Flatpak Packaging for GitHub Store

Prerequisites

Install Flatpak and the build tools:

# Fedora
sudo dnf install flatpak flatpak-builder

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder

# Arch
sudo pacman -S flatpak flatpak-builder

Install the required runtimes:

flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Platform//24.08
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk//24.08
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk21//24.08

Setup (One-Time)

1. Generate Gradle dependency sources

Flatpak builds run without network access, so all Maven/Gradle dependencies must be pre-downloaded and listed in a JSON manifest.

Add the plugin to your root build.gradle.kts:

plugins {
    id("io.github.jwharm.flatpak-gradle-generator") version "1.7.0"
}

Then generate the sources file:

./gradlew flatpakGradleGenerator --no-configuration-cache

This creates flatpak-sources.json in the project root. Move it to this directory:

mv flatpak-sources.json packaging/flatpak/

2. Verify SHA256 hashes

The manifest uses pre-computed SHA256 hashes. To verify or update them:

# Gradle distribution
curl -sL https://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-8.14.3-bin.zip | sha256sum

# JBR x64 (check latest at https://github.com/JetBrains/JetBrainsRuntime/releases)
curl -sL https://cache-redirector.jetbrains.com/intellij-jbr/jbr-21.0.10-linux-x64-b1163.105.tar.gz | sha256sum

# JBR aarch64
curl -sL https://cache-redirector.jetbrains.com/intellij-jbr/jbr-21.0.10-linux-aarch64-b1163.105.tar.gz | sha256sum

3. Update screenshot URLs

Edit zed.rainxch.githubstore.metainfo.xml to point to hosted screenshot images. Flathub requires at least one screenshot with a publicly accessible URL.

Building Locally

cd packaging/flatpak

# Build
flatpak-builder --force-clean build-dir zed.rainxch.githubstore.yml

# Test run
flatpak-builder --run build-dir zed.rainxch.githubstore.yml githubstore

# Install locally
flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean build-dir zed.rainxch.githubstore.yml

Validating

# Validate AppStream metainfo
flatpak run org.freedesktop.appstream-glib validate zed.rainxch.githubstore.metainfo.xml

# Lint manifest (requires org.flatpak.Builder)
flatpak run --command=flatpak-builder-lint org.flatpak.Builder manifest zed.rainxch.githubstore.yml

Publishing to Flathub

1. Fork https://github.com/flathub/flathub
2. Checkout the new-pr branch
3. Copy the manifest YAML and flatpak-sources.json to the repo root
4. Open a PR titled "Add zed.rainxch.githubstore"
5. Reviewers will trigger test builds with bot, build
6. After approval, you get write access to flathub/zed.rainxch.githubstore

File Reference

File	Purpose
zed.rainxch.githubstore.yml	Flatpak build manifest
zed.rainxch.githubstore.desktop	Desktop launcher entry
zed.rainxch.githubstore.metainfo.xml	AppStream metadata for Flathub listing
githubstore.sh	Shell launcher (invokes java -jar with bundled JRE)
disable-android-for-flatpak.sh	Strips Android targets for sandbox build
flatpak-sources.json	Pre-downloaded Gradle dependencies (generated)