Packagers

How to add an app to FlatPark and keep it working. Read in this order: finding apps, can it be packaged?, what a package is (the files, what runs when, and the extra-data rule), choosing a format and the page for the download you picked, prebuilt stacks for libraries the runtime lacks, permissions, common problems when something doesn’t work, then submitting an app to build, test and open the PR, and cleaning up after a run. The packaging playbook is the full process an agent follows on every run.

• Finding appsWhere FlatPark finds apps worth packaging, how to check one is wanted and not already served, and how to choose between them.
• Can it be packaged?What an app needs before it can be listed, and when an app already on Flathub can be.
• What a package isWhat a FlatPark package is made of, what runs when, and why the app itself is never in it.
• Choosing a formatWhich of upstream's downloads to package, and which runtime goes with it.
• Prebuilt stacksShared support libraries built once in flatpark/prebuilt — what exists, when to use one, and how to add one.
• PermissionsWhich sandbox permissions a package grants, which it leaves to the user, and what has to be declared.
• Common problemsProblems packages run into inside the sandbox, what causes them, and the fixes that have worked, by symptom and by stack.
• Submitting an appBuild the package, test it locally, and open the pull request.
• Cleaning up after a runRemoving everything a packaging, review or test run left on the machine, and nothing else.
• Packaging playbookThe full process an agent follows on every packaging run, from candidate to listed app.