An error occurred while making for target: flatpak

[zigazajc007]

Pre-flight checklist

• [X] I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• [X] I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
• [X] I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Electron Forge version

6.0.0-beta.61

Electron version

15.0.0

Operating system

Zorin OS and POP OS 21.04 -> Doesn't work on any of those OS.

Last known working Electron Forge version

Never

Expected behavior

Be able to create flatpak file.

Actual behavior

I have flatpak, flatpak-builder and also elfutils (eu-strip) installed. It provide me with an error:

✖ Making for target: flatpak - On platform: linux - For arch: x64

An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
An error occured while making for target: flatpak
flatpak failed with status code 1
Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/ziga/Documents/Projects/Passky/Passky-Desktop/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:domain:475:12)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)

Steps to reproduce

1. Clone repository: https://github.com/Rabbit-Company/Passky-Desktop

2. Add "@electron-forge/maker-flatpak": "^6.0.0-beta.61" to devDependencies in package.json file

3. Add this json code to js/forge.config.js file:

    {
       "name": '@electron-forge/maker-flatpak',
       "config": {
         "options": {
           "categories": ['Utility']
         }
       }
     }

4. Run npm i to install all dependencies

5. Than run npm run make.

Result of npm run make:

> passky@4.0.1 make
> electron-forge make

✔ Checking your system
✔ Resolving Forge Config
We need to package your application before we can make it
✔ Preparing to Package Application for arch: x64
✔ Preparing native dependencies
✔ Packaging Application
Making for the following targets: deb, rpm, flatpak
✔ Making for target: deb - On platform: linux - For arch: x64
✔ Making for target: rpm - On platform: linux - For arch: x64
✖ Making for target: flatpak - On platform: linux - For arch: x64

An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
An error occured while making for target: flatpak
flatpak failed with status code 1
Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/ziga/Documents/Projects/Passky/Passky-Desktop/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:domain:475:12)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)

Additional information

No response

[WhizzoCode]

Same here in Fedora 34

[Kurtoid]

Reproduced w/ Arch latest

[TheIceCreamBear]

Im getting the same issue on Ubuntu 20.04 with very similar steps and electron version 15.1.1

[Progdrasil]

seems similar to #1702

[jochy]

I got the same issue. I managed to make it work by installing some flatpaks things :

sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder elfutils
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
sudo flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform//21.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk//21.08 -y
sudo flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/19.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/19.08 org.electronjs.Electron2.BaseApp/x86_64/stable -y

[zigazajc007]

I got the same issue. I managed to make it work by installing some flatpaks things :

sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder elfutils
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
sudo flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform//21.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk//21.08 -y
sudo flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform/x86_64/19.08 org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/19.08 org.electronjs.Electron2.BaseApp/x86_64/stable -y

I'm now using Fedora as my daily driver and still doesn't work. I have installed those flatpaks and still don't build.

[nkallen]

I can't get this to work either...

[alariej]

Interestingly, I'm trying to build a flatpak using electron-builder --linux flatpak and I get the exact same error. I tried changing node / npm versions: no luck. Also installed the flatpaks suggested by @jochy above: no luck. I'm on Ubuntu 21.10, node 16.11.0, npm 8.1.0. Perhaps @malept has an idea?

  • electron-builder  version=22.14.13 os=5.13.0-35-generic
  • loaded configuration  file=/home/jfa/quadrix/builder-flatpak.json
  • writing effective config  file=dist/builder-effective-config.yaml
  • packaging       platform=linux arch=x64 electron=17.1.2 appOutDir=dist/linux-unpacked
  • building        target=flatpak arch=x64 file=dist/quadrix-0.6.4-x86_64.flatpak
  ⨯ flatpak failed with status code 1  failedTask=build stackTrace=Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/jfa/quadrix/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)

[zigazajc007]

I'm not using electron-builder for flatpaks anymore.

You can create your own .yml file and use flatpak-builder build file.yml --install --force-clean --user command.

Here is the example that I made: https://github.com/flathub/com.rabbit_company.passky

If you make it like that, you can also publish your flatpak to their official repository.

[nkallen]

Thanks for the tip! But are you sure we should close the ticket? It seems like this is still a bug in electron-forge

[zigazajc007]

Thanks for the tip! But are you sure we should close the ticket? It seems like this is still a bug in electron-forge

I will open it, but to be honest you will never see flatpaks distributed as files. There will always be downloaded from the repository. So the way I have suggested it the only "correct" way of making and distributing flatpaks.

On websites for projects that support Linux, they usually provide .deb, .rpm, .appImage, but never .flatpak. They will always link you to the flatpak repository.

[AlexShemeshWix]

Whats the satus on this one?

[Xananax]

There are good reasons to want to build a flatpak as part of the regular CI, some of which are: being part of the same CI pipeline, using the same options, tooling, pre-processing, and so on (I don't think explaining the benefits of a consistent build pipeline is necessary).

There are also good reasons why a flatpak wouldn't be distributed on Flathub, some of which are: internal tooling, or app in beta trial, or simply not wanting to.

A lot of (betas, alphas) flatpaks are distributed outside of Flathub.

Treating the bug like that is not the right course of action, but if there's no interest in fixing it, claiming Flatpak support is misleading, and it must be removed from the doc.

[goknsh]

The following works for me:

sudo apt-get install -y flatpak flatpak-builder elfutils
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
git config --global --add protocol.file.allow always

[OpenSauce04]

Replicated on fresh Manjaro KDE install, simply running this command fixed it for me: flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

[Fran89]

Replicated on fresh Manjaro KDE install, simply running this command fixed it for me: flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

This did it, feel free to close it unless it doesn't work for someone else.

[kaubu]

Replicated on fresh Manjaro KDE install, simply running this command fixed it for me: flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists --user flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Worked for me, thank you.

[coredev-uk]

Still getting it on v7.5.0 after running the command mentioned previously.