🐧Building on Linux
Notes:
The following steps are verified on
You may need to disable hardware 3D acceleration if you are running AppFlowy in a VM. Otherwise, certain GL failures will prevent the app from launching.
This guide assumes that you are using the bash shell on Linux. You can however, replicate these steps on zsh or other alternative Linux terminal shells, with minor alterations.
If you encounter any issues, have a look at Troubleshooting first. If your issue is not included in the page, please create an issue or ask on Discord.
Attention: There is an issue affecting Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 37, and PopOS 22.04:
Failed to load dynamic library 'libdart_ffi.so': libssl.so.1.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory. The issue can be fixed by installing the required missing libraries:
For Fedora Workstation:
sudo dnf install openssl-develFor Fedora Silverblue:
rpm-ostree upgrade
rpm-ostree install openssl1.1.x86_64For Silverblue, it is necessary to perform both the upgrade and the installation.
For Ubuntu & PopOS:
Download the required package by executing the following command:
wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/o/openssl/libssl1.1_1.1.0g-2ubuntu4_amd64.debInstall the downloaded package using the following command:
sudo dpkg -i libssl1.1_1.1.0g-2ubuntu4_amd64.debIf the provided link for Ubuntu & PopOS is expired or returns an error 404, you can search for "libssl1.1_1.1.1" on the page.
Step 1: Get the source code
Clone the source code from our Github project.
git clone https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy.gitEnsure that git is installed in your system!! Use your package manager to install git if your distribution doesn't ship with git.
# Ubuntu
sudo apt install git# Fedora
sudo dnf install git# Arch
sudo pacman -S git
Step 2: Install your build environment
Install system prerequisites:
sudo apt-get install curl build-essential libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev unzip libkeybinder-3.0-dev libnotify-dev
Install flutter (three different methods):
Flutter version 3.27.4 is the recent supported stable release used for building AppFlowy. Building with the latest stable Flutter release is not tested and might throw errors while building.
Method 1: Install flutter according to https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/linux. Make sure to install flutter in a directory that is appropriate for you.
Method 2: You can use the code below to install flutter manually on your linux system.
git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git --branch 3.27.4
cd flutter
echo -e "\nexport PATH=\$PATH:"`pwd`"/bin" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
flutter
cd ..
Method 3: You can also use a runtime version manager like asdf or a flutter-specific version manager to install flutter on your system. Assuming you are using the bash shell, follow these steps:
Clone asdf.
git clone https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf.git ~/.asdf --branch v0.11.1Add the path to asdf and enable asdf auto-completion in your shell.
echo -e '\n# asdf configuration \n. "$HOME/.asdf/asdf.sh"\n. "$HOME/.asdf/completions/asdf.bash"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrcIf you are not using bash, check the official asdf guide to learn how to set up asdf for your shell.
Install flutter via asdf and set it as your local runtime at the AppFlowy source directory (
xx/AppFlowy/).
cd AppFlowy
asdf plugin-add flutter
asdf install flutter 3.27.4-stable
rm -rf .tool-versions
asdf local flutter 3.27.4-stable
cd ..Some distributions might miss certain packages essential for asdf, such as jq, curl, or wget. Please make sure they are installed via your package manager.
👉 Ubuntu 22.04 does not come with the package jq installed by default, you will have to install by doing:
sudo apt install jq
Setting up your development environment:
Run the setup script from the base directory. (Note: You can skip this step if you installed rust using asdf and set it as the local runtime inside thexx/AppFlowy/ source.)
cd AppFlowy
./frontend/scripts/install_dev_env/install_linux.sh
source ~/.bashrc
xx/AppFlowy/frontend/scripts/install_dev_env/.If you get this warning:
Warning: Pub installs executables into $HOME/.pub-cache/bin, which is not on your path. You can fix that by adding this to your shell's config file (.bashrc, .bash_profile, etc.):
export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"
Then run the following command to add the path inside your shell configuration dotfile (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.). For bash users:
echo -e '\nexport PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrcOR, alternatively run this in your shell every time you build AppFlowy:
export PATH="$PATH":"$HOME/.pub-cache/bin
"Warning: Pub installs executables into $HOME/.pub-cache/bin, which is not on your path."Step 3: Build AppFlowy (Flutter GUI application)
Change your path to the frontend directory.
cd frontendBuilding the AppFlowy binary:
cargo make --profile production-linux-x86_64 appflowyYou will find the binary in frontend/appflowy_flutter/product/[version in x.x.x]/linux/[Binary type (Release/ Debug)]/AppFlowy/.
Step 4: Run the application
For running the release binary:
cd appflowy_flutter/product/[version number in x.x.x]/linux/Release/AppFlowy
./app_flowyFor running the debug binary:
cd appflowy_flutter/product/[version number in x.x.x]/linux/Debug/AppFlowy
./app_flowyA new window as shown below will show up after you run the application:
If using a virtual machine, run the Linux GUI application through x11 on windows (use MobaXterm) for instance:
export DISPLAY=localhost:10
Miscellaneous: Running the application without building (using VS Code)
Do not use the flatpak distribution of VS Code! ****The flatpak VS Code is sandboxed and uses an isolated shell environment, and cannot access any binaries or libraries installed in your system, including your default system shell.
Open the
frontendfolder located atxx/AppFlowy/with VS Code.Go to the Run and Debug tab and then click AF-desktop: Clean + Rebuild All for the first time running.
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