alt Hacker NewsI don't per se mind using snaps instead of flatpaks (though I do prefer the latter). What bothers me is that Canonical replaced Firefox in their apt repos with a fake package that installs the snap version of the app. If I choose to install via apt, it's because I want the standard version of the app, and I don't appreciate bait and switch nonsense trying to push snap usage. That was when I lost interest in using Ubuntu, I don't want my OS trying to override my decisions.
Replies
I switched away from (K)ubuntu over this. I have no major beef with Snaps, I see the benefit of a containerised app distribution system, but hijacking apt by squatting on popular packages to promote your store is completely unacceptable.
Trust is so hard won and so easily lost. If I can't trust `apt install firefox` to do what it says on the tin, how can I trust anything else in the repository? Maybe next year Canonical decides to replace systemd with one that includes includes freemium access to helpful AI services from Canonical?
I know a lot of people who refuse to use Ubuntu outright specifically and solely because of snaps and how awful they are. Our developer laptops at work are meant to be running Ubuntu and I have some coworkers who only begrudgingly switched over after discovering how to prevent the 'fake snap firefox' package from being installed[0].
I get what they're going for - a way to ship self-contained (usually end-user-facing) applications with any dependencies they need without any risk of breaking other applications in the system. Unfortunately, it just results in breaking those applications specifically instead, in weird and stupid ways that are difficult to debug.
I think if snaps did the Flatpak thing - extract to a local directory instead of living on squashfs forever, or even storing them as an uncompressed disk image instead of squashfs - it might be more reasonable, but at that point you may as well just use Flatpaks like everyone else wants.
[0] - Add the following to `/etc/apt/preferences.d/no-ubuntu-firefox`:
Then install the apt repository as described here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux#w...This will make any `firefox` package from any repository with the `Ubuntu` label (i.e. an official Ubuntu repository) have a -1 priority, or 'never install ever'.