Welcome to the most complete database of all AppImage packages and portable applications for GNU/Linux.

PORTABLE LINUX APPS

the first AUR-inspired AppImage Software Center!

This site lists 2438 unique apps (2076 Appimage packages and 362 standalone/portable programs), plus 79 items.

From here you can download them, install them, update them (for real), get more information about the sources and their developers... and if you want, you can contribute yourself by adding the missing information, because this site is open source!

Go to the applications list	Install "AM", the package manager

Main Index

What are the portable linux apps?
How is this site different from other sites that list AppImage packages?
Is there a centralized repository for AppImage packages?
Differences between "AM" and "AppMan"
What programs can be installed
How to update all programs, for real
Installation
- How to install "AM"
- How to install "AppMan"
External links index (tutorials, troubleshooting, sandboxing... more)
Related projects

What are the portable linux apps?

Portable Linux Apps are standalone applications for GNU/Linux that can (theoretically) run everywhere, also on a USB stick. These applications can be AppImage packages (see appimage.org) or standalone archives (for example Firefox, Blender, Thunderbird...).

How is this site different from other sites that list AppImage packages?

This catalog aims to survey and list all the AppImages and autonomous programs, and aims to provide a centralized point where you can document yourself on individual apps and where you can easily reach the URLs to the sources, both through the pages dedicated to each app and by reading the "installation scripts".

Yeah, each app has its own installation script, PKGBUILD style, but with an alternative package manager named "AM", which works like the more classic APT, PacMan/YAY, DNF... and which can therefore place them in specific paths of the filesystem , like any program, and allows updates via a system of scripts called "AM-updater". If an app can't update itself, the dedicated "AM-updater" script will use an application-specific method to always update your favorite apps to the latest version. FOR REAL!

This catalog is open source. You can edit its pages, update them and see the sources clearly, as a "wiki".

About other catalogs

While I recognize the role they have had so far in supporting the diffusion of AppImage as a packaging format, through the years, as a former user, I would like to underline what led me to open an alternative catalogue:

"appimage.github.io" serves more than anything else to catalog the AppImages based on validation processes based on Github Actions (i.e. that the package is compatible with old versions of Ubuntu LTS). From the developer's point of view it's fine, but from the point of view of the user who searches for AppImage packages without going into the depths of the internet, it's totally useless. As a catalog it is limited to showing only that an app exists or has existed in the past, without worrying about obsolete packages that no longer exist, but still listed only "to make up the numbers". Many pages have no buttons to the sources and all pages have no additional information on individual apps, each page is simply a copy/paste message that says that the app "is available as an AppImage which means one app = one file..." etcetera etcetera.
"appimagehub.com" hosts applications not always provided by the original developer, just check the profile of whoever uploaded the application and how many "products" they uploaded. Some admit that they are not the developers, despite having a donation button available, effectively leading them to earning on work of others, and are often greedy enough to not include the real source! These profiles use random hosting services for these applications, and Pling's APIs does not allow you to clearly verify the origin of any package that is downloaded. There is no control over this, and the only validity check of a "product" is the feedback of the users who use it, and which in any case is not sufficient either to guarantee the safety of an app, nor to do justice to the real owner of that package, who was in fact "robbed" of its work.

Furthermore, none of them track updates consistently.

From the aforementioned defects I understood what a catalog of portable applications should NOT do to be reliable.

Is there a centralized repository for AppImage packages?

Depends on what you mean by "centralized package repository", if you mean a repository that stores them all like Debian-based distributions do with DEB packages, no, there are thousands of packages, and they are usually distributed to remote sites and difficult to find.

If instead you mean an AUR-style repo with scripts that easily find all AppImages, you're in the right place!

This catalog and its CLI, "AM", make it easy for you to find, install, integrate and update all AppImage packages!

This catalog is just the frontend for an ever growing database that aims to extend not only to x86_64 architecture apps listed here, but also to all others, from the modern ARM64/aarch64 to oldest i686, as an universal solution for all AppImages and portable programs for GNU/Linux!

All the installation scripts are stored in the repository of the "AM" package manager.

https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM


sandbox AppImages	list available apps	info about the apps

install applications	query lists using keywords	show the installed apps

create and restore snapshots	update everything	get rid of libfuse2

The code of this Command Line Interface is available at this link.

The database of "AM" does not stores packages but installation scripts, as the Arch User Repository (AUR) does with PKGBUILDs.

Each script points directly to a program ready to be downloaded, more often as AppImage packages, but also portable apps stored in TAR, ZIP and DEB archives, scripts, standalone binares... and in some cases a script can build on-the-fly AppImage packages in a way similar to an AUR helper using pkg2appimage and/or appimagetool.

Differences between "AM" and "AppMan"

"AM" and "AppMan" differ in how they are installed, placed and renamed in the system and how/where they install apps:

"AM" is installed system-wide (requires sudo o doas) in /opt/am/ as "APP-MANAGER", with a symlink named "am" in /usr/local/bin.
"AppMan" is portable, you need just to rename the "APP-MANAGER" script as "appman" and put it wherewer you want. I recommend to place it in $HOME/.local/bin to be used in $PATH, to be managed from other tools.

Both can be updated using "Topgrade".

Ownership

"AM" is owned by the user that have installed it, since other users have not read/write permissions in "/opt/am";
"AppMan" is for all users, since it works locally, everyone can have its own apps and configurations.

About "sudo" usage

"AppMan" can request the root password only in the very rare case in which you want to install a library;
"AM" requires the root password only to install, remove apps, enable a sandbox for an AppImage.

All options cannot be executed with "sudo"/"doas".

How apps are installed

"AM" installs apps system wide, in /opt (see Linux Standard Base), using the following structure:

/opt/$PROGRAM/
/opt/$PROGRAM/$PROGRAM
/opt/$PROGRAM/AM-updater
/opt/$PROGRAM/remove
/opt/$PROGRAM/icons/$ICON-NAME
/usr/local/bin/$PROGRAM
/usr/local/share/applications/$PROGRAM-AM.desktop

"AppMan" is more flexible, since it asks you where to install the apps. For example, suppose you want install everything in "Applicazioni" (the italian of "applications") and in your $HOME directory, this is the structure of what an installation scripts installs with "AppMan" instead:

~/Applicazioni/$PROGRAM/
~/Applicazioni/$PROGRAM/$PROGRAM
~/Applicazioni/$PROGRAM/AM-updater
~/Applicazioni/$PROGRAM/remove
~/Applicazioni/$PROGRAM/icons/$ICON-NAME
~/.local/bin/$PROGRAM
~/.local/share/applications/$PROGRAM-AM.desktop

The configuration file for AppMan is in ~/.config/appman and contains the path you indicated at first startup. Changing its contents will result in changing the paths for each subsequent operation carried out with "AppMan", the apps and modules stored in the old path will not be manageable.

At first startup you can indicate any directory or subdirectory you want, as long as it is in your $HOME.

How to use "AM" in non-privileged mode, like "AppMan"

As already mentioned above, at "Ownership" the user who installed "AM" is the sole owner, having write permissions for both /opt/am and for all installed apps.

However, every user of the same system is allowed to use the option --user or appman, to use "AM" as "AppMan" and to install apps locally and withour root privileges:

am --user

To switch "AM" back to "AM" from "AppMan Mode", use the always suggested option --system:

am --system

To perform a test and see if you are in "AppMan Mode" or not, run for example the command am -f to see the list of the installed apps.

In this video I'll install LXtask locally:

https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM/assets/88724353/65b27cf6-edc5-4a4c-b2f9-42e8623dc76f

NOTE: non-privileged users can update their own local applications and modules, but cannot update /opt/am/APP-MANAGER.

It is therefore suggested to use pure "AppMan" instead of the "AppMan Mode" of "AM".

Install "AM"/"AppMan"	Back to "Main Index"

What programs can be installed

"AM"/"AppMan" installs, removes, updates and manages only standalone programs, ie those programs that can be run from a single directory in which they are contained. The database aims to be a reference point where you can download all the AppImage packages scattered around the web, otherwise unobtainable, as you would expect from any package manager, through specific installation scripts for each application, as happens with the AUR PKGBUILDs, on Arch Linux. You can see all of them here, divided by architecture.

NOTE that currently my work focuses on applications for x86_64 architecture, but it is possible to extend "AM" to all other available architectures. If you are interested, you can deliberately join this project to improve the available lists.

PROGRAMS, they are taken:

from official sources (see Firefox, Thunderbird, Blender, NodeJS, Chromium Latest, Platform Tools...);
extracted from official .deb/tar/zip packages;
from the repositories and official sites of individual developers.

APPIMAGES, they are taken:

from official sources (if the upstream developers provide them);
from AppImage recipes to be compiled on-the-fly with pkg2appimage and appimagetool;
from unofficial third-party developers, but only if an official release is not available.

FIREFOX PROFILES to run as webapps, the ones with suffix "ffwa-" in the apps list.
THIRD-PARTY LIBRARIES, needed if they are not provided in your distribution's repositories. These are to be installed in truly exceptional cases.

You can consult basic information, links to sites and sources used through the related command am -a $PROGRAM or appman -a $PROGRAM, that uses the same pages of this site.

Back to "Main Index"

How to update all programs, for real

One of the reasons why many users hate Appimages is because they cannot be updated. Or at least not all.

This project was born to dispel this myth and to solve the problem. And the solution is much more trivial than you expect.

There are several methods to update apps, here are the most common ones, in order of priority:

the "comparison between versions" is the most widespread in the database, the version of the app installed is compared with the one present at the source, be it an official site or another site that tracks it;
if an AppImage package has a .zsync file, that will be used to download binary deltas (especially useful with large files, but not very popular among developers);
some portable apps are self-updatable (see Firefox and Thunderbird);
if an app or script is extremely small (a few kilobytes), it is downloaded directly from scratch;
in rare cases, if a file .zsync is broken, we use appimageupdatetool;
in some cases, the apps have a fixed version, both due to the developers' choices to abandon a portable package in favor of other more common platforms, and because a software is no longer developed.

How to update all installed apps

Option -u or update updates all the installed apps and keeps "AM"/"AppMan" in sync with the latest version and all latest bug fixes.

https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM/assets/88724353/f93ca782-2fc6-45a0-a3f2-1fba297a92bf

To update only the programs, use am -u --apps / appman -u --apps
To update just one program, use am -u $PROGRAM / appman -u $PROGRAM
To update all the programs and "AM"/"AppMan" itself, just run the commandam -u / appman -u
To update only "AM"/"AppMan" and the modules use the option -s instead, am -s / appman -s

NOTE, non-privileged users using "AM" in "AppMan Mode" cannot update /opt/am/APP-MANAGER (points 3 and 4). See "How to use AM in non-privileged mode, like AppMan".

How to update everything using "Topgrade"

Keeping your system up to date usually involves invoking multiple package managers. This results in big, non-portable shell one-liners saved in your shell. To remedy this, Topgrade detects which tools you use and runs the appropriate commands to update them.

Install the "topgrade" package using the command

am -i topgrade

appman -i topgrade

Visit github.com/topgrade-rs/topgrade to learn more.

NOTE, "AppMan" users must install appman in ~/.local/bin to allow updates via Topgrade. See "How to install AppMan".

Back to "Main Index"

Installation

This section explains how to install "AM" or "AppMan".

If you don't know the difference, please read "Differences between "AM" and "AppMan"" first.

You can choose to continue reading and see the installation methods in detail (jump to "Core dependences"), or you can choose to use the common installer for "AM" and "AppMan", named "AM-INSTALLER", by downloading the script and making it executable, like this:

wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM/main/AM-INSTALLER
chmod a+x ./AM-INSTALLER
./AM-INSTALLER

Type "1" to install "AM" (requires "sudo"/"doas" password), "2" to install "AppMan". Any other key will abort the installation.

This "AM-INSTALLER" script acts as a "launcher" to speed up the processes available in the guides "How to install "AM"" and "How to install "AppMan"".

Core dependences

Below are the essential system dependencies that you must install before proceeding:

"coreutils" (contains "cat", "chmod", "chown"...);
"curl", to check URLs;
"grep", to check files;
"less", to read the ever-longer lists;
"sed", to edit/adapt installed files;
"wget" to download all programs and update "AM"/"AppMan" itself.

Dependency only for "AM"

"sudo" or "doas", required by "AM" to install/remove programs and sandbox AppImages.

Extra dependences (recommended)

The following are optional dependencies that some programs may require:

"binutils", contains a series of basic commands, including "ar" which extracts .deb packages;
"unzip", to extract .zip packages;
"tar", to extract .tar packages;*
"torsocks", to connect to the TOR network;
"zsync", required by very few programs and AppImages (although it is mentioned in all installation scripts, it is often disabled because the managed .zsync files are often broken, especially for apps hosted on github.com).

How to install "AM"

"AM" is ment to be installed at system level to manage apps.

The script "INSTALL" is the one that take care of this.

Using "Wget"

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM/main/INSTALL
chmod a+x ./INSTALL
sudo ./INSTALL

or directly

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM/main/INSTALL && chmod a+x ./INSTALL && sudo ./INSTALL

Using "GIT"

git clone https://github.com/ivan-hc/AM.git
cd AM
chmod a+x INSTALL
sudo ./INSTALL

Structure of the "AM" installation

In both cases, the "INSTALL" script will create:

the script "/opt/am/APP-MANAGER"
the script "/opt/am/remove" (to remove "AM" using the command am -R am)
the directory "/opt/am/modules" (containing the .am modules for the non-core options)
the symlink "/usr/local/bin/am" for "/opt/am/APP-MANAGER"

NOTE, if you don't feel comfortable having to always use root permissions, the installation method for "AppMan" is totally different. If you are interested, go to the next paragraph, else Back to "Main Index" or see "[all the available options" at github.com/ivan-hc/AM#usage.

How to install "AppMan"

"AppMan" can be used in different places, being it portable.

However, to be easily used its recommended to place it in your local "$PATH", in ~/.local/bin.

Use "AppMan" in "$PATH"

To do so, you must first enable that "$PATH":

add export PATH=$PATH:$(xdg-user-dir USER)/.local/bin in the ~/.bashrc
create the directory ~/.local/bin if it is not available

To do all this quickly, simply copy/paste the following command:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin && echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc && wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM/main/APP-MANAGER -O ~/.local/bin/appman && chmod a+x ~/.local/bin/appman

Use "AppMan" in "Portable Mode"

"AppMan" can run in any directory you download it, copy/paste the following command to download "APP-MANAGER", rename it to appman and make it executable:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivan-hc/AM/main/APP-MANAGER -O appman && chmod a+x ./appman

Structure of the "AppMan" installation

Unlike "AM" which needs to be placed in specific locations, "AppMan" is portable. The modules and directories will be placed in the directory you chose:

the script "appman" is wherever you want
the directory "/path/to/your/custom/directory/modules" (containing the .am modules for the non-core options)
the configuration file "$HOME/.config/appman/appman-config" (the only fixed directory)

Back to "Main Index"

Uninstall

To uninstall "AM" just run the command am -R am
To uninstall "AppMan" just remove it and the directory $HOME/.config/appman

Note, before you remove your CLI, use the option -R to remove the apps installed using the following syntax:

am -R {PROGRAM1} {PROGRAM2} {PROGRAM3}...

appman -R {PROGRAM1} {PROGRAM2} {PROGRAM3}...

to have a list of the installed programs use the option -f or files (syntax am -f or appman -f).

See also "How to update or remove apps manually", at github.com/ivan-hc/AM#how-to-update-or-remove-apps-manually.

External links index

All the guides listed here are available at github.com/ivan-hc/AM

Usage (all the available options)

Guides and tutorials

Instructions for Linux Distro Maintainers

Troubleshooting

Back to "Main Index"

External tools and forks used in this project

aisap, sandboxing solutions for AppImages
appimagetool/go-appimage, get rid of libfuse2 from your AppImages
pkg2appimage, create AppImages on the fly from existing .deb packages
repology, the encyclopedia of all software versions

My other projects

AppImaGen, easily create AppImages from Ubuntu PPAs or Debian using pkg2appimage and appimagetool;
ArchImage, create AppImages for all distributions using Arch Linux packages. Powered by JuNest;
Firefox for Linux scripts, easily install the official releases of Firefox for Linux;
My AppImage packages the complete list of packages managed by me and available in this database;
Snap2AppImage, try to convert Snap packages to AppImages.

You can support me and my work on ko-fi.com and PayPal.me. Thank you!

ko-fi.com	PayPal.me	Install "AM"/"AppMan"	"Main Index"

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