= System Wide Change: Graphical Applications as Flatpaks =
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/Graphical_Applications_as_Flatpaks

Change owner(s):
* Owen Taylor <otaylor@redhat.com>

This change is to enable package maintainers to build Flatpaks of
their applications and make those Flatpaks available for installation.

I do recognize that the containerization trend solves enough problems to be an attractive and perhaps inevitable development. My concern is more from the Fedora governance side: given that Fedora is historically a coherent RPM-based distribution, the containerization has an opportunity cost, in at least two ways:

- it could distract already overworked package maintainers from properly coordinating ("I don't have time to deal with those dependencies, I will just wrap the stuff I need into a flatpack and have a beer and a movie")

- it could distract users from demanding a well-put-together base ("I don't have time to chase and report this bug; I will just install that flatpack").

I do appreciate that if there are technical solutions to the downsides of containerization (security lifecycle, combinatorial divergence, etc.), it may end up replacing the package-based distribution model, but I think it's too early to declare such change. So, from the point of view of Fedora's available resources, are  the benefits to Fedora compelling enough to justify this project?

Please note that I am not arguing against this idea, just pointing out that the Fedora community should think through its broader consequences.