Flatpak uses remote repositories (usually just called “remotes”) in order to search for and download software. If at any point you decide that you no longer wish to download applications that come from a particular repository, you can always remove it from Flatpak. This will prevent Flatpak from querying the specified repo for future software searches and updates.
It is recommended to only keep Flatpak remotes that you plan to use. Otherwise, your Flatpak configuration can get convoluted with metadata and other irrelevant settings and files that you will not need. The only caveat to keep in mind is that applications which were installed from a removed remote will no longer receive updates, unless it is possible to receive those updates from a different repository that you have added to Flatpak. Previous apps that have been installed from the removed repo will not be uninstalled from your system.
In this tutorial, you will see how to remove a repository (or “remote”) from Flatpak on a Linux system.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to remove repository from Flatpak
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Any Linux distro |
| Software | Flatpak package manager |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Remove repository using Flatpak step by step instructions
Follow along with the steps below to identify the Flatpak repos (remotes) that you have configured on your Linux system, and ultimately remove one or more of them.
- Open a command line terminal and enter the following command to see what Flatpak remotes you currently have configured:
$ flatpak remotes
Listing the Flatpak remotes on our Linux system – currently there are two This command will list the Flatpak remotes that have been configured for system wide use, as well as any that have been configured for your user account.
- Next, use the following command syntax to remove a Flatpak repo from your system:
$ sudo flatpak remote-delete RepoName
Obviously you should replace
RepoNamewith the actual name of the repo as shown in the remote list retrieved in Step 1. - If you want to remove a user only repository or some other type, just specify the type as the following syntax:
$ sudo flatpak remote-delete --user RepoName or $ sudo flatpak remote-delete --system RepoName
- Remember to issue the
flatpak remotesorflatpak remote-listcommand once more when finished, to verify that the repository has indeed been removed:$ flatpak remotes
Closing Thoughts
In this tutorial, we saw how to remove a Flatpak repository (or remote) on a Linux system. Removing old repositories that you no longer plan to use is a good idea, so you do not unintentionally install or update your applications from an obsolete Flatpak remote.
