[Feat]: Official Flatpak package

[Introvertosaurus]

Prerequisites

• I have written a descriptive issue title
• I have searched existing issues to ensure the feature has not already been requested

🚀 Feature Proposal

Please add an official Flatpak package for Tabularis, ideally published through Flathub.

The current AppImage was not able to run successfully in a strict Firejail environment, and Snap is not commonly used or well integrated on many non-Ubuntu distributions. Flatpak would provide a standard sandboxed installation option with clearer permission controls and broader compatibility across Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, and other Linux distributions.

This would make Tabularis much easier to install and use securely for a wider range of Linux users.

Motivation

I wanted to try Tabularis on Fedora KDE, but I was unable to run the AppImage successfully inside a restricted Firejail environment. For newer applications, I prefer to limit access until I have had a chance to evaluate them.

Example

No response

[debba]

I will definetely do it.
tbh, I've wanted to dedicate some time to it for quite a while, but I've been absorbed by other tasks and never really got around to it.
Keep you updated

[debba]

Hi @Introvertosaurus , good news: work on the official Flatpak package is well underway. 🎉

I've opened a draft PR (#327) with a build-from-source Flatpak (the approach Flathub prefers), fully offline with vendored Rust + pnpm dependencies:

• Manifest io.github.tabularisdb.Tabularis.yml on the org.gnome.Platform//50 runtime (node22 + rust-stable SDK extensions)
• AppStream metainfo + desktop entry
• Vendored sources (cargo-sources.json, node-sources.json) + a script to regenerate them
• A flathub.yml CI workflow that, on each release, regenerates the sources, pins the tag/commit and opens a PR on the Flathub repo — same automated flow we already use for AUR

I've built and run it locally end-to-end: it compiles offline and launches correctly in production mode. Regarding your Firejail/sandbox concern, the Flatpak ships with scoped permissions (network, Wayland/X11, org.freedesktop.secrets for the keychain, ssh-auth for SSH tunnels, and home access for opening DB files / dumps), and the in-app auto-updater is automatically disabled under Flatpak so updates come from Flathub.

Next step: I'm now working through the Flathub submission process (the one-time upstream repo creation and review). I'll keep this issue posted as that progresses.

[Introvertosaurus]

I was able to build and run the Flatpak successfully using the your PR. Everything appears to be working correctly so far. Thanks for the quick response and for already having this so far along.

[debba]

You're welcome!

Unfortunately, we were rejected by Flathub right away. I have to admit that I automated the process with Claude, so that's partly on me as well, but it seemed like something that should be automatable.

flathub/flathub#9007

If you happen to have the time or interest to take a look at this and help move it forward, I'd really appreciate it.

[Introvertosaurus]

Looking into it a little bit, with that very unhelpful flathub mod's personal site... They mention they have a check in place to see if submission by pass the template as a way to catch LLM submissions. They seem to take a pretty stern view of anything AI related including AI assisted code.

[jing2uo]

Hi @debba — first off, I really love Tabularis. It's genuinely great; I've already uninstalled DBeaver. 🙂

Following the Flathub thread (flathub/flathub#9007), I wanted to offer something for the users asking for Flatpak here.

I maintain flatpark.org, a public Flatpak hub that's actively maintained and explicitly welcomes AI-assisted apps. Tabularis is already packaged and live there: https://flatpark.org/apps/dev.tabularis.Tabularis/ (currently v0.13.2 on org.gnome.Platform 50). So Flatpak users don't have to wait on Flathub — there's a working option today.

Being upfront about what it is and isn't:

• It's an unofficial package — not endorsed by you, and separate from your Flathub effort.
• It does not build from source the way your Flathub PR does. It uses Flatpak extra-data: it downloads your official tabularis_*_amd64.deb release and repackages it, so it stays sandboxed (no --filesystem=home; SQLite files open through the file-chooser portal) and tracks your releases automatically.
• So it's complementary to the proper Flathub package in feat(flatpak): Flathub build-from-source packaging #327, not a replacement.

Install is two commands:

flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flatpark https://dl.flatpark.org/flatpark.flatpakrepo
flatpak --user install flatpark dev.tabularis.Tabularis

Adding the remote is a lightweight, per-user step — it just registers the repo URL and its signing key, needs no root, installs or runs nothing on its own, and can be undone any time with flatpak remote-delete flatpark.

Would you be open to me sending a small PR adding a short "Flatpak (unofficial, via Flatpark)" line to the README install section pointing here? Completely fine if you'd rather not, or if you'd prefer different wording/labeling — your call, and I'm happy to adjust or take it down anytime.

Thanks again for building this.

[debba]

Hey @jing2uo this is fantastic news! 🚀

We’d absolutely love to have your badhe in the repo.

If you’re interested, it would be great if you could open PRs not only for the main Tabularis application, but also for the website repository, as both could benefit from flatpark.

And honestly, we’d be happy to support your work as well. If you’re comfortable with it, we’d love to actively promote Flatpark on our social channels and within our Discord community to help spread the word.

Looking forward to collaborating with you! 🎉

[jing2uo]

Thanks so much, @debba — this really means a lot. 🙏 I'd be honored to have Tabularis featured through Flatpark, and I'll send over the two PRs shortly (one to this repo's README, and one to the website).

I'd also genuinely love for Flatpark to reach more people, so I'd really appreciate you sharing it — thank you for offering.

Part of why I built it: Flathub's stance on AI-assisted projects can make installation more complicated for some genuinely good apps. Flatpark aims to give those apps an easy, sandboxed home so users don't miss out — hopefully it helps the wider community.

Looking forward to collaborating! 🎉

[debba]

@jing2uo you're welcome.
in the website instead of the badge, I would prefer if it could be integrated following other ones, also in download page:

Hope you agree, btw feel free to add flatpark link also.