[ENHANCEMENT] Flatpak Support #5

celenity commented 2024年09月18日 20:04:36 +02:00

We definitely need to support Flatpak installations of Firefox - & probably Snaps as well (mainly due to it being the default installation of Firefox on Ubuntu... :/).

This shouldn't be too difficult - I'm just not as familiar with Firefox's file structure when installed as a Flatpak, so I'll have to do some research & testing.

Creating this issue to track progress.

We definitely need to support Flatpak installations of Firefox - & probably Snaps as well (mainly due to it being the default installation of Firefox on Ubuntu... :/). This shouldn't be too difficult - I'm just not as familiar with Firefox's file structure when installed as a Flatpak, so I'll have to do some research & testing. Creating this issue to track progress.

celenity commented 2024年12月03日 21:39:43 +01:00

Flatpak policies have officially been packaged & confirmed working: https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix-Policies-Flatpak

Now to figure out how to distribute and update them...

Flatpak policies have officially been packaged & confirmed working: https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix-Policies-Flatpak Now to figure out how to distribute and update them...

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年03月28日 20:39:09 +01:00

Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons.

Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons.

Gnu1 commented 2025年03月28日 20:40:56 +01:00

@eIKpaSrnMoKI wrote in #5 (comment):

Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons.

This is very hard to do.

@eIKpaSrnMoKI wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-3127649: > Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons. This is very hard to do.

celenity commented 2025年03月28日 20:51:21 +01:00

@eIKpaSrnMoKI

Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level

I've actually been working on this here, and I think I'll be able to have this available soon - though @Gnu1 is right that this has posed some challenges. For instance, using Extended/specialized configs will require an extra step.

and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons.

I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this; the main challenge here is that we're using an unmaintained Flatpak extension (since that's what Firefox supports), so it works differently than typical Flatpak extensions; most notably, I believe we have to use the org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig identifier; I don't think we can use our own (like org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix)... If I'm wrong here though, please let me know.

I'm going to set-up a Flatpak repo on GitLab (at least for the time being), but if my concern above doesn't turn out to be an issue, we can look into listing it on Flathub.

@eIKpaSrnMoKI > Please make it a real Flatpak, which can be installed at user level I've actually been working on this [here](https://codeberg.org/celenity/flatpaks), and I think I'll be able to have this available soon - though @Gnu1 is right that this has posed some challenges. For instance, using `Extended`/specialized configs will require an extra step. > and is displayed in Flathub on the Firefox page under Add-ons. I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this; the main challenge here is that we're using an [unmaintained Flatpak extension](https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/extension.html#unmaintained-flatpak-extensions) *(since that's what Firefox supports)*, so it works differently than typical Flatpak extensions; most notably, I believe we have to use the `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig` identifier; I don't think we can use our own *(like `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix`)*... If I'm wrong here though, please let me know. I'm going to set-up a Flatpak repo on GitLab *(at least for the time being)*, but if my concern above doesn't turn out to be an issue, we can look into listing it on Flathub.

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年03月28日 20:57:09 +01:00

Both are described in the Flathub documentation.

*User level
https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-users/user-vs-system-install

*Extension
https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-app-authors/metainfo-guidelines#extensions

Both are described in the Flathub documentation. *User level https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-users/user-vs-system-install *Extension https://docs.flathub.org/docs/for-app-authors/metainfo-guidelines#extensions

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年03月28日 21:06:51 +01:00

@celenity wrote in #5 (comment):

I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this

The example for the ‘FFmpeg extension with extra codecs’ add-on, which is listed here https://flathub.org/apps/org.mozilla.firefox, is also linked in the Flathub documentation: https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/extension.html#unmaintained-flatpak-extensions

@celenity wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-3127736: > I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this The example for the ‘FFmpeg extension with extra codecs’ add-on, which is listed here https://flathub.org/apps/org.mozilla.firefox, is also linked in the Flathub documentation: https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/extension.html#unmaintained-flatpak-extensions

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年03月28日 21:19:50 +01:00

@celenity wrote in #5 (comment):

I don't think we can use our own (like org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix)... If I'm wrong here though, please let me know.

As I understand the documentation, a Phoenix extension should point to org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig. Does this cause any problems or restrictions for Phoenix?

@celenity wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-3127736: > I don't think we can use our own _(like `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix`)_... If I'm wrong here though, please let me know. As I understand the documentation, a Phoenix extension should point to org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig. Does this cause any problems or restrictions for Phoenix?

celenity commented 2025年03月28日 23:17:36 +01:00

@eIKpaSrnMoKI

As I understand the documentation, a Phoenix extension should point to org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig. Does this cause any problems or restrictions for Phoenix?

Not really; but would this cause any problems or restrictions in getting listed on Flathub? Don't identifiers have to be unique per-app/extension?

@eIKpaSrnMoKI > As I understand the documentation, a Phoenix extension should point to org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig. Does this cause any problems or restrictions for Phoenix? Not *really*; but would this cause any problems or restrictions in getting listed on Flathub? Don't identifiers have to be unique per-app/extension?

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年04月20日 15:39:19 +02:00

@celenity

I asked Flathub about this. The answer can be found here: https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/extension.html#extension-manifest. Therefore, the app that should be extended must be prefixed in the ID. In our case, this is org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.

For Phoenix, this means that the ID could be org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix.

@celenity I asked Flathub about this. The answer can be found here: https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/extension.html#extension-manifest. Therefore, the app that should be extended must be prefixed in the ID. In our case, this is `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig`. For Phoenix, this means that the ID could be `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix`.

celenity commented 2025年04月23日 05:25:09 +02:00

So I've been working on this (over on GitLab, since that's where I'll host the repo - at least for the time being) here, and I've made significant progress. It builds and seems to work perfect locally (with flatpak-builder), but the CI builds are failing due to this error:

$ flatpak build-bundle --gpg-sign=${GPG_KEY_ID} repo ${BUNDLE} --runtime-repo=${RUNTIME_REPO} ${APP_ID} ${BRANCH}
error: Refspec 'app/org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig/x86_64/stable' not found
Cleaning up project directory and file based variables 00:00
ERROR: Job failed: exit code 1

If anyone wants to step up and contribute/help determine this issue, or has any ideas/suggestions/pointers/etc, it'd be appreciated.

So I've been working on this *(over on GitLab, since that's where I'll host the repo - at least for the time being)* [here](https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak), and I've made significant progress. It builds and seems to work perfect locally *(with `flatpak-builder`)*, but the CI builds are [failing](https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak/-/jobs/9795342736#L123) due to this error: ```sh $ flatpak build-bundle --gpg-sign=${GPG_KEY_ID} repo ${BUNDLE} --runtime-repo=${RUNTIME_REPO} ${APP_ID} ${BRANCH} error: Refspec 'app/org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig/x86_64/stable' not found Cleaning up project directory and file based variables 00:00 ERROR: Job failed: exit code 1 ``` If anyone wants to step up and contribute/help determine this issue, or has any ideas/suggestions/pointers/etc, it'd be appreciated.

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年04月23日 09:21:29 +02:00

Thanks for working on this!

Why are you using the same ID for Phoenix that Firefox uses? In the file names as well.

https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak/-/blame/main/org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.yaml?ref_type=heads#L1
https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak/-/blame/main/.gitlab-ci.yml?ref_type=heads#L3

See #5 (comment).

Thanks for working on this! Why are you using the same ID for Phoenix that Firefox uses? In the file names as well. https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak/-/blame/main/org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.yaml?ref_type=heads#L1 https://gitlab.com/celenityy/Phoenix-Flatpak/-/blame/main/.gitlab-ci.yml?ref_type=heads#L3 See https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-3864069.

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年04月23日 09:23:15 +02:00

since that's where I'll host the repo - at least for the time being

Why do you host the repository on GitLab and not on Codeberg?

> since that's where I'll host the repo - at least for the time being Why do you host the repository on GitLab and not on Codeberg?

celenity commented 2025年04月24日 08:46:04 +02:00

Why are you using the same ID for Phoenix that Firefox uses? In the file names as well.

Last time I tried building with org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix, IIRC it failed, and I found success with org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig instead. I don't remember why it was failing though, I'll do some testing and try using org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix again.

Why do you host the repository on GitLab and not on Codeberg?

Well, two reasons. One: GitLab has CI/infra we can use (Also worth noting I got accepted into their open source program, which means we have GitLab Ultimate for free and can take advantage of some of their advanced/premium features and runners...), and two: As it stands, Codeberg is unfortunately far too unreliable, frequent downtime/outages and issues, which have caused users issues. We also download Phoenix's other assets (ex. the uBlock Origin config, search 'extensions', etc.) from GitLab for this same reason. I'd eventually like to move everything back to Codeberg, so hopefully with time and resources, they'll be able to improve.

> Why are you using the same ID for Phoenix that Firefox uses? In the file names as well. Last time I tried building with `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix`, IIRC it failed, and I found success with `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig` instead. I don't remember why it was failing though, I'll do some testing and try using `org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix` again. > Why do you host the repository on GitLab and not on Codeberg? Well, two reasons. One: GitLab has CI/infra we can use *(Also worth noting I got accepted into their open source program, which means we have GitLab Ultimate for free and can take advantage of some of their advanced/premium features and runners...)*, and two: As it stands, Codeberg is unfortunately far too unreliable, frequent downtime/outages and issues, which have caused users issues. We also download Phoenix's other assets *(ex. the uBlock Origin config, search 'extensions', etc.)* from GitLab for this same reason. I'd eventually like to move everything back to Codeberg, so hopefully with time and resources, they'll be able to improve.

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年05月01日 20:39:53 +02:00

I'll do some testing and try using org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix again.

Thanks, I'm curious to hear what you can find out.
I cannot imagine how things can work with the same ID for two different installations (Firefox and Phoenix).

Well, two reasons. One: GitLab has CI/infra we can use

Looks like Codeberg has a CI infrastructure as well. https://docs.codeberg.org/ci/
Have you already tried it?

Is your installation currently running on a system or user level?

> I'll do some testing and try using org.mozilla.firefox.systemconfig.phoenix again. Thanks, I'm curious to hear what you can find out. I cannot imagine how things can work with the same ID for two different installations (Firefox and Phoenix). > Well, two reasons. One: GitLab has CI/infra we can use Looks like Codeberg has a CI infrastructure as well. https://docs.codeberg.org/ci/ Have you already tried it? Is your installation currently running on a system or user level?

eIKpaSrnMoKI commented 2025年12月15日 18:36:40 +01:00

What is the current state of development?

What is the current state of development?

quaff commented 2026年01月28日 20:03:00 +01:00

The instructions are light on how to use phoenix. I just assumed I needed firefox installed (in my case as a system flatpak), and install phoenix side-by-side, then run firefox normally.

However, when I try to install the AUR package phoenix-flatpak on my system, but I'm getting this error:

❯ paru -S phoenix-flatpak
...
error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files)
phoenix-flatpak: /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.mozilla.firefox/current exists in filesystem
phoenix-flatpak: /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.mozilla.firefox/current/active exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

@celenity wrote in #5 (comment):

Flatpak policies have officially been packaged & confirmed working: https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix-Policies-Flatpak

The URL gives me a 404 so I'm unsure if there's more documentation that I'm missing to make this work.

The instructions are light on how to use phoenix. I just assumed I needed firefox installed (in my case as a system flatpak), and install phoenix side-by-side, then run firefox normally. However, when I try to install the AUR package `phoenix-flatpak` on my system, but I'm getting this error: ``` ❯ paru -S phoenix-flatpak ... error: failed to commit transaction (conflicting files) phoenix-flatpak: /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.mozilla.firefox/current exists in filesystem phoenix-flatpak: /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.mozilla.firefox/current/active exists in filesystem Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded. ``` @celenity wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-2492946: > Flatpak policies have officially been packaged & confirmed working: https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix-Policies-Flatpak The URL gives me a 404 so I'm unsure if there's more documentation that I'm missing to make this work.

celenity commented 2026年01月28日 21:21:53 +01:00

Apologies for the late reply here.

@eIKpaSrnMoKI

What is the current state of development?

Unfortunately, I don't have much of an update here - what I can say is it looks like Flathub is definitely out, due to the package ID (see this GitHub issue for reference, another project encountered the same problem).

So we'll need to look into setting up our own Flatpak repo.

---

@quaff

However, when I try to install the AUR package phoenix-flatpak on my system, but I'm getting this error:

Thanks for sharing - will investigate. That isn't intended.

Apologies for the late reply here. @eIKpaSrnMoKI > What is the current state of development? Unfortunately, I don't have much of an update here - what I can say is it looks like Flathub is definitely out, due to the package ID *(see [this GitHub issue](https://github.com/flathub/flathub/pull/6625#issuecomment-2983251859) for reference, another project encountered the same problem)*. So we'll need to look into setting up our own Flatpak repo. ___ @quaff > However, when I try to install the AUR package phoenix-flatpak on my system, but I'm getting this error: Thanks for sharing - will investigate. That isn't intended.

quaff commented 2026年01月28日 21:25:42 +01:00

@celenity wrote in #5 (comment):

Thanks for sharing - will investigate. That isn't intended.

I appreciate it! Also, I know it's not the right repo, but for brevity, dove-flatpak is also doing the same with Thunderbird. I can create an issue in the dove repo as well if you'd like to track these separately 🙏

@celenity wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/5#issuecomment-10238132: > Thanks for sharing - will investigate. That isn't intended. I appreciate it! Also, I know it's not the right repo, but for brevity, dove-flatpak is also doing the same with Thunderbird. I can create an issue in the dove repo as well if you'd like to track these separately 🙏