I have a Python-package that calls Inkscape as part of a conversion process. I have it installed, but through Flatpak. This means that calling inkscape
does not work in the terminal, but rather flatpak run org.inkscape.Inkscape
. I need the package to be able to call it as inkscape
.
What is the best way to go about this?
alias inkscape="flatpak run org.inkscape.Inkscape"
into your.bashrc
.Yeah, I tried this, and it works from my session, but I still got the same error from trying to run the program. I figured it was because it is called outside the bash session so the run commands have not been run, but is that perhaps not true?
If that’s the case, it’s a bit of an ugly hack but you could make a wrapper script placed in
/usr/local/bin/inkscape
like this:#!/bin/bash flatpack run org.inkscape.Inkscape ${*}
(the
${*}
will pass along all the arguments that the wrapper script was called with)Thanks! I was trying to implement this, and was trying to figure out how to pass all the arguments! This worked for me! I got some other errors, but they don’t seem related to this, so now to find out what they are all about 😅
This is a great little hack.
Saving this for later, that’s genius.
Flatpak already creates executable wrappers for all applications as part of regular installs, though they’re by default named as the full package name.
For when inkscape has been installed into the system-wide Flatpak installation, you could simply symlink it like;
ln -s /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/org.inkscape.Inkscape /usr/local/bin/inkscape
For the user-local installation, the exported runnable is in
~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/bin
instead.I handle it more like
ln -s /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/org.inkscape.Inkscape ~/.local/bin/inkscape
.local/bin is a directory that you may have to make, but your shell’s startup scripts should automatically add it to the PATH after that.
I personally use
~/.bin
for my own symlinks, though I also use the user-specific installation instead of the system-wide one.
I wouldn’t guarantee that any automation handles~/.local/bin
or~/.bin
either, that would depend entirely on the distribution. In my case I’ve added both to PATH manually.
alias?
You can do an alias for the shell you use or make a symlink to /usr/local/bin/ for the entire system.
There are importany reasons why this is not the default, but you can do it as long as you are away you have done it. Like when programs installed via package manager and flatpak starts conflicting, you’ll know why.
You can use symbolic links, alias…
I actually didn’t know about the symbolic link meathod. Thanks!
Why don’t you check for both and use the one that’s available, otherwise print an error. Additionally you could read an env INKSCAPE_BIN and also include that in your checks.
So one could for example do
INKSCAPE_BIN='distrobox enter arch -- inkscape' python main.py
It is not my package, but I could of course go ahead and change the source code directly to handle this. But I’d prefer a solution that would persist through updates.
Two utilities that may be handy for you here:
Pakrat: Automates and simplifies the process of creating alliases for flatpaks, good if you just need to make a few programs be simplified
Fuzzpak: Lets you do fuzzy searches for flatpaks(as in you just write fuzzpak inkscape and it auto looks for something with inkscape in the flatpak folder and launches it), good for when you want to simplify launching flatpaks in general without doing the process of configuring stuff manually
Use this https://github.com/DLopezJr/fp
deleted by creator
A good argument against containerization of programs tbh.
Yup, pack it up folks. We spent years working to solve containerized applications with a granular permission system, but we can’t figure out how to make an executable run a command. It was a good run, but it’s over now.
Finally someone got the point instead of just downvoting. 🤣
A good argument against DOS 2.0 adding directories