this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023

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Cleanest way to maintain AppImage installations? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by SkullHex2@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have installed Bitwarden through its AppImage, and added a .desktop file to run it easily (and also to use a themed icon). Unfortunately, each time an update comes out, I need to manually update the file since it points directly to the older version

is there anything that can be done about this? I know of AppImageLauncher but I don't like it, I'd rather install the Flatpak for Bitwarden if that's the only solution. Another possible approach would be to have a script continuously running in the background, checking if the file Exec points to still exists.. but that imho is not very clean.
Do you have any insight?

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[–] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Gear Lever

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Definitely the correct answer.

It's a drag and drop appimage manager, like macOS DMGs. And it's a flatpak!

[–] coolmojo@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You can use AM or AppMan. It is a command line tool for managing AppImages. Including download , install, update and remove.

Have a look at

https://portable-linux-apps.github.io/

It is also open source.

[–] stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I tried AM some time ago, and I was extremely confused about the documentation and how to use it. I even watched a YouTube video from DistroTube on how to use it, but I still couldn't figure it out. I don't exactly remember the issues, though, and I hope it's better now.

[–] coolmojo@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I am using AppMan as it does not require root and it does install the files into my home directory. It uses query parameter instead of search, but the install, update and remove are similar to the apt commands for example. I use AppImages when there is no package in the repository (or only older version) and it is not available as a Flatpak.

[+] DangerousInternet@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you're taking a manual approach I would use a symlink:

$ ln -s /path/to/stuff/Bitwarden.1.0.7.appimage /path/to/stuff/Bitwarden.appimage

Then you can hang on to a previous version just in case, plus you can see from the original filename what version you're on.

[–] everett@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Happy to hear if there are glaring problems with this approach, but if you can assume files named with version numbers, you can use a script to always launch the newest...

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/Downloads
chmod +x $(ls | grep Appname.*AppImage$ | sort -rV | head -n 1)
./$(ls | grep Appname.*AppImage$ | sort -rV | head -n 1)

Or you could change the script to sort by file modified date and launch the newest.

edit: Discovered an issue with version numbering like .10 and learned about the sort -V switch that fixes it!

[–] Ropianos@feddit.de 10 points 11 months ago

There is also AppImage Launcher which works nicely for me. It automatically integrates AppImages into the DE (e.g. search and start menu) and a few other nice things.

https://github.com/TheAssassin/AppImageLauncher

[–] MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org 6 points 11 months ago

I symlink the AppImage. It's still a manual process in that you have to recreate the symlink but feels like less of a hassle than updating the desktop file.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago

Use a package management system that supports this use case.

[–] Gecko@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not to be that person but I'm curious what made you go with AppImage over Flatpak, given that you already mentioned using the Flatpak as an alternative ^^"

[–] SkullHex2@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

Force of habit, I've started using Flatpak only recently

[–] Atemu@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't. Use a proper package manager for permanent installation of things. There's a reason we have those.

[–] SkullHex2@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Okay but.. what would be the use case of AppImages then? Portability?

[–] Atemu@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

That and ease of deployment.

If you as a developer wanted a non-technical user to test a thing you fixed for them, you could ask them to try an AppImage from your CI pipeline and they would easily be able to install it. They're great for that.

Also, trying out a package can leave unwanted system state around in traditional imperative system package managers. AppImages OTOH are self-contained and user-installable.

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What's wrong with gear lever?

[–] Archr@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

The issue with gear lever is that not many people know that it exists. I only started using it a few months ago and I've been on Linux for the better part of the last decade.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 4 points 11 months ago

Isn't that kind of AppImage's whole thing, to behave like Mac apps that you just double click on regardless of where they are, and not have a package manager?

I'd go for the Flatpak if you want it to be managed and updated.

We went from distro packages to Flatpak to bare files and circling back to reinventing the package manager...

[–] hallettj@beehaw.org 3 points 11 months ago

As a Nix fanboy I would write a Nix expression that downloads the AppImage, and also writes the desktop file with the appropriate path written into it via string interpolation. That can be done either through a NixOS configuration, or in any Linux distro using Home Manager.

[–] Pantherina@feddit.de 3 points 11 months ago

I am a big fan or repackaging Appimages as Flatpaks, with appstream metadata, sane package management (not the windows way or simply nothing at all), sandboxing and desktop entries.

There are some repos on Github that do that.

https://github.com/trytomakeyouprivate/Appimage-To-Flatpak

[–] free@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

I just have a keybind to open file manager of the app images 🤷