Simple updates break driver compatibility

[gechoto]

We found that every time there is a Nvidia driver update some applications which would actually need that driver end up broken or really slow (like very low fps in 3d apps, performance meter broken...).

After some digging I found that the driver version betweend host<>flatpak do get out of sync which causes the problems...
This is how it goes here:

• our systems are configured to check for updates once a week
• every week an update notification is shown and users click on update in the graphical software store
• the system will install both APT and Flatpak updates
• if there is an Nvidia driver update the system will install the new Nvidia driver on the host
• the update process will NOT install the new driver version in flatpak (flatpak still thinks it would need the previous version)
• after the update process users will reboot the system
• users realize that stuff is broken and complain

The issue here seems that flatpak does install the corresponding driver version that is currently running on the host, not the new version which just got installed by an update.
This means users first need to reboot to load the new driver on the host for flatpak to realize that it should also update to the new version.

However this is too late. If users just updated their systems the update notification will not show up for the next 7 days. So users will have broken flatpak applications / driver setup for a week and go nuts

To fix this flatpak should update the nvidia driver together with all the other updates, eliminating the need for another manual update check after a reboot

[guihkx]

To fix this flatpak should update the nvidia driver together with all the other updates, eliminating the need for another manual update check after a reboot

Any ideas on how Flatpak should accomplish that in a distro-agnostic manner? Sounds complicated.

Perhaps you should consider this alternative instead: https://blog.tingping.se/2018/08/26/flatpak-host-extensions.html

It's what I've been using lately on my system.