Snaps - what are they, any good ones?

[ud6]

I'm hearing in the news about 'snaps' for linux but not sure what they are? Is it like software in its own virtual environment?? What's the point of using them and any good ones? I'd possibly use outlook and skype for business if I could do that on linux (need them for work, but use outlook in browser at moment, which is fine really).

Anyone use them? I see has normal skype too - but what is point of using skype as a snap when you have it as software anyway???

[BenTrabetere]

Snap is one of the universal package formats for Linux - the other two are flatpak and AppImage. The purpose for these universal package system is to deliver a single binary package that will work on any Linux system, regardless of desktop environment or native package management system. A snap (flatpak, AppImage) contains everything the program needs to run, including dependencies.

I think there are several good Snaps - a few I use are qalculate desktop calculator, the Brave web browser, notepadqq, and Inkscape. I recommend the snap version to people who want to take darktable for a test drive.

KeePassXC and MuseScore are available as snaps, and they are solid packages. Both are also available as an AppImage, and this is what I use for these programs because I prefer AppImage to Snap and flatpak.