FLATPAK-MASK(1)

💖 FLATPAK MASK(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to flatpak-mask — the part of the flatpak manual. yes it's giving "why do I need this" but trust me, it's lowkey iconic.

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✨ NAME ✨

flatpak-mask — Mask out updates and automatic installation

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

flatpak mask [OPTION...] PATTERN...

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so basically, Flatpak keeps a whole little list of patterns that decide which refs are masked. and a masked ref? it will never be updated and it will never be automatically installed. periodt. like, if a masked extension is marked auto-download, bestie, it is NOT getting downloaded. no cap.

now the plot twist 🫶 — you can still manually install those refs. the vibes are just: once they're installed, the version gets pinned. frozen. main character standing still.

the patterns are literally just a partial ref, and the * character matches anything within that part of the ref. here are some example patterns so you can see the vision:

org.some.App
org.some.App//unstable
app/org.domain.*
org.some.App/arm

and to see the current set of masks you've got going on? just run this command with no patterns at all. the way that works is so clean. 💅

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

here's everything that's understood, bestie, don't skip a single one:

• -h, --help — show help options and exit. cute, quick, done. ✨
• --remove — instead of adding the patterns, it removes matching patterns. the undo button, fr fr.
• -u, --user — mask refs in a per-user installation.
• --system — mask refs in the default system-wide installation.
• --installation=NAME — mask refs in a system-wide installation specified by NAME, picked from the ones defined in /etc/flatpak/installations.d/. and heads up: using --installation=default is equivalent to using --system. iykyk.
• -v, --verbose — print debug information while the command is processing. the receipts, basically. 🔥

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

no patterns? you get the list:

$ flatpak mask

masking one very specific broken little guy:

$ flatpak mask org.broken.App

and unmasking him, because growth:

$ flatpak mask --remove org.broken.App

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

flatpak(1), flatpak-update(1),

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and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 this little icon was brought to you by the flatpak manual, FLATPAK MASK(1) — go forth and mask responsibly, mwah 🎀🦋