Google Experiments with Packaging Chrome in the Flatpak Format

The developers of Google's Chrome/Chromium browser have begun experimenting with packaging it in the Flatpak format on Linux. There's no official commitment to support such packages yet — this is only about exploring the possibility.

Tom Anderson of Google's browser team has added experimental Flatpak packaging support for testing. The change description states outright that this is not a promise of official support, but a way to test how restricted sandbox configurations behave and to extend the existing support for XDG portals.

What exactly was done

Build scripts and templates have appeared in the chrome/installer/linux/flatpak/ directory: metadata, AppStream metainfo, and an entry point for launching. A GN build argument enable_flatpak has been added (disabled by default), along with a package_format parameter in the installer configuration.

When building for Flatpak, the host-system integration artifacts are omitted: system desktop files, symbolic links in /usr/bin, AppStream data, registration in GNOME as a default application, man pages, and AppArmor profiles — all of which are redundant in the Flatpak model. Application ID mappings are defined: org.chromium.Chromium* for Chromium and com.google.Chrome* for Google Chrome. The shared desktop file template has been generalized to support launch commands for both Flatpak and system installations. For unofficial builds, the setuid sandbox and zlib compression are disabled.

Why it's needed

Flatpak provides a single way to distribute applications in isolation, independent of any particular distribution. For Chrome, this would mean cleaner packaging and support for systems beyond the familiar world of RPM and Debian, where Google offers its builds today. In addition, the format lets the team experiment with stricter sandbox modes.

For now, the test code has merely been merged into the source tree. Whether the experiment will grow into full, officially supported packaging depends on how well the results turn out.

Source: Phoronix