App distribution to Ubuntu

[Rokt33r]

Currently, Boostnote is supported AUR(Arch User Repository) for Arch Linux user.
I also want to distribute the app to Ubuntu Linux and need some help to make it possible.

I know there are 2 choices exists.

1. PPA : app-get
2. Apps : Ubuntu Software Center

I'd tried both of them several months ago, but none of them worked well. I'm going to try it again somewhen, but I can't sure when it will be finished.

If you'd distributed an app on Ubuntu, please teach me how to do it.

[thecarlhall]

I haven't published to PPA, but I have used them a good bit. I'd be willing to take this own to set things up and learn what's needed.

[thecarlhall]

I've been looking over what it takes to publish to PPA. PPA only allows uploading source packages and it creates the deb file for you. It looks like PPA doesn't support nodejs apps very well[1]. I think I would follow Atom[2] and publish deb packages on GitHub as part of the release.

1 https://askubuntu.com/questions/794953/electron-app-as-ppa
2 https://github.com/atom/atom/releases/tag/v1.12.7

[ghost]

Why not Flatpak? http://flatpak.org/

https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron-installer-flatpak

Compile once, serve all. Unless you're looking for the exposure of the Ubuntu Software Center, in that case, I can understand that.

[probonopd]

Providing an AppImage would have, among others, these advantages:

• Works for most Linux distributions (including Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, CentOS, elementaryOS, Linux Mint, and others)
• One app = one file = super simple for users: just download one AppImage file, make it executable, and run
• No unpacking or installation necessary
• No root needed
• No system libraries changed
• Unlike Flatpak, works out of the box, no installation of runtimes needed
• Optional desktop integration with appimaged
• Optional binary delta updates, e.g., for continuous builds (only download the binary diff) using AppImageUpdate
• Can optionally GPG2-sign your AppImages (inside the file)
• Unlike Flatpak, works on Live ISOs
• Can use the same AppImages when dual-booting multiple distributions

Here is an overview of projects that are already distributing upstream-provided, official AppImages.

This yml file controls the conversion of the existing deb to an AppImage file:
https://github.com/probonopd/AppImages/blob/master/recipes/meta/Boostnote.yml

Here is the resulting AppImage for testing:
https://bintray.com/probono/AppImages/Boostnote/_latestVersion#files
It is expected to run on most 2014-ish and later distributions. Be aware that some more testing and fine-tuning may be required. I just put it together very quickly.

If you have questions, AppImage developers are on #AppImage on irc.freenode.net.

[bithooked]

Why not a Snap? You get very similar features of flatpak, but you show up in the Ubuntu Software Center.

[pat-s]

No experience yet with packaging snaps but since I'm tired of manually installing .debs I might take a look.
Seems there is already some basic infrastructure but not completely finalized.

[kapad]

IMO AppImage is the best. And it isn't linked to any platform, unlike snap (Ubuntu/Canonical ecosystem) and Flatpak (Fedora/Redhat ecosystem).

There's this SO post on the differences between AppImage, Flatpack and Snap. Check it out in case you haven't already.

[ivnish]

+1 for PPA

[Flexo013]

Duplicate of funded #2115

[probonopd]

@Flexo013 actually it's not a duplicate, as the other one is about Flatpak only. A Flatpak cannot substitute an AppImage.