bauh (formerly known as fpakman) - A GUI for Flatpak and Snap management

vfm90 · 6 September 2019 15:32

Guys,

I started the fpakman project more or less a month ago with the idea of giving a graphical interface to manage Flatpaks for Manjaro users.
To not get stuck only with Flatpaks, I have decided to support other packaging technologies. I have just released the version 0.4.0 supporting Snaps. I improved the abstractions on this release to make future packaging integrations easier. This version also contains several improvements and bug fixes. For those who do not know the project, it is hosted on GitHub (https://github.com/vinifmor/fpakman). You can install it via AUR (fpakman) or pip (pip install fpakman). It can work as an alternative to GnomeSoftware or KDE Discovery.

Here are some pictures of this version:

panel

panel_2

search_2

icon_meu

For the next release I'm thinking about refactoring the code and modularize it, so the user can install only the extensions associated with the wanted packaging types (in this release you can enable / disable a packaging type through parameters). The idea is to look something like: fpakman (main application), fpakman-flatpak (adds support to flatpak), fpakman-snap, etc... Also the tray icon may become a separate application (fpakman-tray). Supporting other packaging types is also in my mind. Anyway, any doubt, suggestion or bug, feel free to reach me on GitHub.

papajoke · 25 July 2019 18:27

why parse snap webstore ? is not safe. Exists a officiel api as flatpack and work well

vfm90 · 25 July 2019 18:34

I'm parsing to get the icons. But it's possible to disable this feature via env variables or parameters. I'm working on a better approach to read from the disk directly for the next release. The Snap client is currently not as good as Flatpak's.

papajoke · 25 July 2019 18:39

icon in api

https://search.apps.ubuntu.com/api/v1/search?q=vlc

vfm90 · 25 July 2019 18:42

I did not find this search API when I was studying the integration. I'm going to adapt the code to work with it as soon as possible and publish a fix release. Thank you.

papajoke · 25 July 2019 18:55

https://docs.ubuntu.com/core/en/reference/rest

all database https://search.apps.ubuntu.com/api/v1/search

And for appimages, i found only this poor (no version) database

vfm90 · 25 July 2019 21:00

0.4.1 already published using Ubuntu search API instead of parsing SnapStore data.

Yochanan · 25 July 2019 22:07

Moved from #showcase to #manjaro-development:projects since it's a project created for Manjaro users. Also so it doesn't get lost amongst all the desktop screenshots & wallpapers

FYI, you don't need to use provides & conflicts in your fpakman PKGBUILD. A package provides itself and conflicts with itself by default. Your fpakman-staging PKGBUILD is done correctly in that regard.

Sinister · 26 July 2019 01:07

Hi @vfm90!
Thanks for the nice app. Very nice work! It's been nice to have this to manage a couple of flatpaks I've been tinkering with.

I did have a question for you. Where would you prefer feedback? Here or Github? easier tracking on github I assume?

I don't have any bug reports (It's never crashed or freaked out on me) but just some feedback on little things.

vfm90 · 26 July 2019 13:00

Thank you, @Sinister. It's nice to hear that the app has been useful for you. You are right, I believe GitHub is a better place to discuss features, bugs and improvements. We also can address and track them better.

torbido · 26 July 2019 17:41

What is the language you used to write this software? And what did you use to build the gui?

vfm90 · 26 July 2019 18:12

It is written in Python3 and Qt5.

Yochanan · 27 July 2019 13:26

fpkaman got featured on the Manjaro Twitter!

It's also in the Manjaro community repo now:

HougeLangley · 27 July 2019 05:21

Install and launch. When click "Manage appications" the window closed.

ManuVice · 27 July 2019 10:50

Should be fixed with next update. I have the same issue. You can try out staging release. Works well

linux-aarhus · 27 July 2019 11:02

On Manjaro you should not use pip install as it requires you to use sudo which can possibly create file conlicts on later installs.

Other than that for the efforts.

rexmalcolm · 27 July 2019 14:56

Just installed it and installed QGis. Worked like a charm! Well done!

vfm90 · 28 July 2019 01:03

Great @Yochanan ! I will be publishing 0.4.2 tomorrow probably. It is going to fix this "index error" issue that happens to some users.

vfm90 · 28 July 2019 01:06

@linux-aarhus you are completely right. My intention was to inform that is also available in PyPi and you can install it with pip. The project README file shows how you can install with pip in a "sandboxed" way using a virtualenv.

servimo · 28 July 2019 14:15

I made this questions about fpakman:

Appears only Flatpak checked, Apps I could not check and did not even appears Snap to check.