Fans of the Vivaldi web browser will be pleased to hear it’s now available to install from Flathub.
Vivaldi’s Flathub package is not official or verified, as the store listing makes clear: “This package is not officially endorsed or supported by Vivaldi Technologies” — this is despite the fact it is uploaded by and maintained by a Vivaldi employee.
The hope/want is to make it official/verified down the line but, for now, Vivaldi’s Flathub presence is there to “test the waters”, Vivaldi’s Ruarí Ødegaard tells me, and help satisfy the “overwhelming demand from users” for the browser to be available on the store in some guise.
Vivaldi launched in 2015 offering day-one Linux support. It provides official DEB and RPM packages for major Linux distributions through its website. Those packages remain the recommended way to install the app on Linux.
Even so, making a Flatpak available on Flathub, even if it’s not an official one yet, will help the browser reach a much broader audience – like those with a Steam Deck in their hands 😉.
Why is it not official yet?
You’ll find a number of web browsers on Flathub, including official builds of Firefox, GNOME Web, and KDE Falkon, but few (if any) Chromium-based browsers are official or verified (and Vivaldi is also a Chromium-based browser).
Part of why this is the case may be due to uncertainties about the security of Chromium’s sandbox when run in a Flatpak environment.
It’s understood that Flatpak doesn’t allow certain crucial elements of the Chromium sandbox to function properly. Chromium browsers and Electron apps available on Flathub all depend on a third-party package named Zypak, which fools Chromium into believing that its SUID sandbox is present.
Additional testing is needed to determine whether critical applications like browsers that rely on these “tricks” to operate may pose any security risks.
Trending in the right direction
Be it official or not, this integration simplifies the process of installing Vivaldi on Linux, eliminating the need to fetch installers manually. This allows users to receive future updates more promptly due to automatic updates. As a result, the browser is now positioned to appeal to a broader audience, potentially increasing its user base.
Plus, we’ve seen some unofficial Flathub packages become official this year, including the Thunderbird e-mail client, and the messaging app Discord which, prior to verification, had already racked up millions of installs.
Should Vivaldi become official in time too, it backing would signal to other software vendors that Flathub is where it’s at — because it really is. Increasingly, Flathub is not just where Linux users go to find software but where they expect to find software.
• Get Vivaldi on Flathub
Thanks, anon