Every large GNU/Linux distribution has its way of packaging applications. With every release some packages change their names, some are added, and some others are deleted. For an application developer, this is a nightmare as they must target not one but several moving targets.

Let’s add that once a package goes into the “Official Repositories” it’s frozen until the next releases. There is keep all the working and not-working parts of the application. This translates into many issues reports on old bugs and frustrated users for not being able to get the new and shiny version.

The user also suffers from this approach, they have to wait for their GNU/Linux distribution maintainer to update the packages. This can take days, months, years, or not happen at all.

Users may also need to have some software installed to make use of their apps. There is no problem if this software comes pre-installed but if it doesn’t it may become a very hairy task to install it.

The AppImage Crafters Initiative

We believe that developers should be able to:

• create a single bundle that runs on almost every GNU/Linux distribution
• control the application runtime dependencies
• control the application distribution

We believe that users should be able to:

• use an application packaged for GNU/Linux no matter which distro they use
• get the application the day it’s released
• install it without the need for installing a package manager
• keep the application version they love forever*

We aim to:

• Educate developers on creating packages for GNU/Linux using the AppImage format
• Develop tools to ease the creation process and user experience