As a user, I want to download an application from the original author, and run it on my Linux desktop system just like I would do with a Windows or Mac application, that is why, in this post, I will be guiding you, on how to run AppImage on Linux.
AppImage is a format for distributing portable software on Linux without needing superuser permissions to install the application.
It tries also to allow Linux distribution-agnostic binary software deployment for application developers, also called upstream packaging.
Released first in 2004 under the name klik, it was continuously developed, then renamed in 2011 to PortableLinuxApps and later in 2013 to AppImage and became MIT license.
It aims to be an application deployment system for Linux with the following objectives:
simplicity, binary compatibility, distro agnosticism, no installation, no root permission, being portable, and keeping the underlying operating system untouched.
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AppImage Properties
AppImage does not install the application in the traditional Linux sense. Instead of putting the application’s various files in the distro’s appropriate places in the file system, the file is just the application’s compressed image.
When it runs, the file is mounted with FUSE. This behavior is consistent with AppImage’s predecessors, klik and Portable Linux Apps.
It uses one file per application. Each file is self-contained: it includes all libraries the application depends on that are not already part of the targeted base-system.
The version 1.0 is an ISO 9660 Rock Ridge file (which can be optionally zisofs compressed) containing a minimal AppDir and a tiny runtime.
Version 2 may use other file system image formats like SquashFS. An AppImage application can be added to a live CD by adding only one file to the live CD.
The files are simpler than installing an application. No extraction tools are needed, nor is it necessary to modify the operating system or user environment.
Regular users on the common Linux distributions can download it, make it executable, and run it.
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It allows generation of embedded digital signature, which need to be verified with an external utility.
The format does not offer form of self-check with package authenticity verification or runtime confinement by sandboxing.
How to Run AppImage on Linux Distributions
- To run an AppImage, simply:
- Make it executable
- $ chmod a+x File_Name*.AppImage
- $ ./File_Name*.AppImage
