Flathub

For detailed information on how Flatpak works, you can read Building your first Flatpak

This guide assumes you want to distribute your Flatpak via Flathub, the most commonly used platform for Flatpak distribution. If you plan on using other platforms, please consult their documentation instead.

Prerequisites

To test your app inside the Flatpak runtime you can build the Flatpak locally first before uploading your app to Flathub. This can also be helpful if you want to quickly share development builds.

1. Install flatpak and flatpak-builder

To build Flatpaks locally you need the flatpak and flatpak-builder tools. For example on Ubuntu you can run this command:

sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder

sudo pacman -S --needed flatpak flatpak-builder

sudo dnf install flatpak flatpak-builder

sudo emerge --ask \
sys-apps/flatpak \
dev-util/flatpak-builder

2. Install the Flatpak Runtime

flatpak install flathub org.Gnome.Platform//46 org.Gnome.Sdk//46

3. Build the .deb of your tauri-app

4. Create the manifest

id: org.your.id

runtime: org.gnome.Platform
runtime-version: '46'
sdk: org.gnome.Sdk

command: tauri-app
finish-args:
  - --socket=wayland # Permission needed to show the window
  - --socket=fallback-x11 # Permission needed to show the window
  - --device=dri # OpenGL, not necessary for all projects
  - --share=ipc

modules:
  - name: binary
    buildsystem: simple
    sources:
      - type: file
        url: https://github.com/your_username/your_repository/releases/download/v1.0.1/yourapp_1.0.1_amd64.deb
        sha256: 08305b5521e2cf0622e084f2b8f7f31f8a989fc7f407a7050fa3649facd61469 # This is required if you are using a remote source
        only-arches: [x86_64] #This source is only used on x86_64 Computers
        # This path points to the binary file which was created in the .deb bundle.
        # Tauri also creates a folder which corresponds to the content of the unpacked .deb.
    build-commands:
      - ar -x *.deb
      - tar -xf data.tar.gz
      - 'install -Dm755 usr/bin/tauri-app /app/bin/tauri-app'
      - install -Dm644 usr/share/applications/yourapp.desktop /app/share/applications/org.your.id.desktop
      - install -Dm644 usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/yourapp.png /app/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/org.your.id.png
      - install -Dm644 usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/yourapp.png /app/share/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/org.your.id.png
      - install -Dm644 usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256@2/apps/yourapp.png /app/share/icons/hicolor/256x256@2/apps/org.your.id.png
      - install -Dm644 org.your.id.metainfo.xml /app/share/metainfo/org.your.id.rosary.metainfo.xml

The Gnome 46 runtime includes all dependencies of the standard Tauri app with their correct versions.

5. Install, and Test the app

# Install the flatpak
flatpak -y --user install <local repo name> <your flatpak id>

# Run it
flatpak run <your flatpak id>

# Update it
flatpak -y --user update <your flatpak id>

Adding additional libraries

If your final binary requires more libraries than the default tauri app, you need to add them in your flatpak manifest. There are two ways to do this. For fast local development, it may work to simply include the already built library file (.so) from your local system. However, this is not recommended for the final build of the flatpak, as your local library file is not built for the flatpak runtime environment. This can introduce various bugs that can be very hard to find. Therefore, it is recommended to build the library your program depends on from source inside the flatpak as a build step.

Submitting to flathub

1. Fork The Flathub Repository

2. Clone the Fork

git clone --branch=new-pr git@github.com:your_github_username/flathub.git

3. Enter the repository

cd flathub

4. Create a new branch

git checkout -b your_app_name

5. Add your apps manifest to the branch. Commit your changes, and then push them.

6. Open a pull request against the new-pr branch on github

7. Your app will now enter the review process in which you may be asked to make changes to your project.

When your pull request is approved then you will receive an invitation to edit your apps repository. From here on you can update your app continuously.

You can read more about this in the flatpak documentation