- Sources: primary, discussion
- Summary: Modal Collective announced a 508,640 euro investment by the German Sovereign Tech Agency, co-organized with Para-Real Ltd. as supporting organization and running through the end of 2027. The post states Flatpak development slowed in recent years because of the specialized expertise required and limited maintainer capacity, while Flatpak remains the primary distribution method for Fedora Silverblue, openSUSE Aeon, SteamOS, and GNOME OS. The commissioned work targets named sandboxing gaps: an audio portal that can grant speaker access without granting the microphone, network isolation with permissions scoped to host, local network, or internet and to specific ports, a VPN portal modeled on the Android and iOS APIs, an entitlements system letting app store reviewers verify declared capabilities, and research toward a password auto-fill portal replacing NativeMessaging.
- Why it matters: Flatpak permissions are coarse today, and scoped network and audio portals change what a sandboxed desktop application can be denied.
- Follow-up: Track which portals land, since the post states plans may evolve as implementation begins.
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