I am using Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon Edition on X11 using
Software Manger 8.4.0.
To get recent versions of certain apps/ software, I often install flatpaks (flathub) via the Software Manager.
Recently I discovered that some of my flapak-Apps, which I used successfully in the past, suddenly stopped launching.
I had this issue with the following apps:
Okular
Kate
Xournal++
When I tried to launch these apps from the terminal via flatpak run, depending on the app, different errors messages were displayed.
For me, as a user, it was not clear what caused the problems and what was the (common) cause of these different error-messages.
After some research and bug reports (e.g. for Kate) I discovered that the issue has been caused by
new default permissions for certain flatpaks.
Recently, some flatpaks changed their default permissions and do not grant the permission to access X11 any more. (In the past X11 worked just fine)
Background:
This is likely due to the fact that KDE and Gnome both moved from X11 to Wayland as a display manager.
As a consequence, developers start to disable X11 permissions by default, in their flatpak builds.
For the future, my guess is that a growing number of flatpak apps will face this issue.
Workaround:
On the command line (or using Flatseal) it is straightforward to grant the necessary permissions, e.g. for Kate, the following
command resolved the issue. :
flatpak override --user --share=ipc --socket=x11 org.kde.kate
Expected behaviour:
The Software Manger should check the permissions when installing flatpaks.
If the desktop environment is running on X11 (and Wayland is permitted) - the Software Manger should
either:
Warn about possible issues (required X11 permission is missing) and provide a hint on how to resolve this issue.
or better:
Software Manager should set the required permissions (semi-) automatically.
E.g. via a new dialogue: "Grand permissions to run the $App in $Cinnamon (X11)?" Yes / No
I am using Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon Edition on X11 using
Software Manger 8.4.0.
To get recent versions of certain apps/ software, I often install flatpaks (flathub) via the Software Manager.
Recently I discovered that some of my flapak-Apps, which I used successfully in the past, suddenly stopped launching.
I had this issue with the following apps:
Okular
Kate
Xournal++
When I tried to launch these apps from the terminal via
flatpak run, depending on the app, different errors messages were displayed.For me, as a user, it was not clear what caused the problems and what was the (common) cause of these different error-messages.
After some research and bug reports (e.g. for Kate) I discovered that the issue has been caused by
new default permissions for certain flatpaks.
Recently, some flatpaks changed their default permissions and do not grant the permission to access X11 any more. (In the past X11 worked just fine)
Background:
This is likely due to the fact that KDE and Gnome both moved from X11 to Wayland as a display manager.
As a consequence, developers start to disable X11 permissions by default, in their flatpak builds.
For the future, my guess is that a growing number of flatpak apps will face this issue.
Workaround:
On the command line (or using Flatseal) it is straightforward to grant the necessary permissions, e.g. for Kate, the following
command resolved the issue. :
flatpak override --user --share=ipc --socket=x11 org.kde.kateExpected behaviour:
The Software Manger should check the permissions when installing flatpaks.
If the desktop environment is running on X11 (and Wayland is permitted) - the Software Manger should
either:
Warn about possible issues (required X11 permission is missing) and provide a hint on how to resolve this issue.
or better:
Software Manager should set the required permissions (semi-) automatically.
E.g. via a new dialogue: "Grand permissions to run the $App in $Cinnamon (X11)?" Yes / No