Switch the runtime version of flatpak app

Question

If I list all runtimes, I see different apps use different versions of the same package. For instance, flatpak list --runtime outputs

Freedesktop Platform  org.freedesktop.Platform  21.08.20.1 21.08 system
Freedesktop Platform  org.freedesktop.Platform  22.08.12.1 22.08 system

If I want to know which apps use the older version, I can type flatpak list --app --app-runtime org.freedesktop.Platform//21.08 which, in my case, outputs the app

Bla org.Bla.BlaBla 0.9.11 stable system

Now, how can I force this app to run with the 22.08 version of Freedesktop Platform instead of the 21.08 version?

Answer 1

You may be able to use flatpak run --runtime=org.freedesktop.Platform//22.08 org.Bla.BlaBla.

For other environments or applications: flatpak run --runtime=<Platform identifier>/<Archtecture identifier>/<Version identifier> <Application identifier> I believe.

If working, the command could be used to in a ".desktop" entry (in "~/.local/share/applications" for example), as a "Exec" property value to be able to launch the application in given platform environment from typical desktop environment (GNOME Shell for example). I think typically a ".desktop" entry of a given application may be located in "/var/lib/flatpak/app/<Application identifier>/current/active/export/share/applications" (a directory with symlinks to default ".desktop" entries of Flatpak applications seems to be "/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications"). It's then possible to copy given file to "~/.local/share/applications" for example and edit it accordingly.

Thank You for posting.