If you were in a situation where you had to choose between the AppImage or Flatpak version of an application, which would you choose and why?
I’m leaning towards AppImage because, in my experience, it’s often available on the official application’s website or GitHub page. Even though the Flatpak might be available on Flathub, it’s not always easy to verify if it’s official or verified, and I prefer not to spend time looking into it further when I see that.
What’s your take on this?
Same as you.
Even if the official site has both an AppImage and a Flatpak, I go for the AppImage. If for some reason it doesn’t work, then I go for the Flatpak after verifying it’s from the official site.
But, like you said, I don’t want to have to go searching to find if it’s from the official site.
This is why the only Flatpak I have installed is GIMP beta (and its dependencies).
flatpak has never let me down except sometimes it ignores/is immune to your system theming.
appimage absolutely not my first choice. even after you give it permissions, many times it will not launch. this is a known limitation.
both allegedly are sandboxed so there’s that.
both are allegedly sandboxed so in apps you need spellcheck you might not get them since app doesn’t (on paper) interact with system that way.
everything I wrote, @Nomad, would be my answer in any non-Arch scenario…but we have the AUR 
and that beats both of them.
My way as well. If I’m using Arch/Endeavour and it’s not available in the AUR, I check the app’s website or GitHub. If they have an appimage available, that’s what I get. Flatpak has always been a last resort for me.
Depends on the application and who is packaging each version.
Flatpaks are partially sandboxed and are easier to keep updated.
I usually go for Flatpaks because I like that I can install them using the command-line and update them using the command-line and have them automatically update, but sometimes an application is only available as an Appimage then I will use that.
I pick depending on what the developer recommends/officially supports, mainly because that will provide me with the best experience possible.
For example, osu! on Linux is distributed officially through an AppImage. There’s a Flatpak available, but it isn’t verified. As such, I’ve the AppImage downloaded.
Vestkop, an alternative Discord desktop client, is distributed officially through a Flatpak. As such, I’ve the Flatpak downloaded.
I’ve got a couple of AppImage things. They just sit there in a folder. If I stop liking them I can just delete. Simple. Updating? Who gives a xxxx? It’s irrelevant in this scenario!
In my distro hopping I tried a few of both flatpack and appimage.
I found flatpack to uninstall require some work to completely uninstall and remove traces. While appimage you simply delete it.
By the way I have pCloud whic is an appimage and the app itself notifies me if there is an update.
But generally speaking I am a bit old school (since 2000), prefer to install from repos!
The same is true for appimage. The appimage only holds the application itself. Any data it creates will be spread across your home directory. You probably only notice the flatpak bits because they are sandboxed and easier to see.
This brings me to a question I’ve been meaning to ask.
Is there any comprehensive documentation available for performing a thorough cleanup of a Linux system, covering the removal of unnecessary or unused files and system resources?
Oh @Nomad
We were thinking the same thing same moment!
Look at my thread Single Line Update Command(s)
But it includes updating the system as well.
I am trying to do just one command to do everything.
Maybe will put in a bash script and an alias if we reach something acceptable and safe.
This is a good start
Depends on the situation. There was a stint with fuse2 transition to fuse3 in which appimages stopped working. I have had some that straight up didn’t work, but ultimately it comes down to whether or not I need to update them and how often.
Some things, like openrgb. I have a specific version that works and I don’t want to touch it. Newer versions required more work to get going and I just need the version I have to keep working. It is not like the hardware is going to change, so old software plus the same hardware tends to be pretty stable.
If I do need to update it frequently, I tend to go for the flatpak.
Sometimes though it depends on the dependencies. The appimage might be much smaller than the flatpak, so I take that into consideration sometimes.