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Driftwood

A friendly, modern AppImage manager for Linux desktops

Driftwood makes it easy to find, install, organize, update, and keep safe all your AppImage apps - without needing to use the terminal. It's built for people who just want their apps to work, and it fits right in with the GNOME desktop.

If you've ever downloaded an AppImage file and wondered "now what do I do with this?", Driftwood is for you.

✨ What is Driftwood?

Driftwood is a graphical app manager for AppImages. AppImages are portable Linux applications that come as a single file - no installation needed. But managing them by hand (making them show up in your app menu, checking for updates, knowing if they're safe) can be confusing, especially if you're new to Linux.

Driftwood handles all of that for you with a clean, easy-to-use interface.

🙋 Who is this for?

New Linux users who want a simple way to manage AppImage apps
Anyone who downloads AppImages and wants them organized, updated, and integrated into their desktop
Privacy-conscious users who want to know what libraries their apps bundle and whether any have known security issues
Power users who want a full CLI alongside the graphical interface

🖼️ What does it look like?

Driftwood uses GTK4 and libadwaita, so it looks and feels like a native GNOME app. It has three main views:

View	What it does
Installed	Shows all your AppImages in a grid or list with status badges
Catalog	Browse and discover new AppImage apps to download
Updates	See which apps have newer versions and update them

Click any app to see its full details - version info, security status, disk usage, screenshots, and more.

🌟 Features

📦 App Library

Automatic scanning - Driftwood finds all AppImage files in your chosen folders (like ~/Applications or ~/Downloads)
Grid and list views - See your apps as cards with icons, or as a detailed list
Search and sort - Find apps by name, sort by name, size, or when you added them
Tags - Label your apps with custom tags and filter by them
Selection mode - Select multiple apps at once for batch actions
Drag and drop - Drop an AppImage file onto the window to add it

🌐 App Catalog (Store)

Browse apps - Discover AppImage apps from the community catalog
Category filters - Browse by Audio, Games, Graphics, Development, and more
Featured apps - A rotating carousel of highlighted apps
Search - Find apps by name across the entire catalog
App details - See descriptions, screenshots, star counts, and download numbers
One-click install - Download and add apps right from the catalog

⬆️ Updates

Check for updates - Scan all your apps for newer versions with one click
Update all at once - Or update apps one by one
Release notes - See what changed in each new version
Automatic backups - Optionally save old versions before updating, so you can go back if something breaks
Multiple update sources - Works with GitHub Releases, GitLab Releases, zsync delta updates, and OCS feeds

🚀 Desktop Integration

Add to app menu - Make any AppImage show up in your desktop's application menu with one click
Icon installation - Automatically extracts and installs the app's icon
Autostart - Set apps to launch automatically when you log in
Custom launch options - Add command-line arguments or environment variables per app
Undo everything - Remove any app from your menu just as easily

🛡️ Security

Vulnerability scanning - Extracts the shared libraries bundled inside each AppImage and checks them against the OSV.dev vulnerability database
CVE details - Shows the severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low), CVSS scores, and which library versions are affected
Security report - Generate a full report of all your apps and export it as HTML, JSON, or CSV
Desktop notifications - Get notified when a new vulnerability is found in one of your apps
Signature verification - Check GPG signatures and SHA256 checksums
Configurable thresholds - Choose whether to be notified about only critical issues or everything

🧩 FUSE and Wayland Compatibility

FUSE detection - Checks whether your system can mount AppImages and tells you exactly what to install if it can't
Guided FUSE setup - A step-by-step wizard that shows you the right install command for your distribution
Wayland compatibility - Detects whether you're running Wayland or X11 and flags any compatibility concerns
Fallback launching - If FUSE isn't available, Driftwood can extract and run AppImages directly

🧹 Cleanup and Disk Management

Duplicate finder - Detects when you have multiple copies of the same app or different versions taking up space, and shows how much space you'd save
Disk footprint - Shows config, cache, and data folders each app has created on your system
Cleanup wizard - A guided walkthrough that finds orphaned desktop entries, leftover caches, and duplicates, then lets you choose what to remove
Orphan cleanup - Finds and removes menu entries for AppImages that no longer exist on disk

🔢 Dashboard

System overview - Quick health check showing FUSE status, Wayland status, total apps, storage used, and apps needing updates
At-a-glance stats - See everything about your AppImage setup in one place

⚙️ Preferences

Appearance - Follow your system's light/dark theme, or force one
Scan directories - Choose which folders Driftwood watches for AppImages
Update settings - Configure automatic update checking, backup behavior, and retention periods
Security settings - Enable automatic scanning, notifications, and set a GitHub token for higher API rate limits
Catalog settings - Toggle automatic metadata enrichment and removable media watching

🔒 Sandboxing

Firejail support - Launch apps inside a Firejail sandbox for extra security
Per-app profiles - Each app can have its own sandbox configuration
Profile management - Use local, community, or default Firejail profiles

:accessibility: Accessibility

Driftwood is built to meet WCAG 2.2 AAA accessibility standards:

Full keyboard navigation - Every feature is reachable without a mouse
Screen reader support - All buttons, images, and status changes are announced to screen readers like Orca
Focus management - Clear focus indicators (3px outlines) on all interactive elements
44px minimum target sizes - All buttons meet the AAA touch target standard
High contrast support - Enhanced borders and colors when your system uses high contrast mode
No timing requirements - Nothing in the app requires fast reactions
Semantic roles - Headings, alerts, status regions, and live announcements are all properly marked up
Automated testing - Includes an AT-SPI audit tool that walks the live accessibility tree and checks for violations

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+1`	Switch to Installed view
`Ctrl+2`	Switch to Catalog view
`Ctrl+3`	Switch to Updates view
`Ctrl+F`	Search
`Ctrl+R` or `F5`	Scan for AppImages
`Ctrl+U`	Check for updates
`Ctrl+K`	Open command palette
`Ctrl+D`	Open dashboard
`Ctrl+,`	Open preferences
`Ctrl+?`	Show keyboard shortcuts
`Ctrl+Q`	Quit

🖥️ Command Line Interface

Every feature is also available from the terminal:

driftwood scan               # Find AppImages in your configured folders
driftwood list               # Show all known AppImages
driftwood list --format json # Output as JSON

driftwood inspect ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage    # Show app metadata
driftwood integrate ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Add to desktop menu
driftwood remove ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Remove from desktop menu
driftwood launch ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Run the app
driftwood launch --sandbox ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Run in sandbox

driftwood check-updates      # Check all apps for updates
driftwood update-all         # Update everything
driftwood verify ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage     # Check integrity
driftwood verify ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --sha256 abc123...  # Verify hash

driftwood security           # Scan all apps for vulnerabilities
driftwood duplicates         # Find duplicate AppImages
driftwood footprint ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage  # Show disk usage
driftwood status             # System compatibility check
driftwood clean-orphans      # Remove stale menu entries

driftwood export             # Export app list to JSON
driftwood export --output ~/backup.json
driftwood import ~/backup.json  # Import app list

driftwood autostart ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --enable   # Autostart on login
driftwood autostart ~/Apps/MyApp.AppImage --disable

driftwood purge              # Remove ALL Driftwood system modifications

🐧 Which Linux distributions does it work on?

Driftwood works on any Linux distribution that has GTK 4.16+ and libadwaita 1.6+ available. In practice, that means most modern distributions released from 2024 onward.

Distribution	Status	Notes
Ubuntu 24.04+	Works	GTK4 and libadwaita available in default repos
Fedora 40+	Works	Excellent GTK4 support out of the box
Arch Linux	Works	Rolling release, always has the latest GTK4
Manjaro	Works	Same packages as Arch
openSUSE Tumbleweed	Works	Rolling release with current GTK4
Debian Testing/Sid	Works	Stable Debian may have older GTK versions
Linux Mint 22+	Works	Based on Ubuntu 24.04
Pop!_OS 24.04+	Works	Based on Ubuntu with COSMIC/GNOME
elementary OS 8+	Works	Uses GTK4-based Pantheon
Gentoo	Works	Build GTK4 and libadwaita from source
Alpine	Works	GTK4 available in community repos

Desktop environment: Driftwood is designed for GNOME but works on any desktop that supports GTK4 applications (KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, XFCE, Budgie, etc.). It looks best on GNOME and GNOME-based desktops because it uses libadwaita for styling.

🔧 System Requirements

What you need

Requirement	Version	What it is
GTK	4.16 or newer	The toolkit that draws the interface
libadwaita	1.6 or newer	GNOME's design library for modern-looking apps
SQLite	3	A small database engine (stores your app library)
gettext	any	Handles translations for different languages

Optional (but recommended)

Package	What it does
libfuse2 or libfuse3	Lets AppImages mount themselves (most need this to run)
firejail	Runs apps in a security sandbox
appimageupdate	Enables fast delta updates (downloads only what changed)

For building from source

You'll also need:

Package	What it is
Rust 1.75+ and Cargo	The programming language and build tool
Meson	Build system (only needed for system-wide installation)
libgtk-4-dev	GTK4 development headers
libadwaita-1-dev	libadwaita development headers
libsqlite3-dev	SQLite development headers
libglib2.0-dev-bin	Provides `glib-compile-resources` and `glib-compile-schemas`

Package names may vary between distributions. On Fedora, use -devel instead of -dev (for example, gtk4-devel instead of libgtk-4-dev).

🏗️ Building from Source

Quick development build

git clone https://git.lashman.live/lashman/driftwood.git
cd driftwood
cargo build
cargo run

System-wide installation

meson setup build --prefix=/usr
meson compile -C build
sudo meson install -C build

After installing, Driftwood will appear in your application menu.

📦 Packaging

Ready-made packaging files are included:

Format	Location	Notes
Flatpak	`build-aux/app.driftwood.Driftwood.json`	Flatpak manifest
Arch Linux (AUR)	`packaging/PKGBUILD`	For makepkg
AppImage	`packaging/build-appimage.sh`	Self-contained build script

📂 Where Driftwood stores things

What	Location
App database	`~/.local/share/driftwood/driftwood.db`
Cached icons	`~/.local/share/driftwood/icons/`
Desktop entries it creates	`~/.local/share/applications/driftwood-*.desktop`
Installed icons	`~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/`
Autostart entries	`~/.config/autostart/`
Settings	GSettings (`app.driftwood.Driftwood`)
Backups	`~/.local/share/driftwood/backups/`

Everything Driftwood does to your system is tracked in its database, and you can undo all of it with driftwood purge or by uninstalling apps through the UI.

🧪 Accessibility Testing

Driftwood includes an automated accessibility audit tool that uses AT-SPI (the Linux accessibility bus) to walk the live widget tree and check for WCAG 2.2 violations:

# Run the full AAA-level audit (builds and launches the app automatically)
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aaa

# Attach to an already-running instance
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --no-launch --level aaa

# Run at AA level only
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aa

# Show detailed live region inventory
python3 tools/a11y-audit.py --level aaa --verbose

The tool checks for:

Interactive widgets without accessible names (SC 4.1.2)
Images without alt text or decorative marking (SC 1.1.1)
Headings without level attributes (SC 1.3.1)
Widgets that aren't keyboard-focusable (SC 2.1.1)
Target sizes below 24px (AA) and 44px (AAA)
Windows without titles (SC 2.4.8)
Vague link text (SC 2.4.9)
Content regions without headings (SC 2.4.10)
Keyboard traps (SC 2.1.3)

Results are printed to the terminal and saved as a11y-report.json for CI integration.

🤝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute code, translations, or bug reports.

📄 License

CC0-1.0 (Public Domain)

This project is released into the public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal license. You can copy, modify, distribute, and use it for any purpose, even commercially, without asking permission. See LICENSE for the full legal text.

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