A reader of the last post asked this question:
So, since the flatpak install isn’t found on libreoffice.org, where does one find it? Who puts it together? Does it update “automatically”?
For that matter, why is it that it seems most of the software doesn’t keep up with upgrades in Ubuntu Software? Admittedly, I’m on Ubuntu 20.04, but that’s mainly because I allowed Ubuntu to decide how to install and it didn’t create a partition large enough to upgrade to 22.04. Thank you very much.
Flatpak is now pretty widespread. I’m going to answer the installation question by showing how to install it with Linux Mint, Fedora, and then from the web directly. Here’s how a flatpak installable application looks with Linux Mint’s Software Manager.
As you can see for the LibreOffice entry, there’s a drop-down right beneath the illustration to select how the application is packaged. For Linux Mint applications there are only two; system package or Flatpak (Flathub). System package will be DEB (Debian) packages. If you want to switch from system to flatpak, then you can use the Software Manger to remove the existing system packages installation, then select flatpak, and install the flatpak version.
For another distribution, I’ll show you how Fedora (Fedora 38 in this instance) handles all this. I’m running Fedora 38 as a QEMU virtual machine on my Linux Mint system.
Although I’m showing Inkscape in this example, it’s the same everywhere. It, too, offers two selections, either system package RPM or flatpak.
Finally, the question that was originally asked was how to download it from the LibreOffice website. The answer is you don’t. Instead, you are given a link from the main (landing) page of the LibreOffice website with a download menu. Click “Download”, scroll down to “LibreOffice as Flatpak,” then click to go to a full page describing how to get the flatpak version. There is a direct link to Flathub where you can finally install it: here’s the link: https://flathub.org/apps/org.libreoffice.LibreOffice .
Flatpak is pretty ubiquitous these days. After experiencing this one example, I’m now fully comfortable with using flatpak for just about everything.
Update
As for why Ubuntu doesn’t keep up with the latest updates, it both does and doesn’t. If you choose an LTS release such as 20.04 or 22.04 (April on even numbered years) then you’ll be stuck with whatever that LTS first shipped with. If you install any other Ubuntu release on their six month cadence, then you’ll get more up-to-date pakage releases.
Personally, I’ve long since fallen away from Ubuntu because of a number of their take-it-or-leave-it decisions that rubbed me the wrong way. The latest is the decision by Ubuntu to use Snap instead of Flatpak for everything, and to remove Flatpak from a default installation. You can easily install Flatpak and continue installing from Flatpak, but the native support for Flatpak that you find in other distributions, such as Linux Mint and Fedora, won’t be there. Before you ask, Linux Mint intends to continue using Flatpak, even though it’s downstream from Ubuntu. I personally hope that Linux Mint will make the final migration to Debian, as I feel their LMDR (Linux Mint Debian Release) is as good as anything based on Ubuntu.
Thank you! I hadn’t seen the “LibreOffice as Flatpak” on the website since it’s not under the download for the latest version but off to the side on down the page. Ubuntu Software doesn’t appear to have the option at all but, of course, I could just not be seeing it there either.
I appreciate the Update, too. I don’t experiment much with other packages, mostly as I don’t have the wherewithall to work through all the issues with changing, making sure the software I enjoy using and rely on works (each one of them!), etc. I did download Linux Mint a while ago based on some recent posts of yours but haven’t gotten up the nerve to mess with it.
Always enjoy your writings and perspective. Thanks!
Merle
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You’re welcome.
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