What is (and why use) the snap package manager on Ubuntu?
I don't understand why a few applications (like Certbot) are installed on Ubuntu with Snap.
What is (was) wrong with the "apt" utility?
Thanks for any perspective you can add on this.
ANC
3 Replies
"Snaps" are a way that Canonical locks you into Ubuntu…making any applications you develop as snaps or dependent on snaps very difficult to port to any other distro. Only a few other Linux distros use snapd. It's available…but most other distros eschew it for exactly the reason I stated.
Canonical claims that 40 distros "support" snapd. However, this is more Shuttleworth-market-hype™ than reality. I would argue that there's a pretty wide gulf between "availability" and "support"…
snapd is open source but, in reality, only Canonical supports the code.
You can install certbot with apt…just use the (upstream) Debian package or a PPA. Better yet, install it directly from letsencrypt.org…
-- sw
Thanks for the explanation.
How do snap packages get updated… like "apt update/upgrade"?
I see that there is a snap store here:
https://snapcraft.io/store
I assume this is run by the Ubuntu people (Canonical?)
Thanks for the explanation.
De nada…
How do snap packages get updated… like "apt update/upgrade"?
No clue… don't use them. Never will (frankly, I don't use Linux anymore).
I see that there is a snap store here:
https://snapcraft.io/store
I assume this is run by the Ubuntu people (Canonical?)
Yep. Ubuntu is a trademark of Canonical Ltd: https://canonical.com
-- sw