Ubuntu is one of the top most used Linux distributions on the desktop and Canonical, the company behind it, has a new blog post up giving some thoughts on the future of Ubuntu Desktop.
I have a feeling they’re slowly but steadily moving from deb packages to snap-only completely. Because unlike what Mark Shuttleworth said when they abandoned Unity, Canonical doesn’t let their users decide which technologies should catch on. The Linux desktop as a whole is moving to a Flatpak future for desktop apps, yet Ubuntu keeps pushing Snaps down their users throats whether they want it or not and sort of “fight” Flatpak on Ubuntu spins.
I get it, Snaps are more versatile than Flatpak, you could make everything on the system a snap (can’t ship a DE or the kernel as a Flatpak now, can you) and CLI programs as Flatpaks also suck compared to snap (and distro packages obviously), but for desktop apps Flatpaks are just the obvious choice and the Linux community has shown that.
I’m waiting for the day where you can install Flatpak as a snap on Ubuntu lmao
It’s actually vwry convenient for developers on ghe server and enterprise side of things, and that’s why they push it so much. The problem is it sucks for users, and it sucks for server admins, last I heard. Even though the slow startup times are not an issue on the servers.
The main use for snaps comes from having controlled updates for packages that can’t be isolated, like the kermel, but surely it would be better to keep such packages as native debs. Personally, I can’t see an advantage for it. In theory, it’s a universal package format, but who cares that it works everywhere when nobody uses it because of the issues it has. And I definitely agree that Docker is better for enterprise server stuff.
Plz no snap
I have a feeling they’re slowly but steadily moving from deb packages to snap-only completely. Because unlike what Mark Shuttleworth said when they abandoned Unity, Canonical doesn’t let their users decide which technologies should catch on. The Linux desktop as a whole is moving to a Flatpak future for desktop apps, yet Ubuntu keeps pushing Snaps down their users throats whether they want it or not and sort of “fight” Flatpak on Ubuntu spins.
I get it, Snaps are more versatile than Flatpak, you could make everything on the system a snap (can’t ship a DE or the kernel as a Flatpak now, can you) and CLI programs as Flatpaks also suck compared to snap (and distro packages obviously), but for desktop apps Flatpaks are just the obvious choice and the Linux community has shown that.
I’m waiting for the day where you can install Flatpak as a snap on Ubuntu lmao
The ultimate paradox. I hate when Ubuntu automatically searches for a snap package whenever I use APT
seriously it is so stupid
It’s actually vwry convenient for developers on ghe server and enterprise side of things, and that’s why they push it so much. The problem is it sucks for users, and it sucks for server admins, last I heard. Even though the slow startup times are not an issue on the servers.
Flatpak or just docker would be better. Snap is redundant.
The main use for snaps comes from having controlled updates for packages that can’t be isolated, like the kermel, but surely it would be better to keep such packages as native debs. Personally, I can’t see an advantage for it. In theory, it’s a universal package format, but who cares that it works everywhere when nobody uses it because of the issues it has. And I definitely agree that Docker is better for enterprise server stuff.
This is the only reason I stopped using Ubuntu and switched to plain old Debian + GNOME. I want nothing more to do with snap.
I think that debian is a very valid choice for everyone, even for newbies who want to move to something freer than Ubuntu