Linux packaging for RLBot v5. This repository builds org.rlbot.gui, a flatpak that runs rlbotgui on Linux. The flatpak keeps rlbotgui and RLBotServer up to date from their GitHub releases.
The server runs on the host so it can see the game and spawn bots. The GUI runs inside the sandbox.
Add the repository once, then install. The repository is GPG-signed and served from GitHub Pages. flatpak update detects new launcher releases automatically:
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists rlbot-flatpak https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RLBot/flatpak/master/org.rlbot.gui.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user rlbot-flatpak org.rlbot.gui
Update later with:
flatpak update --user org.rlbot.gui
Download org.rlbot.gui.flatpak from the latest release and install it directly. No remote is attached. Re-download the file for every new release:
flatpak install ./org.rlbot.gui.flatpak
The first launch downloads RLBotServer and rlbotgui from their GitHub releases (~28 MB). It downloads them into ~/.var/app/org.rlbot.gui/data/RLBot5/bin/. It starts RLBotServer on the host. It opens the GUI.
The launcher and RLBotServer output stream to your terminal when you run flatpak run org.rlbot.gui. The output is written to ~/.var/app/org.rlbot.gui/data/RLBot5/logs/ (rlbot.log and rlbotserver.log). Each run creates fresh files, like the Windows launcher's console.
When you launch the app from the app grid, the app runs in your system's terminal. The window closes when you close the GUI. On desktops that do not launch Terminal=true apps in a terminal, the launcher opens a terminal itself.
WebKitGTK renders through its DMA-BUF renderer, which misbehaves on the proprietary NVIDIA driver and can leave the GUI blank. The launcher checks for that driver and disables the renderer for the GUI on its own; nothing to do on NVIDIA.
If the window is still blank, the check got your setup wrong and you can set the variable yourself:
flatpak override --user --env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 org.rlbot.gui
To undo that:
flatpak override --user --unset-env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER org.rlbot.gui
The launcher never overrides a variable you set yourself. The check looks for the NVIDIA kernel driver rather than for the GPU the desktop is drawing with, so hybrid laptops may get the workaround even when the session renders on the integrated GPU. That only costs the GUI some rendering speed; it never changes what you see.
The flatpak itself only contains the launcher and the runtime libraries (WebKitGTK 4.1 / GTK3 from org.gnome.Platform). On every launch, the launcher:
- Fetches the latest releases of
RLBot/coreandRLBot/guiin parallel. It downloads whichever binary changed. It verifies the download with sha256 against the release asset digest. It always checks both, so the pair stays up to date together. - Starts
RLBotServeron the host viaflatpak-spawn --host. It must run outside the sandbox to see the game in/procand spawn Steam/Proton and bots. - Runs
rlbotguiinside the sandbox, where it gets WebKitGTK from the runtime.
Binaries are cached in ~/.var/app/org.rlbot.gui/data/RLBot5/bin/. This is a real host path. The host-side server can execute from the same directory that the GUI uses for botpacks.
This repository contains the rlbot-launcher source and the org.rlbot.gui.yml manifest that bundles it (plus zenity, which backs the GUI's file pickers).
sudo apt install flatpak flatpak-builder
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Install the GNOME runtime and SDK that the manifest pins (runtime-version), plus the Rust toolchain extension. The GNOME SDK does not ship cargo:
flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Platform//50 org.gnome.Sdk//50
flatpak install flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.rust-stable//25.08
org.gnome.Platform//50 is based on freedesktop-sdk 25.08. This is why the rust-stable extension is on the 25.08 branch even though the GNOME runtime is version 50. Bump both together with the manifest if you move to a newer GNOME runtime.
flatpak-builder --force-clean --disable-rofiles-fuse --repo=repo build-dir org.rlbot.gui.yml
Notes:
--disable-rofiles-fuseavoids a dependency on rofiles-fuse when exporting to the localrepo/directory.
Install what you just built into your user installation (no root needed):
flatpak-builder --force-clean --user --install build-dir org.rlbot.gui.yml
flatpak run org.rlbot.gui
--user targets your user installation. Without it, --install tries the system installation and fails with "Flatpak system operation ConfigureRemote not allowed for user" unless you run it as root.
Or create a distributable bundle (annotated with the flathub runtime-repo, so it installs standalone):
flatpak build-bundle --runtime-repo=https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo repo org.rlbot.gui.flatpak org.rlbot.gui
flatpak install ./org.rlbot.gui.flatpak
The flatpak repository is served to users from the gh-pages branch via GitHub Pages. Tag a release (e.g. v1.0.6), after bumping the version in Cargo.toml and the <releases> entry in org.rlbot.gui.metainfo.xml to match. The Build flatpak workflow then:
- Builds
org.rlbot.gui.flatpakand attaches it to the release. - Exports the ostree repository to the
gh-pagesbranch. This is the remote that the "Installing with updates" command above points at.
The repository is GPG-signed. The Build flatpak workflow signs the exported commits and summary using the key stored in the repository secrets. Flatpak verifies pulls against the public key embedded in org.rlbot.gui.flatpakrepo.
The GUI and server update themselves from GitHub on every launch. The flatpak needs a new release only when the launcher changes.
cargo run -- --online
Run the command outside a flatpak. It downloads to ~/.local/share/RLBot5/bin and spawns the server directly instead of via flatpak-spawn. Flags mirror the Windows launcher: --force-update-gui, --force-update-server, --offline, --online.