Install Flatpak Package Manager on Debian 11

This guide intends to teach you to Install and Use Flatpak Package Manager on Debian 11.

Flatpak is a package management utility that lets you distribute, install and manage software without needing to worry about dependencies, runtime, or Linux distribution. Since you can install software without any issues irrespective of the Linux distribution (be it a Debian-based distro or an Arch-based distro), Flatpak is called a universal package.

Steps To Install Flatpak Package Manager on Debian 11

To set up Flatpak, you must log in to your server as a non-root user with sudo privileges. To do this, you can follow our guide on Initial Server Setup with Debian 11.

Installation Steps of Flatpak on Debian 11

First, you need to update your local package index with the command below:

sudo apt update

The Flatpak package is available on the default Debian repository. To install it, simply run the following command:

sudo apt install flatpak -y

Verify your Flatpak installation by checking its version:

flatpak --version

Output
Flatpak 1.10.8

Using Flatpak Package Manager on Debian 11

At this point, we want to show you how to use your Flatpak package manager.

Enable Flathub on Debian 11

Now you need to enable the Flathub before using the Flatpak. FlatHub is an efficient and popular platform used for searching applications.

To do this you can use the following command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Search Apps with Flatpak

To search for a specific app, you can use the following syntax:

flatpak search <Application_name>

For example, search for OpenJDK:

flatpak search openjdk

Output
Name      Description               Application ID        Version Branch Remotes
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         19.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The latest version of th… …dk.Extension.openjdk         18.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         22.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         21.08  flathub
OpenJdk … OpenJdk 8 Sdk extension   …k.Extension.openjdk8         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         22.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk17         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         22.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         21.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         20.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         19.08  flathub
OpenJDK … The LTS (long term suppo… ….Extension.openjdk11         18.08  flathub

Install an App with Flatpak Package Manager

When the desired application is searched, you can install it on Debian 11, using Flatpak.

flatpak install <Application_name>

For example:

flatpak install openjdk

This will ask you which version you want to install.

Looking for matches…
Similar refs found for ‘openjdk’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

   1) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/21.08
   2) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk10/x86_64/18.08
   3) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/18.08
   4) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/20.08
   5) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/22.08
   6) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/18.08
   7) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/19.08
   8) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/21.08
   9) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/19.08
  10) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/20.08
  11) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk17/x86_64/22.08
  12) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/20.08
  13) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk/x86_64/21.08
  14) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/18.08
  15) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/21.08
  16) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk9/x86_64/18.08
  17) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/19.08
  18) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk11/x86_64/22.08
  19) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk10/x86_64/1.6
  20) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/1.6
  21) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk9/x86_64/1.6
  22) runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8/x86_64/20.08

Which do you want to use (0 to abort)? [0-22]: 1

When your installation is completed, you will get the following output:

Output
        ID                                     Branch Op Remote  Download
        ID                                     Branch Op Remote  Download
 1. [✓] org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8 21.08  i  flathub 121.1 MB / 115.2 MB

Installing… ████████████████████ 100%  15.1 MB/s  00:00

Uninstall Apps with Flatpak

To uninstall an App with Flatpak, you can use the following syntax:

flatpak uninstall APP-ID

For example:

flatpak uninstall runtime/org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8

Output
 ID                                             Branch         Op
        ID                                             Branch         Op
 1. [-] org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.openjdk8         21.08          r

Uninstalling…

For more information, you can visit the Flatpak Docs page.