14 DAY TRIAL // Alex Larsson from the Flatpak project has announced the release of a new maintenance update to the universal binary package format for Linux kernel-based operating systems.
Flatpak 0.6.9 is now the latest version, and it promises to add many great enhancements, among which we can mention the ability to pass partial references every time a terminal command takes a runtime or application name, as well as a brand new command called build-commit-from.
Application developers who want to package their apps and distribute it in the Flatpak format can use the above-mentioned command for creating new commits based on the contents of an existing commit, which can be from another local repository or a remote one.
Build improvements, bug fixes
Also new in the Flatpak 0.6.9 release is the implementation of the $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/app/$APPID path for automatic generation of the application directory, as well as various performance improvements to the internal update process, especially for the "no updates" scenarios.
Linux application developers who have already adopted the Flatpak universal binary format for distributing their apps should also find multiple build improvements, such as support for local path references for Git sources, better handling of recursive Git submodules, and the ability to handle symbolic icons for the rename-icon.
Moreover, a "--stop-at=$module" argument is now available for doing partial builds, along with a new "--sandbox" command-line flag for forbidding the build from exiting the sandbox when specific build arguments (build-args) are used. An issue with the .pyc mtime rewriting has been fixed as well.
Last but not least, Flatpak 0.6.9 updates the build-export functionality to no longer output validation errors, but instead print a warning. The new Flatpak version should make its way into the main software repositories of your favorite GNU/Linux distribution very soon, and you can also download the sources from its GitHub page.