[Feature Request] Using AppImage / Flatpak to distribute Pharo / Pharo Launcher to ANY Linux

[astares]

APPIMAGE

There is an open source tool for packaging and running software on any Linux distribution It is called "AppImage" (see https://appimage.org/)

It is used by different IDEs / Editors now like https://www.cursor.so or well known graphics programs like the free Inkscape https://inkscape.org/ to provide a common download for all Linux versions.

There is also a Hub site for AppImages: https://www.appimagehub.com/

References

• https://appimage.org
• https://www.appimagehub.com/
• https://www.itprotoday.com/development-techniques-and-management/why-and-how-use-appimage-ubuntu

FLATPAK

There is also Flatpak:

• https://flatpak.org
• https://flathub.org/

which seemed to be used by Telegram, Inkscape and others.

Maybe we should check if one of these formats / registrations is useful for Pharo distributions like Pharo Launcher in the future (instead of deb, rpm, ... package zoo) and give more visibility to Pharo

[estebanlm]

linux world seems to be moving to flatpak, and I was about to add one for linux as I find a moment to spend. PL has another problem: its way of working just is not a match for linux (the download of VMs in particular), and it will need to be completely rethink with that in mind... then yes, a flatpak with it would be cool.

[astares]

[badetitou]

I also played with flatpak and Pharo trying to flatpak the pharo launcher

If I remember well the major problem I had was with file access right ( because you want that the packed stuffs are not modified and the .change file was modified. But I probably missed options )

I should look for what I did. I was able to have launcher, create image , and so on. But I missed only a little stuff...

[badetitou]

I pushed gere what I achieved for the PharoLauncher (it allows to run pharo launcher, download images, and start images using pharo launcher config... bug it does not solve all problems such as

• a common lib pack for every distro such as git libs...
• file access right of the pharo launcher image ) https://github.com/badetitou/PharoLauncher-Flatpak

GitHub

GitHub - badetitou/PharoLauncher-Flatpak

Contribute to badetitou/PharoLauncher-Flatpak development by creating an account on GitHub.

[estebanlm]

nice :) most programs deal with the RO problem by copying the file to modify outside the RO area (usually ~/Documents/something) and then pointing to there... we need to think how to solve this in Pharo, where is not so easy... :(

[estebanlm]

tbh, before PL I would "flatpakize" just the pharovm. This should be a lot easier than the rest, and a good starting point.

[badetitou]

I absolutely agree. It's just that since I maintain and always only use PL I first think about it. I dunno if it would be possible to ask the flapakized PL to install a flatpakized pharo-vm

[matburnx]

Snaps could also be considered, even though it's less appreciated by the Linux community overall. Moreover, its sandboxing is less strict as is Flatpak's so it could be easier to implement.

I still think that if we can manage to deploy it with Flatpak it would be better.