Flatpak-NG sounds like bad news for systemd refuseniks

**TL;DR:** Flatpak-NG sounds like bad news for systemd refuseniks

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Flatpak development has been very quiet for years. Discussions about a next-generation take are happening – and some of the signs are worrying if, like many FOSS folks, you are systemd-intolerant. 2, we came across an interesting Reddit discussion from last month, which in turn led us to a Flatpak development blog post from late last year. It looks like a team is collecting ideas for what is currently called "Flatpak-NG" – as in next generation. If this solidifies into code, this may form the basis of Flatpak version 2.

The blog post isn't very informative, but the Reddit thread links to the video of a presentation from last month's Linux App Summit in Berlin, which spells things out more clearly. The Flatpak-NG idea involves handing off a lot of the isolation in Flatpak from the current bubblewrap layer to an as-yet-unwritten systemd component that the developers are currently calling systemd-appd. This would considerably simplify Flatpak, and enable it to do more isolation, including virtualizing the network stack – but at the price of making Flatpak 2 depend on systemd.

A developer who was at the talk, Jorge Castro, later e

Source: The Register

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Last updated: June 16, 2026.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.

Additional context: early-cycle stories often look bigger in headlines than in day-to-day impact. The useful move is to identify the smallest set of facts that would change your decision, then wait for those facts to land.