1633361 - [flatpak] use per-branch app ids

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Release Engineering :: Release Automation, enhancement)

Comment 1

[Bartłomiej Piotrowski]

Attachment: Bug 1633361 - allow to specify app ID suffix for flatpaks r=mtabara

Comment 2

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

Can you provide a better description as to why you're doing this? Thanks.

Comment 3

[Mihai Tabara [:mtabara]⌚️GMT]

@barthalion
Bah, I missed this review in my queue, sorry about the delays in replying here.

(In reply to Mike Kaply [:mkaply] from comment #2)

Can you provide a better description as to why you're doing this? Thanks.

Based on my understanding, this is landing the groundwork for future support in Firefox Nightly and Firefox Beta as we'll want to have separate app ids there in Flathub: e.g. org.mozilla.firefox, org.mozilla.firefox.beta and org.mozilla.firefox.nightly . Each of the configs (such as desktop and appdata.xml files should all be present in the Docker folder so that we know which is which while building. The patch also sets some ground work in separating the names of the final apps I believe as they are currently reported in bug 1622510. (to have something like Firefox, Firefox Beta etc)

Nevertheless, let me add a NI for @barthalion just to double-check.

Comment 4

[Bartłomiej Piotrowski]

Nothing to add! Currently we ship Firefox Beta under separate flatpak branch, org.mozilla.firefox//beta. The downside is that if user has already installed stable version, they need to start the beta version manually from CLI as Flatpak by design "exports" desktop launcher only for one branch. Separating release branches into standalone flatpak application IDs will make them appear simultaneously in applications menu which makes more sense as profiles aren't shared between channels.

Comment 5

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The bug assignee is inactive on Bugzilla, so the assignee is being reset.

Comment 6

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The following patch is waiting for review from a reviewer who resigned from the review:

ID	Title	Author	Reviewer Status
D72615	Bug 1633361 - allow to specify app ID suffix for flatpaks r=mtabara	b	mtabara: Resigned from review

:b, could you please find another reviewer or abandon the patch if it is no longer relevant?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 7

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

Clear a needinfo that is pending on an inactive user.

Inactive users most likely will not respond; if the missing information is essential and cannot be collected another way, the bug maybe should be closed as INCOMPLETE.

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 8

[movisivi]

(In reply to BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte] from comment #6)

The following patch is waiting for review from a reviewer who resigned from the review:

ID	Title	Author	Reviewer Status
D72615	Bug 1633361 - allow to specify app ID suffix for flatpaks r=mtabara	b	mtabara: Resigned from review

:b, could you please find another reviewer or abandon the patch if it is no longer relevant?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

This should've been pushed through a long time ago. Hopefully this can get some eyes in the new year.

Comment 9

[Kyra]

(In reply to Bartłomiej Piotrowski from comment #4)

Separating release branches into standalone flatpak application IDs will make them appear simultaneously in applications menu which makes more sense as profiles aren't shared between channels.

Am I the only one that appreciates being able to seamlessly transition to the beta version without having to move my profile?

(In reply to Mihai Tabara [:mtabara]⌚️GMT from comment #3)

Based on my understanding, this is landing the groundwork for future support in Firefox Nightly and Firefox Beta as we'll want to have separate app ids there in Flathub: e.g. org.mozilla.firefox, org.mozilla.firefox.beta and org.mozilla.firefox.nightly . Each of the configs (such as desktop and appdata.xml files should all be present in the Docker folder so that we know which is which while building. The patch also sets some ground work in separating the names of the final apps I believe as they are currently reported in bug 1622510. (to have something like Firefox, Firefox Beta etc)

Since there are actually four channels (Stable, Beta, Developer, and Nightly), and beta is already the official Flathub 'beta' channel for Firefox main, what if we instead just released Firefox Developer Edition on Flathub, with Nightly as the so-called 'beta' channel for it? This makes sense because Dev edition is based on beta, and nightly a version ahead of it.

It also has the benefit of exposing the stable edition for most users, and the developer edition for developers, while making the least stable versions not as prominently advertised to general audiences.

Comment 10

[Mr Beedell, Roke Julian Lockhart [:B.RJL]]

I synchronise my profile via FXA, so having separate application IDs is easier due to Flatpak's half-baked branch implementation. I've experience with parallel installations due to WinGet, and I've no particular problem with it.