When I run flatpak list some applications have a version:
$ flatpak list
Name Application ID Version Branch Origin Installation
Cambalache ar.xjuan.Cambalache 0.10.3 stable flathub system
ungoogled-chromium com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium 112.0.5615.165 stable flathub system
Codecs com.github.Eloston.UngoogledChromium.Codecs stable flathub system
Flatseal com.github.tchx84.Flatseal 1.8.1 stable fedora system
OBS Studio com.obsproject.Studio 29.0.2 stable flathub system
My Example App org.example.App master remote1-origin user
I want my application to have this column reflect its actual version too, but after searching for a way to set it for several days, I came up with nothing. It's not mentioned anywhere in the flatpak or flatpak-builder documentation...
Do I have to add it as a field in my .json app manifest? Or is it a flag to flatpak-builder or flatpak build-bundle?
Ok, I think I figured it out. What I needed is a metainfo.xml file (or an appdata.xml file). Flatpak reads this file (specifically, the <releases> tag) and sets the Version column to the version string of the latest release.
The only problem that remains is that some applications install it as *.appdata.xml and others call it *.metainfo.xml.
The flatpak documentation contradicts itself on this matter:
https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/freedesktop-quick-reference.html#appdata-files
https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/conventions.html#appdata-files
But I guess this is a separate question.
Update 2024-06-30: The freedesktop link above is dead, but here is a nice specification from them. In §2.1.2 there is a note on the .appdata.xml name:
Component metadata ... can be installed with an
.appdata.xmlextension as well for historical reasons.
So, basically, prefer .metainfo.xml nowadays.