Run Flatpak apps by search filter or through fuzzy finder menu

Dirk, 1 month ago

That’s simple bash completion but with extra steps :)

thingsiplay, 1 month ago

Not really, because the search term can match anywhere in the name. Also it searches in executable name (app id) and the app name, a descriptive text. So its more than a Bash completion would be.

mwguy, 1 month ago

Can we just have flatpak apps added to the system path by default? Like have a directory /usr/local/flatpak/bin and have links to all the executable show up there. Then users can choose to add that to their path if they wish.

thingsiplay, 1 month ago

We have that already: $ ls “/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/”

mwguy, 1 month ago

Well now I feel silly. Brb changing my default path.

thingsiplay, 1 month ago

No need to feel silly. If you didn’t ask, you wouldn’t learn about it. I learned about it yesterday in the post where I initially gave the first version of the script. It’s a documentation issue I would say, in some way. Such an important part should have been made clear for every user.

I “insist” you feel not sorry, because I’m in the same boat as you. :D

Dirk, 1 month ago

… and this part is before /usr/local/bin making it impossible to override Flatpak bins or desktop files.

thingsiplay, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

One can just move the path to another place in the $PATH. Not really impossible. Not an elegant solution, just proof of concept:

<span style="font-weight:bold;color:#a71d5d;">export </span><span style="color:#323232;">PATH</span><span style="font-weight:bold;color:#a71d5d;">=</span><span style="color:#183691;">"$(</span><span style="color:#62a35c;">echo </span><span style="color:#183691;">"${</span><span style="color:#323232;">PATH</span><span style="color:#183691;">}" </span><span style="font-weight:bold;color:#a71d5d;">| </span><span style="color:#323232;">sed </span><span style="color:#183691;">'s+:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin++'):/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin"
</span>

Edit:

Or if it makes you uncomfortable to change the placement of this folder in the $PATH, instead you can just add a new directory solely for this purpose. In example add “/home/yourname/.local/flatpak/bin” (or whatever else you like) and put it in front of the flatpak exports directory.

barbara, 1 month ago

those commands are gold! Thank you for sharing! Saved them. They work flawlessly so far.

If flatpak search would work with fzf, it would be easier to use and faster than GNOME software

edit:

I added echo “${app}” to flatapp in order to print the app in terminal to have a visual response which app will run. (some apps take some seconds to open on my slow machine)

thingsiplay, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

I thought about additional echo for confirmation too! I will add it too (give me 2 minutes), but it will output to stderr, so it’s not part of regular output.

Edit: So I added

<span style="color:#62a35c;">echo </span><span style="color:#183691;">"flatpak run" "${</span><span style="color:#323232;">app</span><span style="color:#183691;">}" "${</span><span style="color:#323232;">@</span><span style="color:#183691;">}" </span><span style="font-weight:bold;color:#a71d5d;">>&</span><span style="color:#323232;">amp</span><span style="font-weight:bold;color:#a71d5d;">;</span><span style="color:#323232;">2
</span>

, which as said will output to stderr instead. And I also decided to add flatpak run and the arguments too, but that’s just an “aesthetic” choice.

thingsiplay, 1 month ago

Hey, I just created a search with fzf menu for install or uninstall app. It’s not pretty, because its a bit unorganized looking and I could not find a good and easy way to solve this. But it seems to be working so far.

flatsearch

barbara, 1 month ago

That is awesome as well. Incredible what you can do with just a few lines of code.