Error when creating flatpak

Pre-flight checklist

• I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project uses.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Electron Forge version

6.0.0-beta.61

Electron version

15.0.0

Operating system

Zorin OS and POP OS 21.04 -> Doesn’t work on any of those OS.

Last known working Electron Forge version

Never

Expected behavior

Be able to create flatpak file.

Actual behavior

I have flatpak, flatpak-builder and also elfutils (eu-strip) installed. It provide me with an error:

✖ Making for target: flatpak - On platform: linux - For arch: x64

An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
An error occured while making for target: flatpak
flatpak failed with status code 1
Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/ziga/Documents/Projects/Passky/Passky-Desktop/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:domain:475:12)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)

Steps to reproduce

1. Clone repository: https://github.com/Rabbit-Company/Passky-Desktop

2. Add "@electron-forge/maker-flatpak": "^6.0.0-beta.61" to devDependencies in package.json file

3. Add this json code to js/forge.config.js file:

     {
        "name": '@electron-forge/maker-flatpak',
        "config": {
          "options": {
            "categories": ['Utility']
          }
        }
      }

1. Run npm i to install all dependencies

2. Than run npm run make.

Result of npm run make:

> passky@4.0.1 make
> electron-forge make

✔ Checking your system
✔ Resolving Forge Config
We need to package your application before we can make it
✔ Preparing to Package Application for arch: x64
✔ Preparing native dependencies
✔ Packaging Application
Making for the following targets: deb, rpm, flatpak
✔ Making for target: deb - On platform: linux - For arch: x64
✔ Making for target: rpm - On platform: linux - For arch: x64
✖ Making for target: flatpak - On platform: linux - For arch: x64

An unhandled error has occurred inside Forge:
An error occured while making for target: flatpak
flatpak failed with status code 1
Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/ziga/Documents/Projects/Passky/Passky-Desktop/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:domain:475:12)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)

Additional information

No response

[zigazajc007]

Thanks for the tip! But are you sure we should close the ticket? It seems like this is still a bug in electron-forge

I will open it, but to be honest you will never see flatpaks distributed as files. There will always be downloaded from the repository. So the way I have suggested it the only “correct” way of making and distributing flatpaks.

On websites for projects that support Linux, they usually provide .deb, .rpm, .appImage, but never .flatpak. They will always link you to the flatpak repository.

[alariej]

Interestingly, I’m trying to build a flatpak using electron-builder --linux flatpak and I get the exact same error. I tried changing node / npm versions: no luck. Also installed the flatpaks suggested by @jochy above: no luck. I’m on Ubuntu 21.10, node 16.11.0, npm 8.1.0. Perhaps @malept has an idea?

  • electron-builder  version=22.14.13 os=5.13.0-35-generic
  • loaded configuration  file=/home/jfa/quadrix/builder-flatpak.json
  • writing effective config  file=dist/builder-effective-config.yaml
  • packaging       platform=linux arch=x64 electron=17.1.2 appOutDir=dist/linux-unpacked
  • building        target=flatpak arch=x64 file=dist/quadrix-0.6.4-x86_64.flatpak
  ⨯ flatpak failed with status code 1  failedTask=build stackTrace=Error: flatpak failed with status code 1
    at ChildProcess.<anonymous> (/home/jfa/quadrix/node_modules/@malept/flatpak-bundler/index.js:71:16)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:390:28)
    at maybeClose (node:internal/child_process:1064:16)
    at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:301:5)