appimage, flatpak, snap

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bambuko
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appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by bambuko »

Which one would be a preferred choice from a point of view of FreeCAD user? and why?

On my distro (ubuntu 20.04 LTS based), I can have:
flatpak - master 19.3 but no link branch, I haven'tried how well it integrates.
appimage - anything I care to download and install, integration is mostly doable and not difficult.
snap - both master 19.3 and link branch available, but on my (oldish) distro there are issues with integration (mostly solved with help here on the forum).

There is plenty of discussion on flatpak/appimage/snap on the interweb, but I am interested in FreeCAD biased opinions/advice?
I am using Link branch and Assembly3
you can also download ... and try it here
excellent Assembly3 tutorials here
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Kunda1
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by Kunda1 »

Flatpak
Flatpak will not build any nightly builds.(it's against the policy of the Flathub IIRC)
official freecad flatpak: https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.freecadweb.FreeCAD
repo: https://github.com/flathub/org.freecadweb.FreeCAD

Snap
Snap packaging: see Snap

AppImage
see AppImage
FreeCAD as a project has primarily used AppImage (but that's starting to change it seems)
Issue with AppImage:
AppImage is enormous.
Screenshot_20220126_073424.png
Screenshot_20220126_073424.png (11.89 KiB) Viewed 1807 times
Downloading from github is hit or miss due to throttling and rate limiting. So trying to delta download (that is only download new portions of an AppImage instead of re-downloading the whole package) will result in timeouts and failures.
FreeCAD has never gotten AppImage to really integrate well. Functionality was added to update AppImage from within FC but with a lot of problems and not always super reliably (although i was able to just update successfully)
Screenshot_20220126_074143.png
Screenshot_20220126_074143.png (128.21 KiB) Viewed 1807 times
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adrianinsaval
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by adrianinsaval »

There's no definitive answer I think, but since you ask for biased opinions, flatpak has worked great for me, I'm using it for the stable release and self-built packages and the appimage for dev branches/master. Unlike the appimage Flatpak integrates properly my system theme (breeze in KDE with custom colorscheme), the config file is separate to my other installations but the rest of the .FreeCAD is shared with the rest (this can be a pro or a con depending on your preference). The appimage is very convenient too but it has it flaws, installing (you need a web a browser) and updating is not as seamless, and some time ago they broke because a system library was updated in many distros and the supposedly universal appimage was incompatible (tbf this should be blamed on the people developing that library, breaking changes in a core library is not a good thing but who knows maybe they had a good reason). Given all the issues that have been mentioned several times with the snap and my general dislike of the philosophy behind it I haven't bothered trying out the snap.

Conclusion: flatpak (or your distro's package if it exist and doesn't give trouble but I guess that's already discarded hence the question) for stable, appimage for master, sudo *insert your distro's package removal command* snapd ;)
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by adrianinsaval »

Kunda1 wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:50 pm Flatpak will not build any nightly builds.(it's against the policy of the Flathub IIRC)
true, it's theoretically posible to make a separate flatpak repo like the ppa that distributes daily builds however that's not happening in the near future unless someone puts the pants on and does it. So flatpak is great for stable but snap is the most convenient to install option for master while the appimage is probably better in terms of functionality and usage simplicity.
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ppd
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by ppd »

adrianinsaval wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:50 pm Conclusion: flatpak (or your distro's package if it exist and doesn't give trouble but I guess that's already discarded hence the question) for stable
Does the flatpak use the native file chooser, i.e. xdg-desktop-portal's dialog, or does it use the internal one?
Try FreeCAD from the Snap Store: Stable releases (in latest/stable) & daily builds (in latest/edge). Supports installing additional python packages via pip!
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Kunda1
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by Kunda1 »

adrianinsaval wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:05 pm
Kunda1 wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:50 pm Flatpak will not build any nightly builds.(it's against the policy of the Flathub IIRC)
true, it's theoretically posible to make a separate flatpak repo like the ppa that distributes daily builds however that's not happening in the near future unless someone puts the pants on and does it.
Indeed. Here's a proof of concept where flatpak generated a HEAD build
https://github.com/flathub/org.freecadw ... AD/pull/52
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Kunda1
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by Kunda1 »

ppd wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:26 pm Does the flatpak use the native file chooser, i.e. xdg-desktop-portal's dialog, or does it use the internal one?
You can also ask @hfiguiere on https://github.com/flathub/org.freecadweb.FreeCAD/
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adrianinsaval
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by adrianinsaval »

ppd wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:26 pm
adrianinsaval wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:50 pm Conclusion: flatpak (or your distro's package if it exist and doesn't give trouble but I guess that's already discarded hence the question) for stable
Does the flatpak use the native file chooser, i.e. xdg-desktop-portal's dialog, or does it use the internal one?
I had configured my FreeCAD to use the internal qt dialog even in the distro's package version for another reason (and I copied my config to the flatpak's) so it's using that, will check later what it uses when that option is not set.
Kunda1 wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:13 pm Indeed. Here's a proof of concept where flatpak generated a HEAD build
https://github.com/flathub/org.freecadw ... AD/pull/52
Yes I was actually having a look to that after I posted and I think it's possible to make automatic builds with github actions however I have no idea where I could host a repo or how to do it.
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bambuko
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by bambuko »

Thank you all for your replies.

It seems to me that much vaunted "better integration" of snap packages is a bit of a mirage :?
I had similar problems with flatpak packages (not FreeCAD) caused by sandboxing (also portal problems).

My conclusion from this discussion is that both snap and flatpak are good for stable, straight (i.e. everything where designers expect it), and
latest versions of OS. Plus of course one must be happy with automatic updates ;)

For everything else i.e. older OS, no-standard file locations, experimental, daily etc, etc, I am better off with appimage.
All the integration takes a bit more (not a lot) effort but it can be done and I feel much more in control.

Of course it is subjective, biased (an possibly misinformed) :mrgreen:
but I will stick with appimages - thank you :ugeek:
I am using Link branch and Assembly3
you can also download ... and try it here
excellent Assembly3 tutorials here
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bambuko
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Re: appimage, flatpak, snap

Post by bambuko »

ppd wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:26 pm Does the flatpak use the native file chooser, i.e. xdg-desktop-portal's dialog, or does it use the internal one?
I am not really qualified to answer, but....
my chosen distro is very hot on flatpak, so I tried some at first and immediately had problems which were suggested/diagnosed as a consequence of flatpak packaging and sandboxing and a suspicion about a choice of portal it was using... :roll: :oops:
Installing non-flatpak version solved the problems ;)
I am using Link branch and Assembly3
you can also download ... and try it here
excellent Assembly3 tutorials here
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