.firefox
Date: 2024-11-26 13:43:46 +0000
Summary
Finding Flatpak applications that use a specific runtime is straightforward with the flatpak command-line tool. Here’s a quick recap of the commands you can use:
- List all installed applications:
flatpak list --app - Filter by runtime:
flatpak list --app --columns=application,runtime | grep "specific-runtime" - Search in remote repositories:
flatpak remote-ls flathub --app --columns=application,runtime | grep "specific-runtime" - Check runtime of a specific app:
flatpak info application-id
By using these commands, you can easily discover which applications on your system or in remote repositories use a particular runtime. This can be useful for troubleshooting or ensuring compatibility with specific environments.
