Snaps. Why? Please stop.

[Grateful4Linux]

I too struggle with snaps.
There is one particular programme I like Leafpad--a simple and elegant text editor. It has now been removed from the repositories no idea why, but it is gone.
I tried with 3 Ubuntu flavoured distros, Mint and Ubuntu Studio and Kubuntu.
They seemed to install with snaps, but leafpad just does not work. One of the distors -- I think it was Studio -- did sort of work but only for the one user that installed it, not even for root.

In the end I found a .deb file and that works well.....but for how many more months will I still be able to get it?

Snaps just suck for the end user. They seem great for developers though......

Just my 2 bob's worth. Tony.

That sucks about Leafpad, which is my primary text editor. I'm still on Linux Mint 19.3, so I didn't even realize it's no longer in the repositories. Where did you find the .deb file? Does it work well in 20.1?

[JoeFootball]

There is one particular programme I like Leafpad--a simple and elegant text editor. It has now been removed from the repositories no idea why, but it is gone.

Looks like it hasn't been maintained by the author since 2010, so likely the reason it was dropped from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (the codebase for LM 20.x).

In the end I found a .deb file and that works well.....but for how many more months will I still be able to get it?

Where did you find the .deb file? Does it work well in 20.1?

You still download the .deb archive from the 18.04 LTS repo, and suspect you could continue to do so until April 2023, but I doubt Ubuntu would be making any updates to it in the interim regardless.

Edit: Download Page for leafpad_0.8.18.1-5_amd64.deb on AMD64 machines

https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/amd6 ... d/download

[Grateful4Linux]

You still download the .deb archive from the 18.04 LTS repo, and suspect you could continue to do so until April 2023, but I doubt Ubuntu would be making any updates to it in the interim regardless.

Edit: Download Page for leafpad_0.8.18.1-5_amd64.deb on AMD64 machines

https://packages.ubuntu.com/bionic/amd6 ... d/download

Thank you for the info and link, JoeFootball!

[revmacian]

Can someone please comment on why we now have snaps (or flatpak or Appimage) in Linux?

Because someone comes up with an idea that they think should apply to everyone everywhere?

[surruk51]

MY problem is the effect of sandboxing on interoperation.
I installed GIMP from a Snap (to get later version), and it completely screwed u the API between GIMP and xsane (which had been installed through apt-get).
Given the generous availability of storage, and the potential problems from shared libraries I don't have a problem with the idea of packaging, though I note that rather than having three standards as we did with apt, rpm, pacman, we now have snap, flatpak etc AS WELL.

What is really needed is an RFC type process to agree a standard all distros can work towards and which can support packaged and non-packaged libraries.

Let's face it, if you are going to take packaging to its logical conclusion, you ought to package your compatible copy of Linux too!

[Michael_Hathaway]

This thread is old. And this is Linux Mint, we don't use snap packaging.

[Moem]

this is Linux Mint, we don't use snap packaging.

Except if we want to. Then we can.

[JoeFootball]

More info on why Linux Mint doesn't leverage Snap by default, and how users can enable it if they decide that it's a good option for their circumstances ...

https://linuxmint-user-guide.readthedoc ... /snap.html

[Michael_Hathaway]

Yes, you very are correct. Linux Mint does not fully enforce the restriction of snap.

To install snap packaging:

Code: Select all

$ sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt update

Code: Select all

$ sudo apt install snapd

Code: Select all

$ snap version

Code: Select all

$ sudo snap install <application-name>

Note: I suggest retaining a copy of the nosnap.pref file, just in case.

[phil995511]

Ubuntu censorship my opinion after asking for feedback for their next version of Ubuntu LTS on :

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/your-com ... ence/24742

[Tolayon]

What I always wondered about Snaps:
How sandboxed/ containerized are they really? Some system programs already come as Snaps, including Htop (but not exclusively so far). Especially this application needs full access to your entire system, since it doesn't only display its status, but also allows you to change/ kill running processes.

Then we also have applications like Gimp (as already mentioned above), which can be extended by adding various plugins (all available via Synaptic, which by the way has to be manually installed via terminal in Ubuntu). But Gimp as a Snap? There should be at least two different versions, one with just the base install and another one with at least the most common plugins included. Or the Gimp-Snap gives up on the sandboxing again and allows the inclusion of said plugins.