Flatpak for Status Desktop

[Fhiss]

As you know, Flatpak is a popular technology for distributing applications in a sandboxed environment, which offers several advantages: cross-distribution compatibility, simplified updates, isolation, and easier installation. Considering this, providing a Flatpak version of Status Desktop would significantly enhance its accessibility and usability for a wider audience.

[jrainville]

In the context of supporting deep links for Linux, I had started the process of converting the app to flatpak: #8027

I could create the bundle, but the app would die on start, so there were still some issues to hammer out and some other issues become more important, but we should come back to it someday for sure.

My branch is here: https://github.com/status-im/status-desktop/tree/feat/bundle-app-as-flatpak

[Fhiss]

I see, thank you. The build is performed by extracting the contents of the AppImage. Using an AppImage instead of building from the source code can cause some problems when placing the application in a Flatpak repository, such as Fedora and Flathub.

Flatpak is focused on building from the source code to ensure transparency and reproducibility of the build process. Using a pre-built AppImage can make it difficult to verify that the application was built securely and without malicious code.

It would be better if the Flatpak package was built according to instructions from the source code. This would allow the Status Desktop to be placed in Flatpak repositories, ensure security, and simplify the update process.

I have the beginning of a Flatpak manifest, but I've encountered some issues. What do you think about me creating the manifest in the master branch, and we can work on it together?

[jrainville]

@Fhiss we always welcome contributions! if you want, you can create a fork and a Pull request when you have something. You can communicate with us directly in the Status Community if you want: https://status.app/c/G3kAAMSQtb05kog3aGbr3kiaxN4tpIxTDhzCQCJpAViQfLvHWM6wZBNTqiTulL2zPG3fz5YOviEN8-Sr46d_O_BPz071H75JHWUhvqG_2RWWEUoD7ygaI_Jgtp6OcfxRJ1NPwFus5JONO3-uy_fm6-X6sOrTVGMB#zQ3shZeEJqTC1xhGUjxuS4rtHSrhJ8vUYp64v6qWkLpvdy9L9