I used to like them because of the sandboxing.

Now I don’t like them, because of the sandboxing. And the slow updates.

(I still use them because some programs are not available in my distro’s repository)

Pretty much lukewarm.

If I can install the same program from a .deb I’ll do it, even if it’s outdated. But if there’s only a flatpak version I’ll use it.

Ehhhh… for me they’re mostly annoying due to the permission issues. I prefer system native packages where I can, followed by appimage, and flatpak last, unless it’s an app that won’t need access to my PC beyond the standard permissions flatpaks get, in which case flatpak moves up to 2nd place, just cause I can get them through the GUI package manager lol

Personally I like them when they work well enough for my needs

I don’t mind the space issues, but sometimes they still have odd quirks. They keep getting better though :)

But I don’t have any issues with native packages so I often choose them when available. Lots of the time I don’t really pay attention and just grab whatever’s in the software store and use that until I have a problem lol

I generally install apps (graphical programs I guess) using flatpak, and then anything non-graphical or system-related programs using the native package manager. The main exception is apps that already have a sandbox like Firefox or Chromium, which I install using the native package manager to avoid weakening their native sandbox.

My main gripe with flatpaks is the sandboxing kind of sucks, but it’s still better than nothing. The other issue is apps will sometimes take a long time to move off EOL dependencies.

Fuck Fedora for repacking flathub flatpaks as their own and forcing users to use their remote instead of flathub. That’s really my only feelings.

Anyway, as an Atomic Bazzite user, I love em.

Means I don’t have to yuck up my image with more rpm OSTree layers. Bazaar is awesome. 😉

I don’t have any files on my OS drive and that is 1tb large. I have never had issues with space on that drive. What I mainly like about flatpak is that you usually get the latest version. Also not giving every app full system access during installation is reassuring, not just because of malware but because of package(updates) that break your system during to a bug

I prefer guix packages. Solves the same problem, but without data duplication.

Not a huge fan, because they never seem to integrate quite as I expect.

I have used them for apps that I just can’t get running otherwise though

I’ve used them before, and they work aside from a lack of integration with other programs. Same as any other isolation system (like Snap).

My main problem is a lack of digital signatures on the packages. Deb, RPM, everything else is digitally signed, and has been for a long time. Flatpaks should be signed too.

I’m pro flatpak it seems the best solution for the job. It saves devs compiling software for every single distro. This reduces wasted effort and also has a significant environmental benefit in reducing cpu energy use on compiling. Additionally the convinience and compatibility are great.

Don’t really care about the file size, storage is cheap. If you do care due to your hardware situation I can see it being annoying though.

Im looking more at appimage but would love something that organizes it like portableapps does for windows.

I recently wrote about this in my setup post (which is not yet complete) so for a more detailed answer - https://sga.codeberg.page/setup.html#loc-13

and for a summary - space usage is one of the reasons for me not using it, but there are more reasons. and many of these can be solved if flatpak uses some for of compression (squashfs/dwarfs) and smartly mount the required flatpak archives. This is one the best things that snap does, but they do many things wrong the other way.

I prefer native builds when possible, since they tend to be more streamlined and tailored for my distro (e.g. window borders, colors, and buttons all match).

But Flatpak is a good fallback. It’s a lot to ask of maintainers to keep up more than a few builds, at least on small / low-budget projects. The occasional permission issues are a minor price for a huge convenience.

IMO apt, pacman, and Flathub are all about equally straightforward to use once you acclimate a little.

I worked security while we created and shipped an enterprise linux distro and maintained AT&T Unix.

Flatpaks, even at their best, break Single Source of Truth for installed state. This alone should invalidate them, but they also don’t validate contents against a signed manifest like proper packages will, and so the supply-chain exploits are a huge risk.

But if all your friends do risky things and you need to join them, then you be you.