Hi, I noticed several files/folders on a few KDE distro’s in the directory ~/.var/app. They all have names with Chrome or Chromium in them. Asking around on the Fedora forum taught me it is Krunner who does that. Why? I do completely nothing with Krunner, didn’t even know it exists and what it’s for so why do I get these results to questions never asked? How can I switch it off?
I’m not sure the information you got is accurate. ~/.var/app is typically the place where configuration data for Flatpak apps gets stored. To my knowledge, KRunner doesn’t touch it (at least not by default; if you’ve heavily customized your system all bets are off).
Yes, it is the place where the configuration files of flatpaks are stored and now I see others as well, belonging to programs I did not install at all.
It happened in more than one distro. What type of customization could do this, I think I have a pretty standard installation.
What does flatpak list on your machine say? If there’s any output, do you recognize the names of the apps from any of the folders in ~/.var/app?
In the output of flatpak list I see none of the names of which I get these extra items in ~/.var/app.
This is the flatpak list:
flatpak list
Name Application ID Version Branch Origin Installation
Brave com.brave.Browser 1.81.136 stable flathub system
RawTherapee com.rawtherapee.RawTherapee 5.12 stable fedora system
SMPlayer info.smplayer.SMPlayer 25.6.0 stable fedora system
hugin net.sourceforge.Hugin 2024.0.0 stable fedora system
Audacious org.atheme.audacious 4.4.2 stable fedora system
Audacity org.audacityteam.Audacity 3.7.4 stable fedora system
darktable org.darktable.Darktable 5.2.0 stable fedora system
Fedora KDE 5 Platfo… org.fedoraproject.KDE5Platform 42 f42 fedora system
Fedora KDE 6 Platfo… org.fedoraproject.KDE6Platform 42 f42 fedora system
Fedora Media Writer org.fedoraproject.MediaWriter 5.2.8 stable fedora system
Fedora Platform org.fedoraproject.Platform 42 f42 fedora system
default …raproject.Platform.GL.default f42 fedora system
fedoraproject platf… …fedoraproject.Platform.Locale f42 fedora system
nvidia …project.Platform.VAAPI.nvidia f42 fedora system
tessdata …doraproject.Platform.tessdata f42 fedora system
Freedesktop Platform org.freedesktop.Platform freedesktop-sdk-23.08.32 23.08 flathub system
Freedesktop Platform org.freedesktop.Platform freedesktop-sdk-24.08.23 24.08 flathub system
Mesa …eedesktop.Platform.GL.default 25.0.7 23.08 flathub system
Mesa (Extra) …eedesktop.Platform.GL.default 25.0.7 23.08-extra flathub system
Mesa …eedesktop.Platform.GL.default 25.1.7 24.08 flathub system
Mesa (Extra) …eedesktop.Platform.GL.default 25.1.7 24.08extra flathub system
nvidia-575-64-05 ….Platform.GL.nvidia-575-64-05 1.4 flathub system
openh264 …freedesktop.Platform.openh264 2.5.1 2.5.1 flathub system
GNU Image Manipulat… org.gimp.GIMP 3.0.4 stable fedora system
GNOME Application P… org.gnome.Platform 48 flathub system
Inkscape org.inkscape.Inkscape 1.4.2 stable fedora system
Adwaita theme org.kde.KStyle.Adwaita 6.9 flathub system
KDE Application Pla… org.kde.Platform 6.9 flathub system
digiKam org.kde.digikam 8.7.0 stable fedora system
Gwenview org.kde.gwenview 25.08.0 stable fedora system
Kate org.kde.kate 25.08.0 stable fedora system
KCalc org.kde.kcalc 25.08.0 stable fedora system
Kdenlive org.kde.kdenlive 25.08.0 stable fedora system
KMahjongg org.kde.kmahjongg 0.9.25080 stable fedora system
KMines org.kde.kmines 4.0.25080 stable fedora system
KolourPaint org.kde.kolourpaint 25.08.0 stable fedora system
KRDC org.kde.krdc 25.08.0 stable fedora system
Krita org.kde.krita 5.2.11 stable fedora system
KTorrent org.kde.ktorrent 25.08.0 stable flathub system
Okular org.kde.okular 25.08.0 stable fedora system
Skanpage org.kde.skanpage 25.08.0 stable fedora system
LibreOffice org.libreoffice.LibreOffice stable fedora system
LibreOffice transla… …ibreoffice.LibreOffice.Locale stable fedora system
Thunderbird org.mozilla.Thunderbird 140.2.0esr stable flathub system
The names of the folders in .var/app are:
com.google.Chrome, com.google.ChromeDev, io.github.ungoogled_software.ungoogled_chromium, io.gitlab.librewolf-community and org.chromium.Chromium
I just opened them one by one and they are all empty folders. I can delete them but they just appear again after a while, no idea what triggers that.
Thanks.
Given that these are all browser names my guess would be that these are the result of the workaround Kai (if I remember correctly) implemented for Plasma Browser Integration so it would work with Flatpak browsers.
This is done by a background service and can be disabled in System Settings module “Background Services”.
It is called “Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration”
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Thanks! I had also been wondering about that com.google.Chrome folder.
In my case it indeed seems to contain only files related to the Plasma browser integration:
Hello @krake , thanks for answering.
I’ve been looking through the KDE System settings and can’t find neither Background services, nor Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration. Nothing pops up even when I type only parts of the names in the search field. Am I missing something?
In my Brave browser I do have an extension called Plasma Browser Integration, which I have used for years, but when I open that now I get this:
In the software app Discover I can’t find anything related to the package I should have installed.
Try searching for “Background Services” in KRunner or run it from a terminal
kcmshell6 kcm_kded
I got the same when Ubuntu switched their Chromium from native Debian packages to Snap.
Snap does not have any support for “native messaging” extensions yet and it also not covered by Plasma’s workaround for Flatpak.
Essentially browser extensions like this have two parts: one part that runs inside the browser and one part that runs as a separate process and they communicate with each other.
In order for browsers to find the second part they need to be made aware of the program name to run.
This is handled by simple JSON files which browsers look for in certain locations.
The format of these files depends on the browser, however there are really just two: one for Firefox & derivatives and one for Chrome & derivatives.
Sometimes the derivatives also look in the locations of their family’s main browser but they usually all have their own locations as well.
The system package for Plasma Browser Integration usually installs these files in various standard locations but might not contain one that Brave is looking for.
The background service does something similar but for common Flatpak locations.
If you have Brave installed as a distribution package it might be possible to just copy a Chrome based JSON file into the location Brave is using.
If you have Brace installed as a Flatpak it might be possible to copy one of these generated directories in ~/.var/lib so that is matches the Brave package name (might also require some renaming inside the copied directory).
I did find the Background services now. I see in there 2 items about the Plasma integration:
Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration
Plasma Browser Integration Installation Reminder
Both are running.
In the browser I see the Plasma Browser extension, but it has a red line running through the icon. When I click it I get the error message I’ve shown in my previous post here.
Stopping and restarting the 2 items in the services list doesn’t help.
I do have the mediaplayer window to start/stop it playing, so the integration must be active.
I use Brave for several years, flatpaks for almost 2 now and I never before had these generated folders. So something must have changed or I do something wrong, or don’t do something I should do. At least that’s my guess.
I try that but as I wrote before, all the generated folders are empty. Will it still do what you hope it will do?
If you stop this one then you should not get newly generated folders once you have removed them.
Right, that is the indicator that it can’t find the host/native part of the extension.
I have the same in my Snap Chromium.
I think the Flatpaks themselves do not generate these, the special background service does so that Flatpak browsers can still see the extension’s host/native part.
The Flatpak and browser developers have recently agreed on a more permanent solution but it will take a while until this becomes available to users.
They should not be empty but rather have contents similar to what @pg-tips showed in their comment.
If you want those, at least for Flatpak Brave, you could try stopping the service, removing the empty directories and the starting the service again.
Of course there could also be a bug that prevents it from working properly.
Here all 5 of them are completely empty. After your previous post I copied one of them to ~/.var/lib and renamed it to match the Brave browser folder name. Until just now they did not come back.
I did this and in the corner of my eye I saw something change in the file manager window on my other screen, the 5 empty folders returned.
After I stopped the Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration, I can still see the media window to start/stop media. So when both parts of this integration thingy should run then I don’t understand how it is possible that I still can see the media window, even after a restart of the browser. Or should I reboot completely? Let’s see.
Yes, even after a reboot and with Plasma Browser Integration Flatpak Integration off I still get the audio window. So why do I need the browser extension? 
Most browsers implement the MPRIS (Media Player Remote Interface) specification themselves.
You might not need it at all, it simply provides additional features.
For example sharing from the browser to a KDE Connect paired device, or getting open tabs as search results in KRunner.
Thank you for your help and time. I think as a test I will stop the integration completely and see if I miss something and if the folders do come back.
Thanks and have a great weekend.