Install Appimage under Arch Linux

Question

I've downloaded an appimage file and just want to install it. I know that it is pretty simple under Ubuntu and Fedora, but I struggle to get it installed under Arch Linux. Is there a common way to install the program?

Answer 1

.appimage files are just complete app executables (similar to but not exactly equivalent of .app pseudo-files on macOS), so they do not require installation. If you really want to be able to call them from anywhere, you can put them in /usr/local/bin, but that is unnecessary. If I understood correctly, you are using them in a Desktop/Laptop machine, so even putting them on the desktop does the trick.

To be able to execute a .appimage file, it has to be set as an executable, by changing your permissions for it. This is easily done using the command:

chmod +x /path/to/file

in which /path/to/file is the path to the .appimage file you wish to run. Once it has been set as executable, you can open it like any other file.

Note that, provided the distro you are using supports AppImages (and most do), the procedure is the same for any, not just for Arch specifically.

Answer 2

AppImage requires fuse to mount the embedded sqashfs filesystem.

If fuse is not installed, you can use the parameter --appimage-extract-and-run.

This extracts the application and starts it.

Manual steps to extract and run an AppImage:

If you want to extract the contents of the AppImage can use --appimage-extract. This also allows to modify the files from the extracted application.

After extracting the data you have a folder named squashfs-root and in this folder, there is an executable called AppRun.

Executing AppRun should work on most Linux distributions, as long as the application was built for your architecture.