Talk:Install applications from Flatpak

Remove obsolete page

With the additional Flatpak details on Install applications from Flatpak and the removal of the reference to this page, this page should be removed. A page detailing history and nuances of Flatpak use on Ubuntu could be useful, but this page is not well suited to this purpose.

To illustrate this, here are some examples:

...applications that you can install using Flatpak.

The command is flatpak, not Flatpak, which is the name of the package format.

Many Ubuntu users install additional applications as Flatpaks alongside deb and snap packages

Applications distributed as flatpaks are not "additional" or installed "alongside" either deb or snap packages. We can replace default installed deb and/or snap packaged applications with flatpaks, install flatpaks of applications which aren't available as one or both package formats, or install the same application packed in any of these formats on the same host. Some don't use snaps.

The recommended usage of Flatpak on Ubuntu ... manage Flatpaks using the Bazaar store.

There are too many things wrong with the details and presumptions to address each here. Using flatpaks on Ubuntu is exactly the same as on almost all other Linux platforms, which is substantially the point of this package format. A graphical software management tool on various Ubuntu versions may handle flatpaks well, partially, or not at all, and such features will change over time.

The Bazar repo (referenced by the correct name) has been archived, the project moved to the GNOME Gitlab, and the reference should be to the Bazar application of Flathub and/or project web site, not the code base. While I have no experience with or opinion of Bazar, it should not be presented as the recommended method of managing flatpaks on ubuntu.

Enable the Flathub repository

This instruction was already on the "parent" page before it was updated. Maintaining multiple versions of the same instructions is a bad idea.

Restart your system for all changes to take effect.

There is nothing to restart for flatpak or applications to work.

Ajcxz0 (talk) 00:55, 1 October 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your input @Ajcxz0.

I've alerted the original author about your comments so that they can respond.

I'm not an expert on flatpaks and you seem to raise some points worth considering. As I've stated elsewhere, we need to be cautious about deleting pages, and there may still be ways to improve the page. So this warrants discussion.

Comments like the following are not constructive:

> This isn't flatpak for Windows.

> I've not illustrated the poor writing for the obvious reasons, but they start with the page title and finish with the last sentence.

Anyone who has spent the time writing a page on the wiki is making a contribution to the Ubuntu community when they could have been doing something else. And we want them to continue contributing without facing scathing criticism.

I'm not sure how the comment about Windows is helpful.

Without commenting on the technical aspects of the page, saying that the entire page is poorly written, from start to finish, seems like unduly excessive criticism, based on my reading of the page.

The two first points in the Ubuntu Code of Conduct are: be considerate and be respectful.

Please keep that in mind the next time you take issue with a contribution on the wiki. Shanecrowley (talk) 10:16, 14 October 2026 (UTC)

Your feedback is welcome and I concur that the tone was unnecessarily critical and insufficiently respectful to the original author. I have updated the entire comment to a more neutral tone and removed nonconstructive commentary.

I trust that others will join the discussion to give additional perspective on the page and my proposal to delete it, or maybe rewrite it in such a way as to add value without redundancy.

PS. When editing my comment, I was able to edit the entire page including your reply, using Edit source. This seems like something which I should be unable to do. Ajcxz0 (talk) 19:02, 14 October 2026 (UTC)

Thank you!

Yes, these wiki discussion pages are essentially just regular wiki pages, so they can be edited like any other.

So the assumption is that most people are good faith actors here and won't edit/delete the comments of others; if they do, that would likely be a blockable offence and the changes would be reverted.

It might be something we look into creating an automated filter for, but it could be tricky to do so without side effects. For example, it's possible to prevent people from deleting or blanking text from discussion pages, but, of course, there are valid reasons to do so. We'll think about it. Thanks again. Shanecrowley (talk) 20:44, 14 October 2026 (UTC)