The OBS Studio development team has issued a formal request to the Fedora Project, demanding the removal of all OBS branding from Fedora’s Flatpak distribution. This action stems from concerns over a malfunctioning OBS Studio Flatpak package maintained by Fedora, which has led to user confusion and misdirected complaints toward the official OBS team.
Approximately three weeks ago, OBS Studio’s lead developer, Joel Bethke, highlighted issues with Fedora’s Flatpak packaging of OBS Studio. He noted that the unofficial Flatpak was poorly packaged and broken, causing users to believe they were using the official version. This misunderstanding resulted in users reporting issues to the OBS team, unaware that their problems originated from the unofficial Fedora package.
Bethke’s initial request was for Fedora to either remove the problematic package or clearly label it as unofficial. He emphasized that upstream developers should not be responsible for ensuring the functionality of downstream packages, especially when these packages overwrite official versions. Despite these concerns, discussions between OBS Studio and Fedora representatives did not yield a satisfactory resolution.
The situation escalated when Fedora representatives allegedly resorted to dismissive remarks, with one individual reportedly labeling the OBS developers as “terrible maintainers.” In response, Bethke issued an ultimatum, stating that if Fedora did not remove all OBS branding—including the name, logo, and any associated intellectual property—from their distribution within seven business days , the OBS Project would consider the Fedora Flatpak distribution a hostile fork and pursue legal action.
The crux of the issue lies in Fedora’s practice of distributing its own Flatpak packages, built from their RPM packages and maintained within their repository. Many of these packages, including OBS Studio, have been criticized for being unmaintained or broken, leading to a subpar user experience. Users often remain unaware that they are using unofficial packages, which exacerbates the problem.
This dispute has broader implications within the open-source community, highlighting the challenges that arise when downstream projects distribute modified versions of software without clear communication or collaboration with the original developers. Such practices can lead to user confusion, misattribution of issues, and strained relationships between projects.
As of now, the Fedora team has updated their Flatpak version of OBS Studio to an “end of life” status, indicating that it will eventually be removed. This move suggests a potential resolution to the conflict, aiming to prevent further user confusion and maintain the integrity of the OBS Studio brand.
