Can the Snap/Ubuntu drama affect Linux Mint?

[Rayser]

[JoeFootball]

Mint doesn't use Snap by default, nor would I expect it to be implemented as such in the future.

[Pjotr]

I already had the impression that for Ubuntu the desktop, not being a money maker but rather a money sink, has a *cough* low priority. Understandably so, because a company needs to make money in order to survive and the desktop simply has always caused losses for Canonical. Yet Canonical needs to be able to pay its developers.

On the bright side: we should be glad that desktop Ubuntu still exists at all.... Because it's such a fine codebase for Linux Mint, for whom the desktop is the only priority.

[xenopeek]

I think calling it a drama is a bit dramatic. Some users don't care as much for the performance of Snap desktop apps. I haven't paid close attention to Snap desktop apps so don't know what other issues are affecting them.

Linux Mint disables the Snap store because it imposes the same limitations on software in it as proprietary software does: https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... /snap.html

I think you can safely ignore the Snap discussions on your news feed.

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

Snap applications launch is slow, since snaps use squash-fs, like AppImages, and a virtual disk needs to be mounted before application is launched.

On the other hand, flatpak launch is fast.

Snaps, flatpaks and AppImages are attempts to deliver software in one way, working for any Linux distribution, avoiding to compile the software for each distribution.

For a user of a LTS distribution (Ubuntu, Mint), they are the way to use updated applications.

Other ways are the delivery of "universal" Linux applications (delivered with their own libraries, or compiled with static linking to their libraries, then included in the software). Examples: LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, Calibre, FreeFileSync, XnView MP... as they are downloaded from their websites.

Since the problem of incompatible distributions (because of incompatible libraries versions) will not disappear, snaps, flatpaks, AppImages and universal executables will have more and more importance.

What will be the winner(s)?

Snaps are promoted by Ubuntu and the snap store is entirely controlled by Ubuntu. There could be several flatpaks stores, though most (all?) of flatpaks come from flathub. AppImages can be found at appimagehub or at appimage.github, and also anywhere else (anybody can build an AppImage and offer it to download).

Today some "Big ones" have made choices: Gimp is officially offered to download as a flatpak; VLC is officially offered to download as snap; Audacity is officially offered to download as an AppImage; LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird are officially offered to download as universal executables.
However, today, snaps and flatpaks offers are mostly the same (VLC is in fact available as a snap and as a flatpak).

With this increasing tendency it will become more and more difficult for distributions to offer applications specifically packaged for the distribution (compiled with a dynamic linking to the distribution libraries). Mint could choose Debian instead of Ubuntu as a "mother" distribution (as in LMDE). However, Debian will face the same problem as Ubuntu today: to deliver programs compiled for four different Debian distributions will take more and more time and cost more and more...

Future will tell!

Regards,

MN

[mattlach]

Since the problem of incompatible distributions (because of incompatible libraries versions) will not disappear, snaps, flatpaks, AppImages and universal executables will have more and more importance.

I certainly hope you are wrong. I am hopeful all three of them die a horrible horrible death.

There may be small advantages and disadvantages among the three, but the lumping together of dependencies into blob images is just so profoundly stupid it makes my head explode.

It is bad for performance, it is bad for system requirements and efficiency AND it is bad for security. All three of them. None of them are acceptable.

If in order to become popular Linux on the Desktop has to adopt all of the things that are wrong with Windows, (bloat, security, etc) then it is better Linux on the desktop stays a niche product.

This is most definitely the WRONG way.

(and while you are at it, bring back my if up/down and kill systemd and bring back upstart!)