Snapcraft - Snaps are universal Linux packages
snapcraft.io
Snaps are containerised software packages that are simple to create and install. They auto-update and are safe to run. And because they bundle their dependencies, they work on all major Linux systems without modification.

Is it just me, or are most snap packages broken?

A lot of problems have to do with developers using some command to start or run a process, for example:

  • dropbox “Launch Dropbox Website” fails badly for Firefox as a snap
  • gimp as a snap, preferences-folders-<select one>-Show file location in the file manager, doesn’t work

Another type of problem is the location for local files, e.g.:

  • a snap zoom upgrade uses the same location for recordings as the prior version, which doesn’t work because the old snap version directory is inaccessible

Another type of problem is the integration with Ubuntu (ostensibly the owner of the snap format), for example:

  • superkey (Windows logo) search for a snap and click or double-click on the icon just shows a wait cursor and finally times out (you have to right click and choose New Window)
  • update fails to update snaps - you need to manually sudo snap refresh, and even then the Software Updater thinks it need to update something until you reboot
  • snap-store has no search function - but if you start typing it will search (what kind of sadistic user experience designer thought that one up?)
  • snap-store Updates - Update All can fail and display a failure message from weeks ago
  • don’t even get me on about disk usage, like /var/lib/snapd/snaps or your ~/snap directory, that likely have more gigabytes than you’ve needed in a long time

Should I just give up on snaps and use Flatpack or Appimage?

  • @seaQueue
    2•5 months ago

    Flatpak is slowly improving. I think the biggest problem with the flatpak ecosystem is lack of widespread understanding by new maintainers of how to package flatpak well - you see a lot of new packages by software authors who don’t yet understand flatpak permissions and package quality suffers for it.

    There are some annoyances, like some of the XDG portals being jank, but it’s a solid step towards containerizing and jailing individual apps so they can’t access more of your system than they need to do their job.

    Flatpak steam, as an example, is fantastic. You install it, maybe drop in a proton version that works better for your game and you’re ready to go. Same deal with many desktop applications, flatpak discord and others work extremely well and, at least compared to the Arch native versions, don’t break as often.

    Edit: Chiming in on Fedora and EndeavourOS, they’re both excellent choices and not much more difficult to use than Ubuntu.