Portal support in GTK🔗

GTK will transparently use portals for some functionality when it detects that it is being used inside a Flatpak sandbox. Here are some hints for what GTK applications should do to benefit from this.

  • Use g_get_user_config_dir(), g_get_user_cache_dir() and g_get_user_data_dir() to find the right place to store configuration and data

  • Use GtkFileChooserNative (or GtkFileChooserButton) to open files. As of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 1.7.1 it can also open directories.

  • Use GtkPrintOperation for printing

  • Use gtk_show_uri_on_window() or g_app_info_launch_default_for_uri() to open URIs

  • Use gtk_application_inhibit() if you want to inhibit idle or logout

  • Use g_application_send_notification() to show notifications

  • Use the GtkApplication::screensaver-active property to monitor scrensaver status

Additionally, xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is required for GTK themes and fonts. It is also used as a fallback for the filepicker if the main xdg-desktop-portal implementation doesn’t support filepicking.

Portal support in Qt and KDE🔗

Qt and KDE libraries will transparently use portals for some functionality when they detect that they are being used inside a Flatpak sandbox. Here are some hints for what Qt or KDE applications should do to benefit from this.

  • Use QDesktopServices::openUrl(const QUrl &url) or KIO::OpenUrlJob to open URIs or send an email when using mailto URL

  • Use QFileDialog class to open files and, as of Qt 5.18.90, directories. Avoid using QFileDialog::DontUseNativeDialog.

  • Use KNotification::notify() to show notification