Discover and Flatpak backend breaks

[SteveMST3K]

I am on a fresh 22.04 install and updated. I have tried installing Flatpak support via both intruction sets on Kubuntu.org and flathub. As soon as the Discover backend gets installed, Dicover breaks and crashes as soon as you click on anything. I remove the backend portion only and Discover is fine. Put it back in and its broken. Flatpak works just fine installing from CLI.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Welcome.

I can only tell you that Flatpak support for Discover works without any problems in my Kubuntu 22.04 LTS installation with the additional Kubuntu Backports and Backports Extra PPAs enabled (one of my "daily drivers").

I will check tomorrow if it also still works in "plain" Kubuntu 22.04 LTS here (I cannot remember that it didn't, but I mostly use CLI…) and report back.

PS: How to enable Flatpak in Kubuntu 22.04 LTS

[SteveMST3K]

Funny thing is......I spun up a VM of the same install iso on a different machine. Followed the same steps and it still crashes Discover.

[Schwarzer Kater]

You are right! (unfortunately…) -> Thank you.
I just tested it with "plain" Kubuntu 22.04 LTS and additionally with the Kubuntu Backports PPA enabled - in both cases plasma-discover-backend-flatpak (both versions 5.24.4 and 5.24.7) crashed Discover…
Flatpak management in CLI works without problems though…

For Kubuntu 22.04 LTS you have to enable both the Kubuntu Backports and the Kubuntu Backports Extra PPAs to get Plasma 5.27.x with plasma-discover-backend-flatpak version 5.27.x to make Flatpak management work in Discover !
Otherwise Discover will crash when plasma-discover-backend-flatpak is installed !
Managing Flatpaks in CLI works without problems in Plasma 5.24.x (e.g. with the Konsole terminal emulator).

See KDE Plasma 5.27.10 available in Kubuntu Backports Extra

[SteveMST3K]

I added both backport ppas to get mine working. Thanks.

Should this be logged somewhere? I mean its a repeatable bug.

[claydoh]

Odd, it works fine on my bone stock 22.04 setup
I'll assume you've at least logged out afterwards?
Though I didn't need to myself.

Lemme check a few things....

[claydoh]

Ok, after a fresh boot, the second since adding flatpak and flathub,....it crashes for sure.
Why it didn't yesterday is a mystery.

[claydoh]

Ok, it happens after adding the flathub source, and stops when flathub is removed, either from the cli or via Discover's settings.
I don't see a similar report on KDE's bug tracker, nor on ubuntu's, but I did not read them all.
Someone did report this back in 2021...https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...r/+bug/1915011

The problem is, unless it is a misconfiguration in the packaging, plasma 5.24 is not supported by KDE any longer, so a fix is not likely.

Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.

(process:4844): GLib-ERROR **: 10:53:56.141: Creating pipes for GWakeup: Too many open files
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

[SteveMST3K]

Even though it all worked with both backport ppas, I went ahead and blew it out with 23.10, was a new install anyway. When 24.04 comes out it will go that route long term on this laptop. Dell XPS 13.

[Datman]

Ok, it happens after adding the flathub source, and stops when flathub is removed, either from the cli or via Discover's settings.
I don't see a similar report on KDE's bug tracker, nor on ubuntu's, but I did not read them all.
Someone did report this back in 2021...https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...r/+bug/1915011

The problem is, unless it is a misconfiguration in the packaging, plasma 5.24 is not supported by KDE any longer, so a fix is not likely.

Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.
Qt Quick Layouts: Detected recursive rearrange. Aborting after two iterations.

(process:4844): GLib-ERROR **: 10:53:56.141: Creating pipes for GWakeup: Too many open files
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

Hi just thought I'd add to these posts.
I have returned to Linux after a number of years with Windows XP, 7 & 10, the super intrusive nature of Windows 11 was the final straw so I decided to see how Linux had developed.
Now using Kubuntu 22.04 LTS on a Thinkpad Ryzen 5 T14s Gen 1
Much much better but unfortunately it doesn't take long before the GUI (Plasma) is dumped for CLI.
I don't like using CLI at all but know enough not to be totally phased out by it.
After some research into Voice to Text software (maybe now you can see why I don't like CLI) I selected one to try.
I decided to try Speech Note, Installation tells me I have to use Flat pak, another spanner flies into the works!
Having dutifully copied the CLI instructions I get Speech Note working.
Later I notice that Discover does not work as expected.
It opens but if I select "Accessories" or "Plasma Addons?" it doesn't crash, it just closes down.
If I type something valid into the Search box, it displays its findings.
Since it only seems to have happened after installing Flat pak/Speech Note I looked for some repository source info.
When I found it, I unchecked "flat pak" repository and Discover then works as expected.

This still leaves me with another problem, Speech Note now does a similar thing if I enable GPU acceleration, i.e. it shuts down although it worked to start with.
There was a message which I cannot find any more informing me that I needed to install flat pak AMD GPU acceleration.
It was because of this message while trying to find said driver I discovered Discover was broken.

So any clues to this addon would be useful.

Sadly I see that Linux desktop developments are still too fragmented to make any real impact on MS Windows.
It could be, but there needs to be much more collaboration between the various Linux flavours.
It breaks too easily after trying to do ridiculous things like installing an application.

Addon 13/4/24
Sure enough with a bit of fiddling about turning repository locations on/off, I can get the regular Kubuntu software and Flatpak to list in Discover.
Unfortunately the reason that Speech Note shuts down is no GPU acceleration. All attempts to initialize the various Drivers fail.
Speech Note without acceleration is just too slow to be usable.

I'm afraid it's back to Windows at least I've figured out how to disable most of it's most annoying intrusions now.

Update 16/4/24
Fastest about turn since I was in the Navy!
I've endured Windows 10's annoying features and managed to remove, stop or inhibit most of them for years now.
At 1st look Windows 11 seems like more of the same but it's way more intrusive.
It's like a horror movie about "The Rampant Fungus invasion", just as you think you've removed it, you find it living in another room or re infecting one you already cleaned.
E.g. Go to Search in Windows Explorer and "Bing" pops up with all sorts of stuff I didn't want, even though Bing has been disabled.
Remove Edge and it gets reinstalled in the next update.
Things I'm not interested in like Xbox Game Bar and Phone just won't go away and I've noticed they are now an "integral part of the OS" in Win 10 too.
I remember a long time ago Microsoft was fined a lot of money for trying to squeeze Netscape out by giving Internet Explorer away for free. Monopolies regulations I think.
Seems to me they are trying to do the same to Firefox and Google but in a much more aggressive way but this time they are being allowed to get away with it.
They don't give Edge and Bing away, they try to force you to use it or have a huge behemoth of unused but integral software on your hard drive.
I do wonder if all this enforced usage is a sign of desperation. Or maybe it's just "We made this amazing software and you WILL use it".

I've also reviewed my thoughts on "fragmented Distros", having had another look, I think it is more "choose your horse".
If you go for a sleek fast race horse, don't expect it to pull a heavy cart and maintenance costs are high.
Similarly don't expect a heavy cart horse to start jumping high fences.

It seems that (K)ubuntu does not officially support Flatpak and I'd guess it's for a good reason.
So if you insist on entering your cart horse into a hurdles race, don't be surprised if things go wrong.

So my horse for the next set of races is Kubuntu.
Instead of restoring the Kubuntu I had backed up, I reinstalled and once updates had finished I checked gpu settings.
2 GPU softwares failed to initialize but 2 did (1x OpenXX and another I can't remember the name of).
So it would appear that the Flatpak install broke Discover and GPU acceleration.

It is possible to install Speech Note another way, (deb packages I think) so after the next partition backup I might give that a go.

If that doesn't work, I'll see what else is on offer, then it's the Smart Phones turn.