[digiKam-users] flatpak instructions (for the README file)

[Peter Teuben]

Another surprise (at least for Kubuntu):    I installed both the flatpak 
and the native app. And the GUI launcher where you type "digikam" only 
shows one, the beta luckily.   But on the command line i can still 
execute digikam natively.

This sounds like a bug to me inthe Kubuntu system (or it's yet another 
setting)  How do others fare here, dare I ask ?

It should be commented (and I will do that) that if you are running 
both, they will perhaps look at the same digikam4.db file, and this 
could lead to surprises. I keep a backup in case it got mangled, which 
it did in my case before I knew about the flatseal permissions I needed, 
as I lost whole albums and they would need to be rebuilt!

- peter


On 6/1/20 1:04 PM, Stuart T Rogers wrote:
> Just to point out that openSUSE installs flatpak by default, at least 
> it does on Tumbleweed. Also if you use the command line to override 
> the filesystem to allow directory access flatseal does not see the 
> override when you start it.
>
> Also found at leats on Tumbleweed when installing digikam it 
> overwrites the menu entry for digikam if already installed via your OS.
>
> Stuart
>
> On 01/06/2020 17:30, Peter Teuben wrote:
>>
>> I wanted to start a new thread, with the intend to spiffing up the 
>> README file that Gilles started on 
>> https://invent.kde.org/graphics/digikam/-/tree/master/project/bundles/flatpak 
>>
>>
>> Here is my writeup, still a little KDE (kubuntu w/ plasma) centric, 
>> but with the intent to be command line driven as much as possible. I 
>> invite anybody to comment and me or somebody will edit the README.md 
>> file
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> You need admin permission to install the flatpak infrastructure
>>
>>        sudo apt install flatpak
>>        flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub 
>> https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
>>
>> and on Kubuntu there is a optional GUI based discovery tool
>>
>>        sudo apt install plasma-discover-flatpak-backend
>>
>> after rebooting (it claims), you can then do your user installs
>>
>>        flatpak install flathub org.kde.digikam
>>
>> This will install your apps in ~/.var/app.   Also perhaps import that 
>> note that any config
>> files live there (e.g. ~/.var/app/org.kde.digikam/config/digikamrc 
>> and your settings in
>> ~/.config/digikamrc are out of visibility)
>>
>> running the app goes as follows
>>
>>        flatpak run org.kde.digikam
>>
>> Since flatpak's run in a restricted environment, you will find that 
>> not all directories
>> can be see by the digikam collections (/home and /media are 
>> exceptions), and you will not
>> be able to launch gimp for example. To edit these settings there is 
>> flatseal to the rescue:
>>
>>        flatpak install flathub flatseal
>>
>> which I then read you can either use a command line (but as root, 
>> this I still find confusing)
>>
>>        sudo flatpak override org.kde.digikam --filesystem=/Photos
>>
>> or use the GUI
>>
>>        "launch flatseal, select digiKam", add to "Other files" or 
>> select "All system files"
>>        Those will be stored in 
>> ~/.local/share/flatpak/overrides/org.kde.digikam
>>
>> now you can run flatpack and see your oddly named /Photos directory
>>
>>        flatpak run org.kde.digikam
>>
>> More information on flatpak, and flatseal permission settings on
>>
>> https://www.linux.com/training-tutorials/how-install-and-use-flatpak-linux/ 
>>
>> https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/sandbox-permissions.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>