I’ve been involved with Linux for a long time, and Flatpak almost seems too good to be true:
Just install any app on any distro, isolated from the base system and with granular rights management. I’ve just set up my first flatpak-centric system and didn’t notice any issues with it at all, apart from a 1-second waiting time before an app is launched.
What’s your long-term experience?
Notice any annoying bugs or instabilities? Do apps crash a lot? Disappear from Flathub or are unmaintained? Do you often have issues with apps that don’t integrate well with your native system? Are important apps missing?
As a local fix, you could set up an alias. Open .bashrc and add the following line:
alias firefox="flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox"So now you have to do that every time you install a flatpak.
Or just stick to a normal package manager, that does all that for you.
You could do the free software thing and write a shell script that creates an alias every time you install something.
Or use one that someone else has already written:
https://opensource.com/article/21/5/launch-flatpaks-linux-terminal
Frankly? I’d rather stick to a normal package manager too, if available. But the alias trick is useful in a pinch, if you must use a flatpak.