I usually try to stay out of the whole snap vs flatpak discussion. Although I am just really confused as to why flatpak just does not seem to care about usability. You’re trying to create a universal packaging format I would think the point of it is that a user can just install an app and after reviewing permissions it should “just work”.
There are so many issues that yes, have simple solutions, but why are these issues here in the first place.
These are the issues that I have encountered that annoy me:
- Themes, cursors being inconsistent (needs to be fixed manually with flatpak --user override
- IDE’s are unusable without extensions
At least snap provides an option --classic to make the app work. Please explain to me why flatpak just evidently refuses to take this same approach.
No reason why Flatpak can’t create such an API though so that new applications can use it, older applications can eventually switch to, etc. We’re already seeing adoption of things like xdg-desktop-portal so it isn’t that out of the question.
Yes, but this takes time and still has to work with applications that dont support it. Where Anrdoid can just force everyone that wants to create an app to use their API. So it is harder for flatpack to encourage everyone to adpot it.
Of course, it will definitely take time to transition over, but that’s the case for all APIs in the PC ecosystem. I am a firm believer of “if you build it people will come” and I am sure a well integrated Flatpak permissions system with good UX is a convincing argument for a lot of apps to switch over.