Flatpak-builder cannot find dependency even with --install-deps-from

[RalfJung]

Checklist

• I agree to follow the Code of Conduct that this project adheres to.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a bug that matches the one I want to file, without success.

flatpak-builder version

flatpak-builder-1.4.4

Flatpak version

Flatpak 1.16.0

How to reproduce

I have the following in my manifest:

sdk: org.freedesktop.Sdk
runtime: org.freedesktop.Sdk
runtime-version: '24.08'
base: org.electronjs.Electron2.BaseApp
base-version: '24.08'

(I have absolutely no clue if the version numbers make any sense as I wasn't able to find good docs on what to put here; this is copy-pasted from https://github.com/flathub/com.vscodium.codium/blob/master/com.vscodium.codium.yaml.)

Full manifest

app-id: io.keybase.Keybase

sdk: org.freedesktop.Sdk
runtime: org.freedesktop.Sdk
runtime-version: '24.08'
base: org.electronjs.Electron2.BaseApp
base-version: '24.08'

command: keybase

separate-locales: false
rename-desktop-file: keybase.desktop
rename-icon: keybase

finish-args:
  # X11 performance
  - --share=ipc
  # We need X11
  - --socket=x11
  # Access to wayland
  - --socket=wayland
  # Network Access
  - --share=network
  # Access for downloading files
  - --filesystem=xdg-download
  # We need to send notifications
  - --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Notifications
  - --talk-name=org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher
  # Allow running in background
  - --talk-name=org.freedesktop.portal.Background

modules:
  - name: keybase
    buildsystem: simple
    build-commands:
      - install -Dm0755 keybase.sh "${FLATPAK_DEST}/bin/keybase"
      - |
        bsdtar -Oxf keybase.deb 'data.tar.xz' |
          bsdtar -xf -
      - mv opt/keybase "${FLATPAK_DEST}"/
      - mv usr/bin "${FLATPAK_DEST}"/keybase/
      # Desktop file and icon
      - install -Dm0644 "usr/share/applications/keybase.desktop" "${FLATPAK_DEST}/share/applications/keybase.desktop"
      - desktop-file-edit --set-key=Exec --set-value='keybase %U' "${FLATPAK_DEST}/share/applications/keybase.desktop"
      - |
        for size in 16 32 128 256 512; do
          install -Dm0644 "usr/share/icons/hicolor/${size}x${size}/apps/keybase.png" "${FLATPAK_DEST}/share/icons/hicolor/${size}x${size}/apps/keybase.png"
        done
      - desktop-file-edit --set-key=Icon --set-value="keybase" "${FLATPAK_DEST}/share/applications/keybase.desktop"
    sources:
      - type: file
        dest-filename: keybase.deb
        # Filename found in https://prerelease.keybase.io/deb/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.
        url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/prerelease.keybase.io/linux_binaries/deb/keybase_6.4.0-20240821175720.3212f60cc5_amd64.deb
        sha256: 386b9c90c5170f37c720c8506a060964e6d5e16e8bb9fa9378888283e7393233
      - type: file
        path: keybase.sh

Note sure if the rest of the repo is also needed to reproduce the problem, you can find it at https://github.com/RalfJung/io.keybase.Keybase.

Now I run

flatpak-builder --user --install --install-deps-from=flathub --force-clean builddir io.keybase.Keybase.yml

Expected Behavior

This should fetch the dependencies that are missing and then successfully build the flatpak.

Actual Behavior

I get an error:

Dependency Sdk: org.freedesktop.Sdk 24.08
Installing org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/24.08 from flathub
error: No remote refs found for ‘flathub’
Error installing deps: running `flatpak --user install -y --noninteractive flathub org.freedesktop.Sdk/x86_64/24.08`: Child process exited with code 1

I don't know what this is trying to tell me. With a brief search I was unable to find guidance on which versions to put here (the official docs at https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/manifests.html use an example involving Gnome which would not be right for my flatpak). Surely if the vscodium package uses these versions then they actually do exist?

Additional Information

No response

[Erick555]

Did you enabled flathub repo first? flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

[RalfJung]

I have installed a bunch of flatpaks from flathub so the repo is working fine otherwise.

But strangely, running your command does seem to have changed something... hu?!? flatpak remotes now shows I have "flathub" twice:

$ flatpak remotes
Name           Options
flathub        system
flathub        user
keybase-origin user,no-enumerate,no-gpg-verify

[RalfJung]

So maybe the actual bug is that flatpak-builder does not pick up "system" remotes? The error doesn't make it clear whether it's the flathub remote that is missing or whether the issue is finding the given version in that remote. I thought it's the latter, but apparently it meant the former.

[Erick555]

--user installation is distinct from --system installation. The latter is the default. You specifically passed --user flag to flatpak-builder but didn't setup --user remote beforehand (check with flatpak --user remotes). You need to be consistent - either pass --user everywhere or nowhere.

[RalfJung]

I want to install the package as a user package. But the dependency can of course come from the system repo... I assumed system repos are "available everywhere" and then user things add to that but are only available to the user. It was not clear that flatpak considers these things to be entirely disjoint. Thanks for clarifying! Ideally the error messages could be more helpful here, currently I do not see how users could figure this out by themselves.