This should be installed as default in all distro. Run it with --install, put appimages in ~/Applications and it’s done, you’ll see all apps in your DE app menu
Overall there should be repo for appimages which just don’t have flatpak, for some apps which can’t work well in sandbox.
the people behind the appimage spec at https://appimage.org/
… have a listing of available software at https://appimage.github.io/
note that this isn’t a curated repository like your os repos, but rather a directory of community-provided submissions that pass some basic automated tests.
I agree, this is a very handy app, and I felt very similarly when I first discovered it. That said, I’ve had some issues with AppImageInstaller that I haven’t had with GearLever, it’s nearest equivalent. That’s the beauty of Linux FOSS though, so many choices :)
No appimage for gearlever???
GearLever is my pick too. It does its job, not perfect but good. Updates can be tricky tho sometimes.
The only drawback is that it doesn’t have an app catalogue. For novice users that would be great. Otherwise, GearLever is superior in every aspect.
Thanks for sharing! This APP looks very interesting for non tech people
I’ve had some issues with AppImageInstaller that I haven’t had with GearLever
Would you be so kind to elaborate? Being explicit would already make a huge difference. Thank you in advance!
No one mentioned it yet, but there’s also AppManager.
GearLever works better
Does it manage the --no-sandbox option often needed?
I have never used that flag. Does that just enable full system access without the usual layer of sandbox protection?
Yes,and it’s the only way to start some apps on Ubuntu
Don’t run electron/chromium apps with
--no-sandbox, that is not safe, you are exposing yourself to the internet.Canonical decided on ubuntu 24.04 to disable unpriv namespaces in the name of security, in reality they did it to push snaps since that change breaks appimage and flatpak.
Do what linux mint ended up doing and disable the restriction.
kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns = 0' | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/20-fix-namespaces.conf sysctl -w kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=0Or better yet just don’t use ubuntu, it is just a source nightmares, the uuttils switch even broke one of my appimages…
Okay, well gear lever lets you add command line arguments which get saved in the config so that should work easily. I will say it’s odd to me that you say this is needed for a specific OS, let alone often. I have never used that flag and I’ve been using an Ubuntu variant for ~5 years now. Doesn’t mean you’re wrong or anything, I’m just surprised because that seems to defeat one of the main purposes of appImages. The whole security/safety model seems to be sidestepped if you use that flag. I tend to only use appImage if it’s my only option because flatpaks seem to work better in my experience.
Gearlever doesn’t even do delta updates, it downloads the whole appimage with every update, and you often have to manually give it the URL to update the appimage.
It is also a total hack written in python, the dev was even shelling out
archto find the host arch instead of using the built in methods of python…All I know is appImageLauncher gave me a lot of issues so as soon as I found an alternative I tried it and haven’t had an issue yet.
(now if AppImages would work on musl systems …)
I just put appimage files in my $PATH. what else does this do?
I believe it also generates menu entries (.desktop files) for them.
GearLever will also perform automatic updates for your AppImages
AppImageLauncher works as intended.
But, if you are willing to use the terminal, then there’s appman. Appman is a terminal package manager for handling appimages, which also integrates appimages into the system. It can update appimages, as well as install images that are not found on its package database.
I just keep all my AppImages on a favorited folder…
I’ve been perfectly happy with AppImageInstaller. It’s an easy way to generate .desktop files and has a provision for manual AppImage updates. It’s worked without any issues for all (only six) of the AppImages I’ve installed. I hadn’t heard of GearLever but now I’ll give a try.
Its nice to see developers wearing hijabs.
