Abstract:
The German Sovereign Tech Agency recently announced that it will invest 508,640 euros in the Linux application distribution platform Flatpak through its sovereign technology fund. The funds will be invested in related development work over the next two years, with the goal of further improving Flatpak's application sandbox security and expanding multiple platform features by the end of 2027.
This plan is not the first time that the German Sovereign Technology Agency has supported the Flatpak ecosystem. The agency has previously provided funding for the GNOME project, part of which has promoted Flatpak-related work; and the latest project will focus on enhancing application isolation mechanisms and improving permission control capabilities.
According to the disclosed information, the Flatpak team will develop new portal functions around scenarios such as audio, network and text input. Among them, the audio portal will be combined with PipeWire technology; the network will introduce more complete isolation capabilities; at the same time, the project also plans to create a VPN portal designed with reference to Android and iOS interfaces so that applications can request and manage VPN connections in a controlled environment.
In addition, the development team will also add a portal for spell checking and other writing assistance functions, and explore the feasibility of providing password autofill. These improvements are designed to allow applications within the sandbox to safely call necessary desktop services without directly obtaining too many system permissions.
The project also includes the development of the "entitlements" mechanism, which will be used to allow applications to statically declare the specific portal permissions they need to access; the "intent" mechanism will be used to declare the services that the application can provide. At the same time, the maintenance and continuous improvement of existing portal components are also included in the scope of this round of funding.
Learn more:
https://modal.cx/blog/announcing-flatpak-sta/
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