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+#+title: Running Flatpak Apps with Symlinks
+#+date: 2023-01-21
+#+description: Learn how to run Flatpak apps through menu launchers with symlinks.
+#+filetags: :linux:
+
+* Running Flatpak Apps Should Be Faster
+If you're like me and use Flatpak for those pesky apps that cannot run
+on your system for one reason or another, you likely get annoyed with
+opening a terminal and manually running the Flatpak app with the lengthy
+=flatpak run ...= command.
+
+In the past, I manually created aliases in my =.zshrc= file for certain
+apps. For example, an alias would look like the example below.
+
+This would allow me to run the command fast within the terminal, but it
+wouldn't allow me to run it in an application launcher.
+
+#+begin_src sh
+# ~/.zshrc
+alias librewolf = "flatpak run io.gitlab.librewolf-community"
+#+end_src
+
+However, I now use a much faster and better method that integrates with
+the tiling WMs I use and their application launchers - =dmenu= and
+=bemenu=.
+
+* Creating Symlinks for Flatpak Apps
+Let's use the example of Librewolf below. I can install the application
+like so:
+
+#+begin_src sh
+flatpak install flathub io.gitlab.librewolf-community
+#+end_src
+
+Once installed, I can create a symlink to link the flatpak app to my new
+symlink in a location commonly included in your PATH. In this case, I
+chose =/usr/bin=. You may need to choose a different location if
+=/usr/bin= isn't in your PATH.
+
+#+begin_src sh
+ln -s /var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin/io.gitlab.librewolf-community /usr/bin/librewolf
+#+end_src
+
+Once complete, you should be able to launch the app using the command
+name you chose above in the symlink (=librewolf=) from a terminal or
+from your application launcher!