Bug: Update Manager offers LibreOffice APT updates even when only Flatpak version is installed

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#1,029 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
25/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
python
Domain
desktop

Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points. Start by tracing how Update Manager discovers APT updates and how it distinguishes installed software from Flatpak installations; done means irrelevant APT updates are suppressed without reinstalling duplicate packages, with mixed-backend behavior covered by tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

BUG
Distribution

Bug: Update Manager offers LibreOffice APT updates even when only Flatpak version is installed

Package version

6.6.6

Graphics hardware in use

No response

Frequency

Always

Bug description

Issue
Update Manager continues to show LibreOffice APT updates even though the user has removed the APT version and is using the Flatpak version exclusively.

Expected
Update Manager should not offer updates for software that is no longer installed.

Actual
LibreOffice updates appear in Update Manager despite the absence of any LibreOffice APT packages.

Impact
This creates misleading update notifications and confusion for users who switch from repo packages to Flatpaks.

Notes
Software Manager correctly detects the Flatpak version, but Update Manager does not reconcile APT vs Flatpak installations.

Steps to reproduce

see above

Expected behavior

see above

Additional information

I installed the Flatpak version of LibreOffice. This issue occurs regardless of whether the Flatpak is installed via terminal or Software Manager. Update Manager still offers APT updates for software that is not installed, and accepting the update would reinstall the APT version and create duplicate installations. This is misleading and inconsistent behavior.

Make update manager smarter. Update Manager should behave like KDE Discover: one unified update view that understands APT and Flatpak together, detects duplicates, and suppresses irrelevant updates.

Please add unified package awareness to Update Manager so it can detect when a Flatpak replaces a repo app, similar to how KDE Discover handles mixed backends.

Dominant language
Python
Stars
425
Forks
190
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

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