How to Install Foliate on Fedora Linux

Foliate is free, open-source software that focuses on reading and supports book management with a detailed library view that supports most e-book formats, such as EPUB and AZW(3). In the following tutorial, you will learn to install Foliate on Fedora Linux using one of two methods: dnf package manager with Fedora’s repository, flatpak package manager, and some tips for maintaining or removing Foliate in the future.

Update Fedora

Before you begin, ensure your system is up-to-date to avoid any conflicts during the installation, and for good practice, use the terminal command as follows.

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

Method 1: Foliate with Fedora Repository

The first method is to install Geany directly from Fedora 36’s repository using the following command.

sudo dnf install foliate -y

For users that prefer using Flatpak installs, the following method may work better as the versions often can be slightly ahead of Fedora. Even though the distribution is an upstream version, it can be a few months behind on specific packages.

Method 2: Foliate with Flatpak and Flathub

The second option is to use the Flatpak package manager that is natively installed on your Fedora workstation. The benefit of Flatpaks is that they can often be ahead of a version or two from Fedora, depending on the release cycle/updates of the software and the Flatpak package maintainer. However, in most cases in Fedora, you would want to install the DNF version above, depending on your preferences.

First, re-install Flatpak if you have removed the package manager previously.

sudo dnf install flatpak -y

Before you proceed, I recommend optionally rebooting your system, or else you will have issues such as application icons not appearing.

reboot

Next, you need to enable Flatpack using the following command in your terminal:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Now install Foliate using the following flatpak command:

flatpak install flathub com.github.johnfactotum.Foliate -y

Troubleshoot Flatpak Foliate Installation

First, the most common error when installing a Flatpak from Flathub is the following error output.

"error: Unable to load summary from remote flathub: Can't fetch summary from disabled remote 'flathub,"

The fix is simple, run the following command to enable Flathub.

flatpak remote-modify --enable flathub

This will fix the issue the above issue. The next issue can be access to system files. I would only recommend using the following command if you have access permission with your installation accessing files; use the override command below.

sudo flatpak override com.github.johnfactotum.Foliate --filesystem=host

Please do not use this command by default unless it is needed.

How to Launch Foliate

Now that you have the Foliate installed, launching can be done in a few ways.

You can launch the application immediately using the following cli command.

foliate

Flatpak users can run from the terminal using the following command.

flatpak run com.github.johnfactotum.Foliate

However, this is not practical, and you would use the following path on your desktop.

Activities > Show Applications > Foliate

Example:

Once open, you can start importing your feeds and URLs to build your reading list or whatever format you prefer.

Example:

Example:

Do not forget to check out the preferences menu to customize your experience with Foliate for most. The default settings should be fine. Still, you can change a few little things, such as cache book covers and locations, file locations, text-to-speech, reading options such as when a word is selected, opening images, turning the page, and more.

Click on the three-line icon in the top right-hand corner next to the close button.

Example settings:

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Foliate.

Additional Commands & Tips

How to Update Foliate

Updates should appear in notifications, but if these fail to show sometimes, it is recommended to check using the terminal regardless. Use one of the following commands to check for updates.

DNF Method

sudo dnf update

Flatpak Method

flatpak update

Remove Foliate on Fedora Linux

Use one of the following commands to suit the original installation method for users who no longer require the application.

DNF Remove Method

sudo dnf autoremove foliate

Flatpak Remove Method

flatpak remove  --delete-data com.github.johnfactotum.Foliate -y

Next, run the following command for any leftover clean-ups required, similar to the autoremove command described for the DNF remove example command.

flatpak remove --unused

Conclusion

In the tutorial, you have learned two methods to install Foliate reader on your Fedora Linux desktop. If you think there is a better application for reading e-books on Fedora, leave a comment, and I will check it out.