Trying to run a Flatpak app whose runtime is missing fails silently.
If a Flatpak app is installed, but its runtime is not, it is shown as open-able and update-able.
If you attempt to open it, the following message is logged:
14:24:05:384 Gs not handling error not-supported for action launch: runtime/com.endlessm.apps.Platform/x86_64/6 not installed
but nothing is shown on screen. If you attempt to update it, the missing runtime is (correctly) installed.
You have to go out of your way to get into this situation; I used flatpak uninstall --force-remove runtime/com.endlessm.apps.Platform/x86_64/6
. I was triaging a very old internal bug report where this situation was reached due to another bug. Back in 2018 when that was filed, the behaviour was to show the app as not being installed – I think the current behaviour is better.
Possible improvements, in increasing order of good-ness:
- Change nothing. This is not the end of the world and there is a button right there that will fix the app.
- Show an error when
flatpak run
fails, ideally including the error message. (The message in libflatpak is localised.) - Detect this situation and hide the Open button (but still show the Update button).
- Detect this situation and hide the Open button and show some kind of “This app is broken, try updating it” banner (and still show the Update button).
I'm using the development branch of Endless OS, and a locally-compiled copy of gnome-software as of 29f5be9a.