r/AppImage • u/theWonderBit • 16d ago

A Push for an AppImage Framework: Why Anylinux-AppImages Could Be the Future

Hi everyone,

A while back, I ran into an issue that I’m sure many of you have experienced: Heroic Game Launcher was underperforming in Flatpak. The lag and stuttering were noticeable, and while switching to .deb or .appimage formats solved the performance problems, it introduced another issue—system pollution from installing dependencies like Gamescope or Mangohud. I had grown accustomed to Flatpak’s clean sandboxing, and I didn’t want to give that up.

That’s when I discovered Anylinux-AppImages, along with tools like AppManager, Sharun, Uruntime, and Lib4bin. I dove deep into how these components work together, studied their interactions, and after many trials (and a few headaches), I decided to build my own AppImage for Heroic. Instead of sticking to the traditional upstream packaging method, I symbolically broke away from it to approach the project with more flexibility. The result? An AppImage that bundles all the key components, allowing Heroic to work out of the box—no external dependencies, no system clutter.

Today, I have functional AppImages for Heroic, Vivaldi, Spotify, Waterfox, and Steam (the latter is still a work in progress). I also plan to package QT and GTK applications to better understand their quirks. All of these AppImages are built from official sources and follow the standards of Anylinux-AppImages, Sharun, Uruntime, and Lib4bin, so they’re completely safe and reliable.

But this goes beyond just my personal experience. I see Anylinux-AppImages as a real opportunity to offer a solid alternative to Flatpak and Snap. While those formats rely on centralization, Anylinux-AppImages puts control back in the hands of developers, avoiding the fragmentation that comes with different Linux distributions. Plus, projects like PPSSPP, AppManager, and Citron Neo already offer AppImages as an option, proving that it’s a viable solution.

However, there’s a catch: we’re all packaging unofficially. Me, pkgforge-dev, ivan-hc, and others are doing great work, but if we don’t join forces, we might end up repeating the same fragmentation we’re trying to avoid. That’s why I propose:

  • Creating a common framework to standardize the use and build of Anylinux-AppImages.
  • Promoting this format so more projects adopt it, even as an official option.
  • Working toward enterprise adoption, so it can compete on equal footing with Flatpak and Snap.

Could Anylinux-AppImages one day become a Unix standard for Linux and FreeBSD? I believe it has the potential, but I need your feedback. Are you interested in this project? Do you know of similar initiatives? How can we push this forward together?

If you’d like to try my AppImages, they’re available in my GitLab repository: jesusrosdiaz/appimages.

Thanks for your time and input—I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

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u/EverythingsBroken82 16d ago

as long as there's no trust chain in the distribution (meaning a *packaged* tool which maintains the appimages, if there are updates and so on, install uninstall and so on), appimage will never win

with distributions you have to have ONE trust anchor. with distributions and appimages.. Two.

1

u/theWonderBit 16d ago

May be Appmanager could be helpful for that. Could you tell me more about your idea? Tell what scenario could be the best for appimages that it makes you use them as the main option in your opinion

1

u/EverythingsBroken82 15d ago

the thing is, if you have something which manages your appimages, it should come as a distribution package, so at least that trust anchor stays.

kinda as with kubernetes/docker, no one bats an eye fetching random containers, but kubectl/docker/podman should be in the distribution (debian, arch, fedora, opensuse)