This new Flatpak app store should be installed by default on every Linux distro

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite source On Google.

ZDNET Highlights

• Market is a free tool to manage Flatpak apps.
• It can be installed on any Linux distro with the flatpak command.
• It’s free to use and makes working with Flatpak apps simple.

I install a lot of Flatpak apps on Linux, and although the app store on my distro of choice (Pop!_OS) includes Flatpak support, I find it a bit challenging to manage those apps. Because the COSMIC store lists Flatpak apps with .deb packages, it can be cumbersome to know what’s what. So, when I discovered Market, I knew this was an app I had to use. With this tool, I can also avoid using the command line to install Flatpak apps.

What is market?

The marketplace for Flatpak apps is what a typical app store is for traditional packages (like DEB or RPM). With Bazaar, you can find, install, run, and remove Flatpak packages. You can also manage addons for the apps that include them.

Also: Best Linux Distros for Beginners

Imagine having your own local version of Flathub on your desktop, which is even easier to use. That’s what Marketplace is, and it should be installed by default on every Linux distribution that uses Flatpak apps.

I am very impressed with this application.

market characteristics

In addition to managing Flatpak apps, Marketplace includes the following features:

• A trending section for faster access to popular apps
• categories
• Recently Updated Section
• Recently Added Section
• a popular section
• git forge star counts
• filter
• global progress bar
• Curated Section (coming soon)
• Search

Using the Market is as easy as any app store I’ve tried so far, and if you rely on Flatpak apps, you’ll want it on your desktop.

Get the biggest stories in tech every Friday with ZDNET Week in Review Newsletter,

establish a market

Believe it or not, the marketplace is set up as a Flatpak app on Linux, which seems kind of recursive (always fun).

To install Bazaar, you’ll obviously need a Linux distribution that supports Flatpak (which is most of them). If you already have Flatpak installed, all you need to do is open a terminal window and issue the following command:

install flatpak flathub io.github.kolunmi.Bazaar

Once the installation is complete, check to see if the Market Launcher is in your desktop menu. If you don’t find one, log out and log back in, and it will be there.

access the market

If you’ve ever used an App Store on a desktop or mobile device, you’ll intuitively know how to use the Market. All you need to do is open the Market, search for the app you want to install and click Install.

Also: Super Productivity is the ultimate task manager for your time management goals

Once the app is added, you can click on the Install tab and see it listed, where you can click on the three-dot menu and either run the app or view its Market store page. If an app has add-ons available, click the puzzle piece icon and download the add-on you want. For example, I installed the Alpaca AMD Support add-on (because I have an AMD GPU), which I didn’t know about until I used the Marketplace.

convenient.

Market makes it absolutely easy to install and manage Flatpak apps. If you use Flatpak apps, you should definitely install and use this handy GUI frontend, as it will make your Linux desktop life easier. If using your distribution’s built-in app store for Flatpak apps confuses you, Marketplace will clear up that confusion and make you feel like a Flatpak pro.

Also: How to keep Linux optimized (and save time) with Stasser.